Guadeloupe's Thomas Debierre dropped the hammer in Heat 3 with an incredible display on his backhand, putting his board and body in the critical sections to post a near-perfect 9.50 backed up by a solid 7.83 for the performance of the entire event so far.
"I started well with that high 7 for a single turn that really gave me heaps of confidence going forward," he said. "I got the bomb and I couldn't turn my back on it so I just hit it twice and I was stoked with my surfing. I grew up surfing lefts so I'm always comfortable and especially with some size. I got my boards stolen last week and I really want to thank my shaper Johan at CleanCut Surfboards for getting me these so quickly, they're great boards.