If anyone doubted that Joel Parkinson had made a recovery from his severe foot injury this year watching his opening round at the Reef Pro Wednesday should put their concerns to rest. His return debut in big Haliewa was nothing short of spectacular.

"I'm slowly starting to feel my surfing free up," Joel has noted. "I'm still a little sketchy out of the lip, but it feels good just carving around and going rail to rail and doing some big safety turns."

That would be an understatement typical of Parko's humble but confident approach. In fact he scored a perfect 10 (the only one of the event) and the highest heat scores of the contest so far. Last year he got two perfect 10's at the Pipe Masters on his way to a Van's Triple Crown victory.

"I've been surfing a lot in the past three weeks," Parko continued. "I've had probably a dozen surfs in the past three weeks and each one gets better and better."

The specialists and the physiologists all appear to be pleasantly satisfied with the healing process. The deep, slashing gash has been considered a very serious injury from the onset, with a long slow recovery period. But their recovery timetable so far has been spot-on, which has been a reassuring sign.

"We still have a long ways to go," notes Luke Egan, the former World Tour star who has helped Joel through his injury and been his mentor for the Title race last year. "The recovery needs to include the mental confidence and focus as well as the physical mending. Joel is preparing every aspect of his game."

The foot injury seems to be recovering well. There's just one small piece of scar tissue that causes pain. The cut itself has healed up nicely, but the leg and foot are still pretty weak from having no weight on it for so long.

"I think the time off he had will give him a fresh new approach and when he gets warmed up he's going to be even more dangerous than before," says his good friend, two-time World Champ Mick Fanning. "I'm amped to have my mate back."

Mick's heartfelt words probably reflect the sentiments of the entire surfing world. We're all happy to have him back.

All the rehab for the foot is now completed. Now it's more the fitness side of it: Less rehab more training: "Nothing is better to train for surfing that riding waves," notes Luke Egan.

Which is good Parko says, because he can fully control his training and feel comfortable getting his fitness levels up: "I can really feel my body coming back to life at the moment."

So the plan has been to come back at the Van's Triple Crown in Hawaii. And what a comeback so far! To say nobody surfed better is hardly an idle boast.

"I'm so happy to be in the water and competing again after so long out. So I paddle out there and I kind of say to myself, 'just be happy to be out there.' It kind of seems to be working. I don't want to lose, I never want to lose; I'm always there to win."

Will he prove once again that he is a Triple Crown Master capable of taking the crown? His debut at Haliewa sure seems to indicate an affirmative. One thing is sure: come December 8th and the opening of the Billabong Pipe Masters, no place on earth could test the level of his recovery like the jaws of Pipeline.