Round 2 of the Fiji Pro kicked off in larger conditions today with waves in the 5-6 foot range. Conditions looked promising for a full day of competition but event organizers were only able to run five heats of Round 2 due to strong winds making conditions very tough for competitors with Heat 5 also experiencing lengthy lulls.

Rankings leaders Adriano de Souza and Filipe Toledo were never really pushed by the Fijian wildcards Inia Nakalevu and Aca Ravulo in Heats 1 & 2 with ADS posting a pair of 6’s and Toledo a pair of 5’s.

ADS looked much better today blasting his calculated backhand snaps on some of the biggest waves of the event so far. Toledo again fell off a lot looking very light on his feet. His small frame at times being man handled by the Cloudbreak power.

Dane Reynolds on the other hand was executing some serious man turns. Reynolds overcame a frustrated Josh Kerr in Heat 3 who never found his rhythm in Rounds 1 & 2. Reynolds attacked the Cloudbreak lineup on his backhand with his open face carves and tight top turns moving plenty of water. Reynolds also looked much better second time around and seems to be finding his groove. Kerr leaves Fiji with a 25th placing and a sore head after head butting his board in a free surf session, his early exit will see him drop out of the top 5.

A slight increase in the swell and a different board and everyone is talking about Kelly Slater again. Slater posted the highest score of the event so far in Heat 4 (18.70) that included the single highest wave score of the event (9.93) - see vide below. Like we have seen so many times before Slater somehow came out of a crazy barrel travelling through multiple sections which he followed up with a backhand snap and another pig dog pit on the inside. His board today looked on point, a step up 5’11 Channel Islands. Slater’s opponent Jay Davies struggled once in combination but showed he would be a valuable asset to the Tour if rewarded with a full-time gig.

Conditions had really deteriorated by Heat 5 for Owen Wright and Aritz Aranburu. Both surfers struggled in the inconsistent and wind swept line up with Aritz holding the lead for the majority of the heat. With ten minutes remaining Owen decided to lift anchor and get busy taking off on a few smaller waves for a 3.77 and 6.33 that ended up being enough to move him through to Round 3.

Julian Wilson and CJ Hobgood will be up next when competition resumes more than likely tomorrow. On the scrapheap so far, 4 Wildcards and the No. 4 on the rankings. And according to Swellnet forecaster Craig Brokensha, we're looking at similar sized waves tomorrow (5-6ft), possibly with a few bigger bombs in the 6-8ft range. Winds should tend more E/SE which is a little better for Cloudbreak, so hopefully this will allow for a full day of competition. //STEVE HARRISON