Joel on his way to winning his round of 96 heat this morning at 10-foot Margaret River this morning.

“Just some wild old confusing ocean out there this morning.

“Paddled out on a 6’8” – the only longer board I’ve got – and had to work out where the hell I was. One set would break 30 metres inside of me, then the next set would break 30 metres out to sea. I was lucky to get a couple of decent ones, did a couple of cutdowns, and it was enough to get me through the heat.

“Unfortunately, that means I’ve got to surf again this arvo, when the wind is supposed to be stronger and the waves about four foot bigger. Can’t wait! Just scoffing some breakfast on the barbie now to fuel up… there’s going to be a lot of paddling this afternoon!”

Joel’s next heat will hit the water about 2.30pm local time this afternoon… 4.30pm over on the east coast. You can watch it here.

Just driven down last night to Margaret River. Haven’t been down to Margies in a while for the contest, so I’m pretty stoked to be back. Looks like there is a bit of swell still around later in the week, so I can’t wait to get amongst it. In the meantime there are always a few cheeky local reds to sample. At least it’s taking my mind off the waves back home which are smoking!!

It was an interesting week at the Quiksilver Pro all right.

Probably a little disappointed that I didn’t make it further than the quarters, because I felt I was surfing really well and I was in good rhythm. I just had the misfortune of drawing Dane. Everyone on tour has known that Dane has had that heat in him for two years, and we were all wondering when we were going to see it. Unfortunately, the bastard unleashed it in my heat! I could hear the crowd going nuts and I figured he was on fire. I finally got to watch the replay later that night on Fuel and it was pretty amazing what he was doing. It’ll be great for the Tour if he can keep surfing like that for the rest of the year, I just hope it doesn’t happen again against me. I was really happy with the way I surfed though in the contest. It’s a different year with a different feel to it, and I’m happy to walk away with a 5th and will be looking to do well at Bells and really get things rolling. I reckon the great thing about the contest at Snapper was the level of surfing. Guys seem to be really pushing themselves, and it’s going to be a pretty huge year. It was hard to single anyone out because just about everyone surfed above themselves. It was great to see Taj chalk up another win… he’s on such a roll at the moment.

I’ve got a week at home for some solid surfing and training, then I head to Margies to surf the QS event over there. I love that place so much that I’m really pumped about being back there. I’m psyching on Bells though, and reckon a week in a steamer and some cold water swell at Margies will be good preparation for it.