Kelly Slater started off strong in Sydney but was unable to continue that form when he came up against two Brazilians in marginal conditions of half a metre. Jessé Méndes and Alex Ribeiro left the 11-time champion in the dust, finishing fourth, also behind Frenchman Charly Quivront.

Slater was out of tune with the waves and also the battle that is the QSs in which an aerial on a 20 centimeter wave makes the difference.

This is what Mendes and Ribeiro did, who even ended up finding a couple of lefts in which they executed more classic turns (in the waves that the 11-time champion was looking for).

“I couldn’t find the waves,” said Slater, who was announced by the event press as he would remain in Manly doing shaping demonstrations and surfing a demonstration heat against Tom Carroll.

For his part, Uruguayan Marco Giorgi managed to advance to round 4 at the last second of his series and guaranteed himself the best result of the year (at least 17th, which adds up to 1.050 points) and came close to entering the top 50 (the Uruguayan is now 139th in the ranking).

Vicente Romero surfed well but failed to get past Squires, Camarao and Hermes, but he left Australia with two very good third rounds.

Miguel Tudela and Alonso Correa from Peru, who are ranked in the same series, remain to compete.

Meanwhile, among the ladies, the only Hispanic American in the competition is Brisa Hennessy from Costa Rica, who advanced first with an excellent total of 17 points.