Hawaiian Ezekiel Lau, one of the best surfers in the world at Sunset, suffered a painful defeat on the second day of the second CT of the year.

With 18 seconds to go, a wave came, it was Rio Waida who was more on the outside and it was Lau. In the live broadcast they clearly showed the change of priority with a minute and a half to go in the tournament, but it seemed from the water, the signs and the watches, that the change of priority was not reported until seconds before the wave came.

This is what Italian Leo Fioravanti, who ended up winning the series, told. He said that as a good friend, Lau was helping him get through the series, playing defense against Waida, with nothing to lose, being in first place.

Fioravanti saw that seconds before the wave came they changed the priority and he shouted to Lau but it was too late, the Hawaiian took over and out of nowhere he went from being first in the series to being out of the championship.

“I hope they see it again (…) If they change the priority, they should have done it at the time, as soon as they thought Zeke had paddled for that wave and not just before that wave came.”

For the Italian, the Hawaiian's stroke was not so clear and the judges must have reviewed it and that is why it took so long, but for a situation like this "it was a very delayed decision."

Coming out of the water, the Hawaiian gestured his displeasure and shouted a "what the fuck" that was heard on the broadcast. He ran straight to complain at the judges' tower.

In situations of interference call errors the rule book stipulates that a set may be re-surfed.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by DUKEsurf.com (@duke_surf)