After 11 consecutive lay days, Round 2 finally got underway in two to three foot conditions with Mick Fanning against Dane Reynolds in Heat 1. Mick Fanning utilised the knowledge of his home break with the highest score of the heat with a 8.50. In fairly slow conditions, Fanning kept busy and took the heat with 15.50 against Reynolds’ 9.43..

Dane Reynolds

Kelly Slater hadn’t been in a round 2 heat since 2007 and took on trials winner local Jack Freestone. Freestone struggled to find his flow losing a heat and Slater utilised his priority winning the heat 13.33 against Freestone’s 10.63.

Kelly Slater

Heat 3 saw wildcard Irishman Glenn ‘Micro’ Hall take on Tahitian Michel Bourez and made it through to round 3 with a win of 12.77 against 11.67, making it through the first upset of the day.

Adriano De Souza

A clash between veterans Adriano de Souza against wildcard CJ Hobgood in heat 4. Hobgood switched to a more buoyant board halfway through the heat but de Souza still took the heat with 13.83 against Hobgood’s 11.00.

After a few hours break, heat 5 resumed with Taj Burrow kicking off with an 8.00 ride against New Zealand rookie Ricardo Christie. Burrow’s 15.17 score beat Christie’s 9.84 who couldn’t find the waves in the slow conditions.

Ricardo Christie

Heat 6 saw some more swell on offer but with unpredictable bigger waves rolling through. The heat saw a close heat with Josh Kerr winning the heat with 12.74 in front of his home crowd against Brett Simpson’s 10.40.

Jeremy Flores and Kolohe Andino took advantage of the increased energy in the waves and went head to head heat with less than a point separating the competitors with Andino moving through to round 3 with 15.83 against Flores’ 15.53.

Jeremy Flores

Heat 7 kicked off with Owen Wright’s first wave scoring a 8.93, one of the best of the day. Asing struggled to find a high scoring wave and lost the heat with 12.33 to Wright’s 16.60.

Adrian Buchan took on another rookie and fellow goofy footer, Italo Ferreira. Buchan was selective in his wave choice and just missed out on going through to round 3 with rookie Ferreira taking the win over 11.67 to Buchan’s 11.10, the second upset for round 2.

Filipe Toledo showed his dynamic style and power in heat 10 to beat Adam Melling who scored a 13.10 against Toledo’s 16.47.

Adam Melling

Rookie Wiggolly Dantas took to the water against Kai Otton and after being in combo Wiggolly broke out with a 14.16 just beating Otton’s 13.93 to go through to round 3.

Miguel Pupo and Jadson Andre started heat 12 at sunset with Pupo scoring a 7.00 on his first wave. Andre struggled to find the right positioning and couldn’t match Pupo’s 14.10 with a 10.00.

Wiggolly Dantas