As commentator Ronnie Blakey notes, Kai Otton only knows one way, and that’s to go as hard as possible. It’s in his DNA. This means that when he’s presented with a giant Cloudbreak closeout breaking over the notoriously shallow “Shish Kebabs” section, his brain tells him just to keep on going — in the same way brains usually tell people to pursue healthy and attractive men/women, consume food and drink on a regular basis and avoid life-threatening situations at all costs. It also means that occasionally he gets rather better acquainted than he would like with razor-sharp coral reef, as was the case yesterday in his quarter-final heat with Jeremy Flores, which Kai was unfortunately unable to finish. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to be too badly injured, and he’s hopeful he’ll be fit and ready for the next event at Jeffrey’s Bay.

After being patched up on the boat by the doctors, he spoke to Todd Klein.