Do you remember back in 2011 when the ASP decided in their infinite wisdom to introduce the mid-year rotation, a short-lived idea that involved dropping a handful of the lowest ranked surfers on the WCT and replacing them with that year’s best performers so far from the QS? And then when Bobby Martinez, in a post-heat interview at the Quik Pro in New York, the last event before the cut-off, went on his famous rant about the ASP and its “dumb fucking wannabe tennis tour”?

Then you may also remember that one of the surfers to get the call halfway through the year was Gabes Medina, who at just seventeen years old was way out in front in the WQS ratings.

First he won the Quik Pro in France, just the second event following his promotion, taking out Julian Wilson in a closely contested final (more on that rivalry later). On his way to victory Medina dispatched a certain Kelly Slater in the quarters, and racked up the two highest wave scores of the event in his semi against Taylor Knox, including a perfect 10 for a colossal air-reverse. Then two events later he won Rip Curl Search event in San Francisco, becoming the first surfer to win two events in his rookie year since, yes, Bobby Martinez.

But Medina managed to do it in less than half a year. Aged 17. In the words of Bobby himself, “Come on now, that’s bullshit!”