https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUoAkdBH_7s

Margaret River’s been a riot so far — thanks in no small part to the phenomenon that is the Box — and yesterday saw the best day of competition yet. Jay Davis continues to swat giants like flies, the Margarets local being something of a colossus himself — he dispatched 2013’s world champion Mick Fanning just as he did 2014’s the day before. Adam Melling was dealt the most brutal bollocking of the event yet (watch it in full here); Kai Otton, grabbing the bull by the horns and his board by the rail, successfully threaded his way through the wave of the morning; and John John Florence, utterly unruffled by anything the Box could throw at him, breezed insouciantly through to Round 4 without even the slightest suggestion of effort. And nor, this time, did the excitement abate when the heats were moved to the main break. Kelly Slater surfed in the day’s final heat, and sure as buggery blew everyone else out the water, accumulating what was by some margin the day’s highest heat total — 19.50, including a perfect 10, which you can watch in full here. Roll on Round 4.

In the women’s event, the first round of which was completed at the main break, Tyler Wright, Sally Fitzgibbons and Courtney Conlogue — in that order — were the standouts, all of them posting heat scores over 15. Steph Gilmore won her heat despite only surfing a single wave — an 8.33 that prompted Ross Williams to exclaim “What a pimp!” — and Coco Ho surfed a perfect heat, recording a combined total of 0.0, her scorecard unsullied. Full results below:

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Round 3 Results:

Heat 1: Jordy Smith (inj.) vs. Jeremy Flores *Flores advances

Heat 2: Michel Bourez 15.23 def. Kai Otton 10.94

Heat 3: John John Florence 15.20 def. Adam Melling 6.10

Heat 4: Sebastian Zietz 14.30 def. Joel Parkinson 7.50

Heat 5: Nat Young 13.50 def. Miguel Pupo 12.37

Heat 6: Jay Davies 16.83 vs. Mick Fanning 13.90

Heat 7: Adriano de Souza 9.60 def. Ricardo Christie 4.37

Heat 8: Julian Wilson 7.50 def. Adrian Buchan 6.77

Heat 9: Taj Burrow 15.16 def. Freddy Patacchia Jr. 15.04

Heat 10: Josh Kerr 14.50 def. Italo Ferreira 13.66

Heat 11: Owen Wright 16.33 def. Jadson Andre 12.50

Heat 12: Kelly Slater 19.50 def. Glenn Hall 11.03

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Round 4 Match-ups:

Heat 1: Jeremy Florence, Michel Bourez, John John Florence

Heat 2: Sebastian Zietz, Nat Young, Jay Davies

Heat 3: Adriano de Souza, Julian Wilson, Taj Burrow

Heat 4: Josh Kerr, Owen Wright, Kelly Slater

Heat 1: L. Peterson 8.60 def. J. Defay 8.57 and N. Van Dijk 5.00

Heat 2: S. Fitzgibbons 16.60 def. T. Weston-Webb 13.50 and A. Quizon

Heat 3: C. Moore def. C. Bevilacqua 5.60 and C. Ho 0.00

Heat 4: S. Gilmore 8.33 def. B. Buitendag and S. Erickson

Heat 5: T. Wright 16.74 def. S. Lima 8.50 and L. Enever 5.23

Heat 6: C. Conlogue 15.54 def. M. Manuel 13.67 and D. Stoyle 2.23