Well of course he did. In his first heat of the day Slater paddled out on the same board he won the Eddie on in 2001/2002, but in Round 2 he opted for something a little different: a fluorescent yellow 8’6, probably a foot shorter than anything else ridden yesterday. Barely anybody gets barrelled at Waimea, even fewer make it out of there; fewer still were surprised that Kelly did both.

The most famous Waimea tube, incidentally, was ridden in the 1990 Eddie by Brock Little, who passed away last week.