“For a surfer this is heaven, this is as good as it gets,” says Kelly Slater of Tavarua Island, a widely held sentiment that you will hear echoed repeatedly over the coming days. Kelly leads the charge as assorted members of the world tour get barrelled off their faces at Restaurants just before the start of the waiting period. Josh Kerr meanwhile gets his face bashed in when he head butts the stringer of his board — but he is in Fiji, and we are not, and so we have no sympathy.