Nearly one year ago during the Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz, California, which was a 6-star event at the time, Dusty Payne compressed his left ankle on a routine frontside air, tearing ligaments in the process. The immediate pain didn’t quite reflect the severity of the injury, leading Dusty to keep surfing on it, which only made it worse.

After some 10 months of rehab in California and Oregon, Dusty returned to competition at the Billabong Pro Tahiti in August.

Below are some of his free surf sessions from the European leg of the tour, which just wrapped up in Portugal.

Now Dusty will be returning to the scene of the accident to surf Steamer Lane for this year’s Cold Water Classic, which has been upgraded to a World Tour event and should commence Thursday.