First light at Lower Trestles this morning revealed a relatively mediocre day of swell for the fabled peak in San Clemente. Luckily, an average day at Trestles with one guy out is pretty terrific by anyone's standards. While there is more favorable swell on the horizon later this week, Pat O'Connell decided to get round 2 done and dusted just in case those swells don't materialize.

The day was plagued with long lulls and soft, section-y peaks, making it difficult to grab the judges attention. Some very close heats today, with 7 of the 12 heats being decided by less than a point. Besides a couple minor upsets, the top seeds survived the round for the most part, setting up some amazing round 3 matchups.

Trials winner Conner Coffin got absolutely robbed in heat 2 up against Ace Buchan. The 2 traded mid range scores to start the heat, with Ace eventually connecting a long right with about 7 backside snaps, for an 8.67. Good wave, but surfed rather conservatively and without any variation. This leaves the youngwisetail out the back needing an 8 with a minute left. He snags a set wave, a righthand peak, just before the hooter, does a massive down carve, straight into a swooping snap to tailslide, comboed straight into a grab-rail blowtail reverse on the closeout. The crowd loves it. The judges... give him a 7.93. Conner loses by 0.07. To his credit he put on a smile and still did an interview, seemingly genuinely stoked to be there. I would have been throwing a tantrum like a 4 year old.

John John Florence and Jadson Andre turned in the highest heat totals of the day, both breaking 17 points out of 20 for their 2 scoring rides. While Jadson is very new to the tour, in his sophomore season on the WCT, John John is a super-rookie at this event. This was his first year doing the WQS, not exactly expecting to qualify. A final finish in giant barrels in Ballito, South Africa, a Prime rated event, vaulted him into the top 40 and made the qualifying dream seem shockingly real. With several strong finishes, including a 9th at the very next prime, the US Open put him just outside the bubble last month. He still doesn't expect to qualify at this point. he goes on a surf trip with Kai Neville to film for a new project. On this trip with John John is fellow Lost Atlas star Yadin Nicol, who has just clawed his way onto the tour after 3 years and 3 heartbreaking attempts. Yadin breaks his leg 2 weeks before Trestles. John John gets the call. He is now on the WCT as the 32nd seed for the remainder of the season. The young heir to the pipeline has gone from freesurfer to elite world tour competitor in record time. This is not just John John's rookie season, he just went from playing streetball to dunking on Kobe at Staples center. His heat win over Alejo Muniz exuded a confidence that most kids in his position would find impossible. Insert cheesy "new kid in town" analogy here.

The matchups for round 3 are looking phenomenal. Heat 5 will be an all out aerial assault as Josh Kerr takes on Gabriel Medina. After his huge heat win today, John John will face world number 2 Owen Wright tomorrow. Another aerial dogfight in heat 11 with aussies Julian WIlson and Matt Wilko getting it on. And finally, heat 12 sees Taylor Knox against Mick Fanning in a battle of vicious forehand carves.

With building swell, look for the contest to be back underway tomorrow here.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.27 def. Rob Machado (USA) 10.40
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.50 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 15.43
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 11.44 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 7.83
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.57 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 14.14
Heat 5: John Florence (HAW) 17.53 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.16
Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.10 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.63
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.46 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.53
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 11.10 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 10.60
Heat 9: Jadson Andre (BRA) 17.80 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.10
Heat 10: Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.87 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 14.80
Heat 11: Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.70 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 10.50
Heat 12: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.13 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.90

UPCOMING HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 5: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Tom Whitaker (AUS)
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. John Florence (HAW)
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (AUS)
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)

Another day of rideable surf at Praia de Itauna greeted the contestants of the Oakley Saquarema Prime today. The remaining heats in round one as well as the first 7 heats of round 2 were completed in soft backwashy lefts and rights.

Obviously still drunk from his Rio Pro victory party, Adriano de Souza, current world number 1, had a shocker in the first heat of the day. The diminutive Brazilian was unable to break into a double digit heat total, while his other three competitors battled for the top 2 spots. De Souza is known for his aggressive heat strategy, catching as many waves as possible to build on his scores, so a result like this is quite out of character. Luckily for him there is another prime event in Brazil 2 days after the completion of this one, in Santa Catarina.

Julian Wilson was another standout of the round. He started his heat with a near perfect 9.87 for a left where he was able to get a huge vertical backhand snap followed by fins out reverse. He then backed it up with a 8.47. The kid was on fire, posting the highest heat total of the entire event, 18.34.

Matt Wilkinson was unable to survive his brazilian nightmare in heat 3, where Jadson Andre and Raoni Monteiro were able to secure big scores to advance. Jadson was once again a standout of the day, scoring a 9.27 for a blistering series of rail turns finishing off with his patented blow-tail-reverse-to-fist-pump. Although it wouldn't end up being a scoring ride, Jadson also pulled off one of the more impressive comboes i've seen anyone throw. He managed to do 2 back to back air reverses on 2 consecutive sections, with barely a pump in between on a crumbly left.

The swell is dropping, but organizers are optimistic and will be checking the waves at 7 am Brazil time, which is 3 am West Coast time.

Full heat results here.

The next Surfer Poll category we will be discussing is "Breakthrough Performer". This category awards the surfer who has made the biggest leap into the spotlight in this past year. The nominees are: Jadson Andre, Owen Wright, Craig Anderson, and Chippa Wilson.

Jadson Andre: He's brazilian. He does frontside air reverses really really well. Jadson has taken what Adriano De Souza has done for Brazilian surfing and added the wow factor. He's a competitive machine, able to employ heat strategy, but also has the repertoire to get scores on one massive maneuver, which to this point has been the frontside air-reverse.

Owen Wright: On tour his nickname is "Avatar" for his height and athletic physique. He's looking good to claim rookie of the year honors over fellow nominee Jadson Andre, despite the fact that Jadson won the Brazil event this year. Owen has been far more consistent though, sitting at 7th in the world, avoiding early elimination in every single event, placing in the quarterfinals twice, and making the semis in Brazil. The kid has the power carves, the airs, and the striaght-edge, level-headed focus to be a fierce competitor. Owen represents Australia's new hope for world tour domination.

Craig Anderson: Another aussie on the list, but Craig Anderson is cut from a much different cloth than his compatriot Owen Wright. Ando has left the confines of competitive surfing far behind, and after a cameo in Modern Collective, has begun to make quite a name for himself. He is truly a remarkable combination of incredibly technical aerials, dripping with old skool style and poise. Ando will be gracing the glossy pages of surf mags for years to come. Oh, and watch the last air he does in the clip below...

Chippa Wilson: Chris 'Chippa' Wilson is the cinderella story of the bunch, rocketing from relative obscurity, flipping burgers in his hometown, to having a full blown surf career, complete with his own biopic movie, NOW. Stab mag's "Little Weeds" competition was designed specifically for this purpose, and Chippa should be kissing their bean-bags because he is now a household name. His skate-inspired technical tricks, coupled with a Clay Marzo-esque bag of tail whips, has Chippa on the forefront of progressive surfing. One things for sure, Chippa has paid his dues and he's here to make blow minds.

The remaining competitors in the Rip Curl Pro Portugal were greeted today with some lumpy but contestable conditions at the backup venue of Belgas for round 4. With 3 man heats and no elimination in this round, the world's best have the breathing room to really throw some fins. This fact was well illustrated in heat 4, which saw world number 2 Jordy Smith against the 2 rookie of the year candidates, Owen Wright and Jadson Andre. At 22, Jordy is the eldest of the bunch. The heat itself, which you can view below, looks like a bonus section from Modern Collective. The acrobatics displayed by these young guys is astonishing.

Brazil's trio of lanky fin-throwers dominated again on day 7 of the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.

The morning started with Gabriel Medina, Miguel Pupo and Jadson Andre in consecutive heats, and the three stunt pilots seemed to feed off each other.

All three won their heats in impressive fashion, pushing WCT leaders Jordy Smith, Bede Durbidge, and Mick Fanning into second place. Luckily for the stunned WCT-ers, the top 2 surfers advance into Saturday's man-on-man Round of 16.

As for the rest of the field, Florida's young gun Evan Gieselman had a shocker and was unable to land any of his signature air-reverses, thus falling to Cory Lopez and the suddenly hot Nic Muscroft in heat 4.

Dane Reynolds was able to sneak past Owen Wright in a low scoring heat that was more of a battle for last rather than air superiority. Nate Curran trailed early before pulling out two solid scores in the dying minutes, leaving Reynolds in second and knocking Wright out of the comp.

Kelly Slater put on another solid show for the crowd, winning his heat over Brazilians Adriano de Souza and Heitor Alves.

Defending US Open champion Brett Simpson won heat 8, advancing along with compatriot Pat Gudauskas. The draws for the Round of 16 are quite interesting, and the swell is on the rise Saturday which means there will be some serious fireworks.

Watch it live here.

Photo: Brazil's high flying junior, Miguel Pupo, is arguably the biggest surprise of this event so far. He's still going in both the Pro Junior and Open divisions.

Saturday's match ups: