A fair amount of anticipation has surrounded the kickoff to the Rip Curl Pro Search 2011. Another new venue, a big city, and a surf spot that has it's share of personality.

Ocean Beach is renowned for angry locals, rip currents, sharks, and big winter peaks.

Day 1 would see all of those, except maybe the big winter peaks. Fun sized peaky surf and clean conditions started the day off before the wind shifted sideshore as the swell increased, making for lots and lots of paddling.

The morning started with Joel Parkinson having what he described as a potential heat winning wave taken from him by a local who refused to clear the lineup in Heat One. Local surfers are generally happy to have the world's best ripping apart their local beach. Not in Norcal. Locals up North don't seem to care much for ratings points, heat strategies, or your hipster surf blog. Joel went on to say that at that point he was already having a terrible heat so he wasn't going to complain to the contest director or anything like that.

Hawaiian Dusty Payne encountered a different kind of local in Heat Four. Dusty picked off an inside wave with 6 minutes left. He stonds stark upright, making to effort to surf the wave. He instead looks back over the shoulder and motions to the churning water behind him. Going straight in, despite still being behind in the heat, he is met by beach commentator Shmoo, where he steps in front of the camera, still visibly shaken.

"I've seen plenty of dolphins. That wasn't a dolphin. Biggest fin I've ever seen. Coming right at me."



Eek!

Kelly Slater moved within one heat of clinching his eleventh title by winning his Round One heat today. He will now need to win his Round Three heat to clinch. The champagne is on ice.

Several top seeded aussies fell in the roulette-type conditions at Ocean Beach. Parko, Owen, Mick, Julian, and Kerr all failed to win in Round One. Owen and Joel battled back in Round Two, with the rest yet to surf.

And Dane Reynolds showed up! The Ventura local took a little road trip up North to Frisco for some beers and some duckdives. Dane would finish his first heat one aerial short of victory, and due to deteriorating winds today, he will have to surf the first heat of the day tomorrow. Like most good beer drinkers, Daynolds is typically terrible in early morning heats, so this will be interesting..

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adam Melling (AUS) 12.50, Taylor Knox (USA) 10.80, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.50
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.60, Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.43, Dane Reynolds (USA) 9.00
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.67, John John Florence (HAW) 10.67, Daniel Ross (AUS) 7.00
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.10, Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.87, Tom Whitaker (AUS) N/S
Heat 5: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.67, Owen Wright (AUS) 6.10, Dillon Perillo (USA) 4.86
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.03, Kai Otton (AUS) 10.90, Dean Brady (AUS) 9.97
Heat 7: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 15.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.43, Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.33
Heat 8: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16.53, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.23, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 9.77
Heat 9: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.50, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.10, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.77
Heat 10: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.40, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.33, Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.37
Heat 11: Chris Davidson (AUS) 16.10, Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.26, Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.10
Heat 12: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.10, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.77, Brett Simpson (USA) 9.30

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 11.16 def. Dean Brady (AUS) 8.07
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.60 def. Dillon Perillo (USA) 6.50
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.57 def. Taylor Clark (USA) 8.76
Heat 4: Daniel Ross (AUS) 14.00 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.00

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 5: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Kai Otton (USA)
Heat 10: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 11: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 12: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)

The world's top surfers gathered this week for the first-ever ASP World Tour competition in San Francisco. They knew they'd have to contend with possible fog, bone-chilling wind and water temperatures.

They did not figure on sharks coming into play, but only four heats into Tuesday's opening round, Hawaii's Dusty Payne was frightened out of the water after spotting what he described as "the biggest fin I've ever seen in my life coming at me."

The surfer assured, "I've seen dolphins and it wasn't a dolphin."

Payne was competing against South Africa's Jordy Smith, who remained in the water long enough to easily win the heat.

[More on the Rip Curl Pro Search in San Francisco]

Lifeguards and rangers patrolled the lineup in an inflatable boat during a brief interruption and as the Rip Curl Search competition resumed. But one Bay Area shark expert questioned the wisdom of holding a surf contest in San Francisco at a time of year when dozens of white sharks are gathered at the Farallon Islands, 25 miles offshore, to fatten up on seals and sea lions.

"You wouldn't hold a blind hop-scotch competition on the interstate freeway. You just wouldn't do it because it's insane," said Patric Douglas, a commercial shark-diving tour operator and CEO of the Shark Diver company. "You could also say it's a middle finger to the white sharks, because it's their habitual range, and the arrogance to assume that nothing is going to go on ... the fact that they saw a fin should have closed that contest out."

San Francisco is within the so-called Red Triangle, which extends from Bodega Bay north of San Francisco to just beyond the Farallon Islands, to just south of Monterey. The triangle is notorious white shark habitat.

On Saturday a surfer was bitten by what is believed to have been a large white shark just north of Monterey. He sustained moderate injuries to his shoulder and neck and the shark tore a 19-inch chunk from his board. Since 1926, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, there have been four unprovoked attacks off San Francisco, 10 off Marin County and nine off Monterey. The last fatal attack off San Francisco occurred in 1959.

But surfers are a different lot and realize the danger posed by sharks. The Rip Curl competition is being staged at Ocean Beach, where ordinary surfers grace the lineup on a given day, when there are waves.

The ASP World Tour features events in South Africa, Hawaii, Australia, Tahiti and other locations known as being shark haunts. Besides, the implications of the Rip Cur event are huge, as Kelly Slater is trying to clinch his 11th world title.

Most tour surfers have seen sharks, but not massive great whites, which Payne claims to have seen.

[Kelly Slater pays tribute to his fallen rival on the eve of his 11th world title]

When asked about how shark sightings might affect competitions, ASP spokesman Dave Prodan forwarded a rule that explains heats can be stopped when the is "extreme danger potential as decided by a majority of the Contest Director, the ASP Head Judge and Surfer Representative."

Article 106.02 states, "If a Surfer feels they are in danger due to shark or similar creature attack and they leave the water the head judge must stop the heat and use the above procedure [continuous horn blasts] to warn fellow heat surfers, even if the head judge can't see the danger."

That did not happen Tuesday, Prodan explained, because the incident occurred toward the end of the heat and "there wasn't ample time for the [Payne] to advise the contest directors of the situation, so there was no heat stop."

Smith, however, was well aware of what was going on. "I saw his face and he was spooked," Smith said of Payne.

The Rip Curl event will run over the next several days, barring incident.

-- Images showing Dusty Payne (top, in action, and bottom wearing cap) and the contest venue at Ocean Beach are courtesy of ASP/ Cestari/Kirstin

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To give you an idea of just how good Peniche's Supertubos is, the day started with Jordy Smith and wildcard Bruno Santos trading 6 gaping barrels back to back until one of them finally fell on a wave. Not all of them were scoring rides, but when's the last time you surfed a wave where you can get 6 tubes in ten minutes?

Round 2 was given the green light early this morning, in building swell and stellar conditions. With the swell peaking, today was a marathon of action, running a whopping 20 heats in ten hours.

Absolutely every competitor got barreled off their head today, which begs the question, did anybody really lose?

Well yes. Jordy Smith, Mick Fanning, Josh Kerr, and almost every single Brazilian, 5 of 7 in the draw, including a rampaging Gabriel Medina. In fact, Heitor Alves is the only Brazilian to make Round Four, with Adriano yet to surf Round Three. Typically the Brazilians dominate in the beachbreak events on tour, as their country is as famous for gutless beachbreak surf as thonged buns. Unfortunately for the passionate peoples, this is no ordinary beachbreak. As the name implies, Supertubos is far heavier than most sandbars, breaking almost right on dry sand with every bit of raw Atlantic energy intact when the wave detonates. It has even earned the nickname of 'Portuguese Pipeline.'

Keeping this in mind, it should come as no surprise that all 3 Hawaiian surfers in the event are slicing through the draw like butter. Freddy P took out World Number Three Jordy Smith in Round Three, with a masterful tuberiding display. Dusty Payne also looked very at home in the gaping pits, easily out surfing Jadson Andre. Not to be out-done, super-rookie John John Florence turned in one of the best performances of the year against poor Ace Buchan. His 19.53 heat total is almost as incredible as the fact that he threw away a 9.5, a 7.67, and a pair of 7's. His throwaway scores would have won every heat in Round Two. The youngster will now face title contender Owen Wright in heat 12 tomorrow.

Also of note, Kai Otton and Julian Wilson has an absolute slug-fest in their round 3 clash, with both surfers dropping 9 plus rides all heat before Julian was able to seal it with a 9.7 at the end. Poor Kai had a near perfect 18.40 heat total and still lost.

The swell is forecasted to taper off over the next three days, so look for another marathon day of tuberiding tomorrow.



RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL ROUND 2 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.74 def. Bruno Santos (BRA) 10.97
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.10 def. Francisco Alves (BRA) 6.57
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.83 def. Justin Mujica (PRT) 8.64
Heat 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.77 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 15.23
Heat 5: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.43 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.90
Heat 6: John John Florence (HAW) 19.53 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.97
Heat 7: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.50 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.20
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.04 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 15.87
Heat 9: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.97 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 13.93
Heat 10: Dusty Payne (HAW) 16.63 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.27
Heat 11: Travis Logie (ZAF) 16.43 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 14.76
Heat 12: Taylor Knox (USA) 13.73 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 9.30

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.57 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 8.43
Heat 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 16.33 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 15.30
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 19.13 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 18.40
Heat 4: Chris Davidson (AUS) 14.10 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 5.10
Heat 5: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.77 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.20
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.86 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 16.37
Heat 7: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.06 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.90
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 18.33 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.17

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. John John Florence (HAW)

Day one of the Dane and Jordy comeback campaign party, aka the Quik Pro France, got the green light this morning amidst a rising swell and annoyingly full tide.

A pair of rib-injuries have sidelined the two surfers from the last 2 events, and knee surgery just before the start of the season has kept Dane drunk and dry for the events before that.

Jordy was hot in the title hunt at the time of his rib-ing and being forced to sit in his mansion with his supermodel girlfriend while Owen and Kelly started trading victories was a real rough one for the saffa. "it's been the toughest thing in my life" he said after his heat today, which he narrowly won over wildcard Marc Lacomare and Kieren Perrow.

Jordy also said he's at about 75%, his ribs are still hurting, especially while paddling, which must be a nightmare in the shifting French Beachbreaks.

Dane's first world tour heat since the Pipe Masters last December went just about how most of Dane's competitive surfing goes. An overall lackadaisical approach punctuated by moments of sheer brilliance.

Taking on world number two Owen Wright and Chris Davo, Dane flopped around the lineup for literally the whole heat, falling on everything, before finally nabbing a running righthander with a minute left. He bobbled the first turn, stood there for a second, then raced off down the lines launching a massive full rotation slob air reverse and sticks it. The judges didn't like the bobble and he falls less than a point short, even with a 3.93 as his backup score.

Dane's second world tour heat since the Pipe Masters last December went just about the same way. Until the very end. This time he faces Brazilian Adriano De Souza. Quite the contrasting approaches, to say the least. Passive vs Passion, Power vs Speed, Style vs Stink-bug-stance.

Dane sits on his hands for almost the entire heat before waking up with about 5 minutes left. Catching a rare left, Dane crushes two massive hooks in the lip for a high 8, quickly backed up with a 5 that he surfed with uncharacteristic caution, almost as if he wanted to win the heat or something.

So after two shaky starts, it seems mr. Reynolds has found his footing, even displaying a hint of competitive strategy. Dane's comeback tour continues into round 3...

In other notable news, Parko suffered a shock elimination to Moroccan wildcard Ramzi Boukhiam in a low scoring round 2 heat. Parko is probably cussing with Luke Egan about this as we speak.

Look for action to resume at 8 am local time, which is about 11 pm on the best coast. i mean west coast.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 11.06, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.77, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.57
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.17, John John Florence (HAW) 9.13, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.00
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.20, Brett Simpson (USA) 15.33, Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.33
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.60, Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.26, Chris Davidson (AUS) 2.50
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.10, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 9.83, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 2.93
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 10.00, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 9.00, Ramzi Boukhiam (MOR) 2.00
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.53, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 10.83, Kai Otton (AUS) 6.83
Heat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.43, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 6.80, Dusty Payne (HAW) 3.16
Heat 9: Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.03, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.26, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 7.60
Heat 10: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.26, Daniel Ross (AUS) 9.39, Heitor Alves (BRA) N/S
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.00, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.53, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 7.83
Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.90, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 5.93, Josh Kerr (AUS) 4.33

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Ramzi Boukhiam (MOR) 9.20 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.84
Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.67 def. Marc Lacomare (FRA) 7.50
Heat 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.06 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.60

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 6: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 9: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 10: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 12: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)