It has come to this. I'm now using twitter for news and entertainment. In my defense, it was KELLY SLATER's twitter I was twatching.

If anyone here is opposed to Kelly Slater winning his eleventh world title this year, you should probably just leave the room, then leave this planet, and never come back.

Kelly was able to win his 3-man Round Four heat today, after a massive fog bank squatted down onto the beach all morning, causing an incredibly annoying delay for hours. The waves were good once the air cleared though, and La Graviere offered up overhead peaks and light winds. The heat win was not an easy one for Kelly, with Gabe Medina nipping his heels and nearly getting him in the end. Kelly's margin of victory was 0.03 points.

Owen seemed to be a bit off all day, losing his Round Four heat in uncharacteristic fashion, then squandered opportunities and lost to Jordy in Round Five. To his credit, Jordy surfed very well, but he is still carrying a mcrib-injury and the in-form Owen of late should have had no trouble getting past him. Owen must now focus on Portugal which starts next week, and pray that Kelly loses tomorrow.

With his heat win today, Kelly has booked another spot in the quarterfinals, and locked in a guaranteed keeper of a result. This is crucial for Kelly, as he already has his two throwaway results, a 13th in Brazil and a no-show in Africa. He will now face Gabriel Medina once again in Quarterfinal Two, and with a dying swell, look for Medina to be in his element, small peaky beachbreak. You can bet Owen will be pulling for Gabe in that one.

If you were a betting man, you'd be foolish not to put your money on Ke11y at this point. Sure there's a lot that can happen between now and December, like say a martian attack or asteroid, but beyond that Kelly has every conceivable advantage at this point. A huge ratings lead, the experience, the backing. In fact, the only possible edge anyone could have on him would be age. Kelly is almost forty, but has apparently figured out a way to avoid aging. The guy is not only keeping up with the kids and their tricks, he's doing them bigger and doing them under pressure. Remember his 10 against Taj in New York?

Today the question is still "Who will win the title?", for now, but a few more heat wins for Kelly and that question will quickly become "When will Kelly win the title?".

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.57, Taylor Knox (USA) 11.17, Jeremy Flores (FRA) N/S
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.83, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.80, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 7.83
Heat 3: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.10, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.03
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.43, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.13, Owen Wright (AUS) 11.10

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 13.50 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.53
Heat 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) Advances Over Jeremy Flores (FRA) *Flores withdraws due to ankle injury sustained in Round 3 of competition.
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.74 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 10.53
Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.16 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 9.86

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)
QF 3: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
QF 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)

With a diminishing swell in the water, and a more promising forecast on paper, the call was made for a lay-day at the Quik Pro France and re-assess conditions in the morning, which if you're on the west coast, is around 11 pm tonight(!).

Round 3 was dusted yesterday, setting up the much anticipated no-losers round 4 heats. With 3 surfers, no priority, and a second chance round 5 for the the runners up, this round has produced some electric surfing out of the boys this year.

Kelly and Owen are still in the event, and poised at opposite sides of the draw once again. Taj is the only title contender still alive, this is looking like a two-horse race down the stretch here...

Below are the days highlights from the event so far.

High tides, rip currents, onshore wind, and lull-y swell have forced contest director Miky Picon to call off competition today after running only 5 heats of round 2.

This is the second day in a row where ideal swell and conditions have failed to produce the proper grinding tubes we've come to expect. The sand bank at La Graviere is stellar by all accounts, with a defined peak offering long rights and lefts, but the tide always seems too high, and the backwash has made tuberiding difficult.

Even with the jet ski assist, competitors are doing an awful lot of duck-diving. Joel Parkinson snapped a board in his round 1 heat and with 8 minutes to go, was unable to make it back out through the rip to get one more score.

Obviously I'm not in France, but this is one of the best beachbreaks on earth, with ideal conditions, and yet we are seeing a lot of single digit heat totals. Is there perhaps a better bank for these tides down the beach? I think we'd all like to see a repeat of last year's meat-grinder barrels.

The weekend is shaping up to be an incredible one in terms of waves, so say tuned for the contest to be back on shortly.



QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.10 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.76
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.00 def. John John Florence (HAW) 11.86
Heat 6: Kai Otton (AUS) 12.60 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 12.13
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.43 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.60
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.57 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 11.50

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
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)

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)