The brightest news coming out of Torquay on Saturday was the real Andy Irons showed up. Mind you, this wasn't the Andy Irons that showed up at the Quiksilver Pro -- the one who looked like he'd been on vacation for year and wasn't entirely sure he was ready to for it to end.

The Andy we saw at Bells Saturday looked much more lot like the Andy Irons with three world titles. And if that Andy lights up a few more of these tour parties this year could get a lot more interesting in a hurry.

Granted, it was only one heat. But Irons got psyched for his Round One heat, and ended up sending Dane Reynolds to the losers bracket by taking the win. He was excited about the win too. "It feels great it's been a long week of just getting up early like a fire drill but it's just something I do here," Irons said. "I want to be ready for that and having Dane (Reynolds) and Nate (Yeomans), I really respect their surfing. Dane is one of my favorite guys to watch and to get a win over him it feels awesome."

Irons admits he was disappointed by his performance at Snapper, but he's put his early round loss in the rear view mirror. "To be out at Snapper and see how good the surfing came up in the last year and a half, I had to go back into training and get my boards dilated out and now I'm way more motivated for this contest."

Before his heat on Saturday Irons was candid with the press about his feelings toward jumping back into the fire. "I don't want to be one of those guys who says they don't care, just staying somewhere in the top 10 for a few more years. I want to win everything or I don't even want to be there.''

Andy during his Round One win at Bells. Photo: ASP/Robertson.