From: montage
Slater was amassing inhuman heat totals in his heats leading up to the final: 19.50, 18.70, 19.30. But Slater's wave magnetism seemed to disappear in the final. Meanwhile, Adriano made his way into the final by way of some razor thin margins of victory, including the final which was decided by .95.
Consider two representations of two very big waves, below. The first is a photograph of Mike Parsons at Cortes Bank. The second is a video of Garrett McNamara near Nazare, Portugal. Now take out some measuring tape and make the distance of one foot between your hands. That's the amount, according to the Billabong XXL committee, that McNamara's wave is bigger than Parsons's wave.