Round 1 of the J-Bay Open kicked off in very ordinary waves that got worse as the day progressed. When the World Surf League describes one of the world’s best pointbreaks as ‘challenging’, you know it certainly wasn’t up to spec. 

Even with the conditions as bad as they were, the Brazilians couldn't notch up a single heat win. Instead, it came down to wave selection and a strong rail game progressing the more experienced surfers through to Round 3.

The earlier heats saw reasonable conditions with heat wins to post-injury Michel Bourez over Brett Simpson and Taj Burrow, and Julian Wilson over Alejo Muniz and Miguel Pupo.

CJ Hobgood won the first of three all-goofy heats against an in-form Kai Otton and Owen Wright; showing that experience will pay dividends at JBay.

Dane Reynolds is causing the Swellnet Form Guide somewhat of a contradiction, with a convincing win over Adam Melling and Filipe Toledo.

Called in for the late injury exit of Matt Banting, Cape Town surfer Michael February gave some cause for concern for Mick Fanning as he scored above the lip when the onshores kicked in around Heat Five. But in usual fashion, Mick controlled the heat sending February and also Brazilian Tomas Hermes into round two.

Kolohe Andino took to the skies in the last 10 seconds to beat Adriano de Souza and Slade Prestwich.

Heat Seven saw a strong match up with powerhouses Josh Kerr, Sebastian Zietz and Dusty Payne. Kerr impressed with controlled air manoeuvres and vicious hacks to get the win over Zietz and Payne.

At this event in 2014 Matt Wilkinson knocked out Kelly Slater. Well.. Slater certainly got one back beating both Wilko and coach in Glen Hall by comboing both surfers after eight minutes. Slater may make a mockery of us after shunting him for a result here, showing renewed passion and topping the round’s highest heat score of 17.00.

Adrian Buchan won the second of the all-goofy affairs over Nat Young and Wiggolly Dantas. Then Freddy Pattachia won the third over Jadson Andre and Italo Ferreira.

Jordy Smith looked out of form with his recent knee injury loosing to Bede Durbidge who also beat Kiwi Ricardo Christie.

The final heat of Round 1 probably created the most talked-about moment of the day, after Keanu Asing claimed four ugly half-turn foam climbs for a 7.10. Joel Parkinson then needed a 8.76 in the dying seconds and although he produced the only clean three-turn wave of the heat, he received an 8.10 from the judges and fell short. Parko accompanied an unconvincing Gabriel Medina into Round 2.

Looking ahead at Round 2, and even WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow isn't convinced that surf conditions will be confidently contestable. However, given the forecast they may not have any other choice but to push on, of which there are rumours of crossover heats for Rounds 2 and 3. It’s quite likely the WSL will utilise ‘challenging’ as an adjective once again over the coming days.

So with conditions looking somewhat dicey for the foreseeable future, it looks like the more experienced surfers will continue to dominate proceedings. Fanning, Slater, Bourez, Reynolds and Wilson are all stand outs based on current form.

Round 2 will be hard to pick but fruitful if you can get on the right multis. The most interesting match up of Round 2 is Heat 2: Filipe Toledo vs Michael February. Toledo was quiet in Round 1 and February showed how competent he is in the air against Fanning. It could go either way but the bookies will have Toledo a clear favourite.

Otherwise, the WSL’s current Ranking One, Two and Three surfers have all been relegated to the knock out Round 2 against ring-ins, and are most likely to compete in average conditions. These outcomes could weigh heavily on the remaining year's title chances.