Quiksilver Pro Fiji, May 31, 2002. Tavarua Rights. (L-R) Kalani Robb, Shane Dorian, Taylor Knox and Kelly Slater. They all lost in the contest the day before and decided to head to town on the mainland for a night of commiserating. You know how that goes, losers drinking too much resulting in fine hangovers! They returned by boat after midnight in the perilous darkness and were back on the island for finals day.
The contest only had three heats left, two semis and a final. The whole contest brigade went out to Cloudbreak to finish those three heats, but only one semi was run that morning in maxing Cloudbreak, which was considered too dangerous and not good enough to run heats. Officials and contestants decided to head back to Tavarua and finish the contest at Restaurants. On their way back from Cloudbreak, all the boats drove right by the scene featured in this photo without anyone noticing how good it was.
Unfortunately, the wind was onshore, and the waves were only about four feet in size at Restaurants. Mick Lowe, the quintessential Australian, won with Shea Lopex in second. Mick was a very popular winner who loved everything about Tavarua, especially the barrelling left-hand waves and fishing.
Meanwhile, back on the island, Kelly and friends heard that Tavi Rights was firing. The onshore wind at Restaurants is perfect offshore on that side of the island. Waves were about eight-foot Hawaiian with super ledgy take-offs, sheet glass conditions and draining barrels. Dorian calls it the hardest take-off in the area, including Cloudbreak. So ledgy that backing out is often required at the last second. They snuck out there without anyone else noticing until they broke some boards and needed replacements. Todd Kline caught wind of what was going on and notified a photog who was able to sneak out there also unnoticed.
This shot shows them all hiding from the intense heat behind their boards, the sun’s impact amplified by the previous night’s drinking. You can see the next wave coming, thick and powerful about to unload on the shallow Fijian reef. Eventually, the tide got too low, and the session ended. No one else on the island had a clue about what had gone down.
