It’s been a good couple of hours now and the world at large is still struggling to comprehend Kelly’s, um, turn.
Footage of it has even crossed into the mainstream media, a feat that previously required the involvement of a large shark and the cast iron nerve of Mick Fanning.
Now, it’s fair to say the history of competitive surfing is littered with amazing performances, tubes and turns but till now there’s only ever been one that mattered.
When Tom Carroll jammed his Rawson off the bottom during the ‘91 Pipe Masters the surfing world held its collective breath. When he unleashed his full fury off the top seconds later, The Snap was born.
Again, since then, there’s been perfect 10’s, perfect 20’s and a myriad of bits and pieces in between that have gone straight into surfing folklore but ask any surfer for the one move that mattered? The Snap.
That is, of course, until now.
Sure it wasn’t Pipe; sure it only scored a 4.17, but have a good look at that thing and ask yourself, was that the greatest single turn in the history of surfing?
Geez, it’s gotta be close.
Scroll to 0:22 to see the famous TC Snap at Pipe.