Dane was in a supremely relaxed mood, it seemed, as he squared up with his nearest rival as world’s most progressive surfer, Jordy Smith. If there was something special at stake here, some statement to make or point to prove, Dane sure wasn’t showing it. He threw himself into the lip upside down and grabbing rail over and over again, before finally sticking one of his so-called Stinky Rolls. And his loose, improvised lines showed no hint of serious effort.

“Jordy can do everything Dane can do, but Dane free surfs his heats and Jordy contest surfs,” Bobby Martinez observed, as we watched their round two showdown at pumping Supertubes. I put this to Dane after his comprehensive win, with a thoroughly unconventional display.

“That’s the only way he can win , if he’s prepared he loses,” girlfriend Courtney remarked, before complimenting me on my green chord jacket. Both Dane and Courtney were delighted to learn that I had purchased said jacket from a Salvation Army thrift shop for $7, and an instant bond was formed.

How did you feel going into that heat?

This morning, I thought there was 1% chance of making that heat. I was scrambling for boards, I had these three old faithful boards that alway seem to work for me but for some reason J-Bay just isn’t kind to those boards. This wave is so tricky. I was that close to riding a twin fin in my heat because I couldn’t ride my shortboards. I borrowed some fins from Mick Fanning as a shot in the dark and somehow that board worked. It didn’t matter because I just got barreled. I had zero confidence but I went, the waves are pumping, at least get a tube. I’ll be happy to get a tube.

Everyone says, oh, Dane doesn’t care if he wins or loses, but do you care?

Yeah, absolutely, (At this critical juncture in the conversation, as Dane is about to reveal his secret, competitive inner soul, we are interrupted by a young father wanting to know if he can microvave his child’s baby food in Dane’s microwave. He agrees, and I try and rekindle the intimate moment) I like it, you know, but it’s just funny doing interviews. You’ve got to analyse everything and they’re like, how pumped up are you for this next year? And I’m like, I don’t know, I don’t even think about a heat until I’m out in the water. I don’t train for a world title. Fuck that. But when it comes down to surfing pumping waves, two guys, that was a good time. Win or lose, I would have been pretty stoked.

Did you go out there with a pre-meditated plan to try and do those Josh Kerr things, the grab rail reverse? What do you call them?

The Josh Kerr? I don’t know if I should say this, Jamie would probably be pretty bummed, but I guess he was trying to rename it himself because he thinks he does it better. I was just on a boat trip, we were laughing, we were going to rename it the Stinky Roll after Jamie. It’s not a pretty manoeuvre, they’re ugly as shit. They’re kind of cool I guess. I don’t know. If I do a bottom turn too tight to the pocket and I know I’m going to misplace the turn I just grab my rail, it’s kind of a Hail Mary. I was having trouble timing it. My first wave, I thought I was going to be turning it in the pocket and I went way out too far on the shoulder and I was doing these long half assed cutbacks and so my next one I went to go tight in the pocket and it started dumping.

Are you trying to make any kind of statement with stuff like that? Are you on some kind of mission to free up contest surfing?

No. I would love it if, format-wise, they gave everybody a couple of opportunities, because it’s really hard to push yourself in any way or surf at 100% in just one half hour. That’s five or six waves.

Where you getting frustrated with getting beaten after the start you’ve had this year?

Yeah, it beats you down, especially when you’re flying pretty far for it and it’s sort of a commitment to even be there. It gets really frustrating too. It’s pretty easy for a guy to ride two waves and get sevens, and you’re stuck falling every wave. One half hour heat is pretty strange to me. I think we should get at least a couple of opportunities.

Do you think they could make better use of the waves when it is pumping like this, because so many good waves go unridden?

I like the overlapping heats especially because when I’m surfing I’m always hunting wide ones. I never sit and wait out the back for sets. When I’m in a heat, I’m kind of out of my realm when I’m sitting out the back getting sets.