Well it’s all done and dusted. The venue bounced around, the conditions fluctuated, some had close calls and some were clear-cut winners. But at the end of the day it was a calm, down-to-earth Robert Kelly Slater who put in a godlike performance to secure his fourth Bells win, equalling the record set by Mark Richards.

Our predictions for the event were pretty spot-on (if we say so ourselves) with five of our eight picks making it through to the semi-finals. Hopefully this will boost our ranking in Fantasy Surfer because that’s, like, really important in our lives.

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Memories…

Here are some of the best moments from Kelly’s road to the final during this year’s event. Click the image to enlarge.

Video highlights

My absolute favourite moment from the event was Jordy Smith’s superman, which he pulled out as his second air on one wave to get a 9.80 score. Check it out, it’s one of the best waves I’ve seen surfed.

Kelly got pretty rad in the final as well. I first saw him stick an air like this back in 1995. 15 years later he just gets better and better.

The Modern Collective is like a stream of consciousness employing hypnotic, kaleidoscopic, haphazard visuals intertwined with some of the most high performance surfing I’ve ever seen. It leaves you dangling precariously on a precipice over a void of insanity then brings you back with a visual and auditory feast that makes you want to do just one thing: go surfing.

Kai Neville has turned a high performance surf movie into an art-house masterpiece that not only documents some of the best surfers cutting loose, but captures surf sessions and the surf experience as a whole. It unravels random moments in time and space, blending sci-fi hallucinogenic effects with beautifully edited raw footage that is genius in its subtlety. Brownian motion blurs melt into close-ups of the talent, juxtaposed with sublime footage of nature and light.

I love how you get to see the crew failing on several attempts before nailing that massive air, getting washed up on the rocks, running down the beach, getting suited up. It’s classic.

Next time I watch Modern Collective I’m going to do an air count because I reckon there are well over 200 in this movie. But fans of the power carve won’t be disappointed as Jordy Smith unleashes fury throughout and is ably assisted by Dion Agius, Mitch Coleborn, Dane Reynolds and Dusty Payne.

It’s power combined with flair combined with artistry: and that’s just the first wave.

Modern Collective – The First Visions from Poor Specimen on Vimeo.