It was an unlucky break for champion surfer Kelly Slater, who has been forced out of competition at South Africa's Jeffreys Bay after suffering a freak accident resulting in a gruesome foot injury.
The 11-time World Surf League champion broke multiple bones in his right foot while competing in the Corona Open J-Bay in South Africa.
Slater was free surfing when a powerful whitewash forced his board back against his foot.
He reported feeling the bones pop and had to drag himself out of the water before being assisted by medical staff on the beach.
The 45-year-old American surfer posted a photo of the nasty break on his Instagram account, accompanied by the hashtag, INeedElephantTranquilizers.
"You ever folded your entire foot backwards? If you try it sometime, this is what it might look like," he wrote.
"I pulled into a barrel this morning and the whitewash as it closed out bounced the board back into my foot, taking all the pressure into the metatarsals, kinda like smashing my foot with a big hammer as hard as I can. Sorta feels like I'm giving birth out of my foot right now!
"I'm guessing surgery and 6 week holiday is in order. Not looking forward to 30 hour flight home before surgery though. Ouch! It sucks but so many people deal with such horrible things around this world everyday that a broken foot is pretty minor in the scheme of things. Sometimes a bad thing is a good thing. I'll make the best of my time off."
Kelly's mooted third-round opponent, Brazil's Filipe Toledo, has been given a saloon passage through to the next round following the injury.
In a near perfect display, Toledo threw down the gauntlet to the field in the second round of the event.
First the Brazilian nailed a 9.63 that featured a series of Mick Fanning-esque cutbacks and a late tube ride before putting away Kanoa Igarashi with a perfect 10 that included a long tube ride into a couple of big turns and a pose on the wave exit.
The brilliant surfing came on a return to the tour for Toledo, who missed the Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak last month.
