The World Surf League competitors who Jay Davies respectfully calls "mad dogs" must be hoping his debut event is also his last.
The Australian free surfer is wreaking havoc at the Margaret River Pro, eliminating last year's world champion Gabriel Medina and now joint world No.1 Mick Fanning from the competition.
The 28-year-old won the trials event to gain a place in the main draw, where he dispatched Medina in round two and now Fanning in the third round on Friday.
Those two giant-killing wins have put Davies into the fourth round and he is not done yet.
Asked if he was pinching himself, Davies candidly said: "Not really - I'm pretty confident right now.
"The waves have been suiting my style of surfing.
"I'm stoked, in a way, but I guess it is a just a comfort zone and I'm 100 per cent confident I can beat all these guys.
"So I'm just going to try to keep doing it."
Davies hails from Yallingup, about half an hour up the WA coast from Margaret River.
Australian surf star Taj Burrow, who also won his round-three heat on Friday, is another Yallingup native and the pair are long-time friends.
While Burrow has made a name for himself on the professional surfing tour, Davies has been a free surfer since he was 15.
That means he does promotional work for surfing-related companies such as RVCA (pronounced "rooka") and travels the world, chasing the best surf.
"I might not get paid as much as these mad dogs, but I'm pretty blessed with what I get to do," he said.
"I am the biggest fan of the tour, 100 per cent.
"I love to watch the best surfers in the world tackle some of the best waves in the world.
"But I know there's a lot to it and it's hard yakka to be surfing all year round out of a bag."
Davies' outstanding form at Margaret River begs the obvious question - has he thought about trying to go onto the professional tour?
"I'm literally living every hour by hour, day by day, right now," he said.
"There are no future plans, besides waxing my boards and working out which one I'm going to ride for the next session."
In other Friday action, American legend Kelly Slater scored a perfect-10 wave on the way to beating Ireland's Glenn Hall in the last round-three heat.
Australian Joel Parkinson was another surprise elimination, falling to Hawaiian Sebastian Zietz, but compatriots Josh Kerr and Owen Wright won through to the fourth round.
Fellow Australian Adam Melling suffered a nasty wipeout on the way to his loss against Hawaiian John John Florence.
South Africa's Jordy Smith was unable to compete in the opening heat of the day due to a cut foot and a knee problem, meaning Frenchman Jeremy Flores progressed to the fourth round.
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