NO swell at Teahupoo has placed the Billabong Pro Tahiti on hold for the past three days, serving as perfect recovery time for Hawaii's Keala Kennelly (Kauai) who suffered a nasty head gash on day one of the ASP women's World Championship Tour (WCT) event last Thursday.

After becoming the first female to tow into Teahupoo in the 4m (12-15ft) swell early last week, the 27-year-old Kauian adopted the tactics of riding to almost dry reef on inside waves, rather than wait for the sparse 4-6’ sets in her round one heat of the Billabong Pro Tahiti.

Her persistence in that desperation resulted in the reef eventually biting back on her second last wave, the gutsy goofy-footer splitting her head on the sharp coral heads and requiring seven staples to a gaping wound.

After first being checked by Californian doctor Sarah May on the event’s command boat, Kennelly was patched up by on-ground medical staff at the event site on the point. The doctors and paramedics there had to remove several pieces of coral from the gash before closing it with staples.

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Despite her injury, Kennelly refused to abandon her quest for a fourth Billabong Pro Teahupoo victory and powered through both her second and third round heats to secure a quarter-final berth against reigning world and 2004 Billabong Pro Tahiti champion Sofia Mulanovich (Peru).

"Any extra days I can spend out of the water resting and away from any chance of infection is obviously to my advantage,” said Kennelly.

"I would like to surf the event in good waves rather than just run it in crap,” continued Kennelly.

Organisers and surfers alike had presumed that the swell would maintain on the second day of the event waiting period, and that the women’s event would be concluded swiftly, but increased winds and diminished swell at dawn last Friday saw the event cancelled for the day. That was definitely to Keala’s benefit.

"I felt like I had been hit by a train the day after!” revealed Kennelly today. "I thought they were going to run the event on the second day, and I was thinking about preparing for warrior mode again and psyching up, but luckily it got called off."

"Keala actually looks terrific,” commented Doctor May after checking Kennelly’s condition this morning.

“So far it looks better than we could have ever hoped for. The real nitty gritty is going to be in a couple of days when the infection will start showing up. We are just going to have to cross our fingers, keep it clean and hope for the best."

Under normal circumstances, a person who had incurred an injury like Kennelly’s would not even dream of going near the water, let alone paddle out to courageously surf one of the world’s most dangerous reefs, but Keala Kennelly is one gutsy lass.

Kennelly will not even begin to listen to advice from doctors. She’s here at Teahupoo to do a job, and that’s that. It’s just one reason why she has won this event three times previously.

The next report for the event will be at 6.30am tomorrow, Monday morning.

The Billabong Pro Tahiti delivered by Air Tahiti Nui is proudly supported by Von Zipper, Bose, Kustom and The Tahitian Surfing Federation.

Billabong Pro Live Webcast: via www.billabongpro.com and www.aspworldtour.com each day of the event utilizing live coverage in English, French and Portuguese, with the event websites being translated into these three languages plus, Japanese and Spanish. Various camera angles, highlights and replays, weather and scoring information, direct viewer interaction, celebrity guests, interviews and more are a part of the daily webcast program.