19.70 out of 20!!!

What can I say? Taylor absolutely BLEW UP in his Round 1 heat at the Billabong Pro J-Bay and erupted for a total of 19.70 out of a possible 20 points. That's the highest recorded heat score at Jeffrey's Bay - EVER.

How impressive was this? Here's a few facts:

Taylor's two scoring waves were a 9.90 and a 9.80.

Taylor's throw-away wave from the heat was a 9.0.

Joel Parkinson, who finished 2nd in the heat, scored a perfect 10 and still lost.

So as of right now, Taylor is sitting in the pole position for the Nixon 'WTA' award for the event. Winner gets a custom $10,000 watch from Nixon for the highest heat score of the event. And unless someone puts together a perfect 20 score, things could be looking good.

Here's some of the highlights from Taylor's Round 1 heat:

SURFLINE's Round 1 coverage including video of Taylor's waves and a great sequence of his power hack.

SURFER's Day 1 photo gallery including a few great shots of Taylor tearing the lip to pieces.

SURFER'S Day 1 video highlights.

Surfline Hits The Jackpot

Surfline kicked off some pretty damn good coverage from their annual summer surf trips this week with an awesome trip with Taylor, Sebastian Zietz, Carissa Moore and a few kids from Huntington Beach.

But the best part is that there are some pretty sick sequences of Taylor tearing his way through some of the same waves he surfed during the 2006 Rip Curl Search WCT in Mexico.

Check out all the coverage from Surfline HERE.