Three Perfect 10-point wave rides. In 1996, Shane Beschen scored three flawless tube travels while competing at the Kirra Pro.
Matt Warshaw, the passionate surf historian who wrote "The Encyclopedia of Surfing," found rare footage from Shane Beschen's impeccable surf lines drawn at the 1996 Billabong Kirra Pro.
Back in those days, competitive surfers got overall heat scores based on their best three rides.
The 20th century Kirra waves were peeling perfect dreams, manually designed by the gods of the Coral Sea.
And Shane Beschen got the most of it, only for himself.
Overscoring Waves
Shane's three Perfect 10s belong to the most memorable pages of the history of surfing. His fourth-best wave was also a near-flawless ride - 9.99 points. Unreal.
The American surfer would later add more information to the story of the heat. Apparently, judges were overscoring waves.
The first tube ride - awarded with a Perfect 10 - was clearly inferior to the barrels that he would later find, so judges had to keep high judgments.
The truth is that we may never get a 30 on the heat scoreboard again. Shane Beschen was the first and only professional surfer to get that triple Perfect 10.