The initial stages of explosive crystallization (EC) of amorphous Si (a-Si) are investigated. A thin layer of liquid Si (l-Si), highly undercooled with respect to crystalline Si (c-Si) is formed by nanosecond pulsed ruby laser irradiation of a-Si prepared by ion implantation. Time-resolved reflectivity measurements are used to determine the time delay in the onset of EC for different surface structures. If a thin single crystal layer of Si covers the a-Si, EC proceeds immediately. In the absence of a seed for EC, a maximum time delay of 11+/-2 ns is observed. Intermediate delay times are found if the surface layer contains small c-Si clusters.