The Surf Blog Spot

Chris Ward, Kelly Slater and Pipeline Master Gerry Lopez

Kelly Slater has Mastered the Banzai Pipeline once again.

Nine-time ASP World Champion, Kelly Slater, just won the 2008 Billabong Pro Pipeline Masters a record sixth time.  This victory was Slater’s sixth tour event win of the 11 event 2008 ASP world tour.  What a great accomplishment for Slater!

The 2008 ASP World Tour has been a dream season for Kelly Slater.  Not only did he set another surfing record this year with his 9th ASP World Title, but he also won 6 out of the 11 ASP Tour events.  Slater clinched the 2008 ASP World Surfing Title back in October at the Billabong Pro Mundaka.  He could have opted out of the Billabong Pro Pipeline Masters event and ended his tour back in Spain.  However, I do not think Slater wanted to end his dream tour without taking a crack at the Pipeline event he has won 5 times and did not want to disappoint his fans. 

Slater has made the Pipeline Masters final 10 out of his last 17 times he entered it.  He won the event in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 and again in 2008.  Ironically enough, Slater’s 9th win comes 9 years after his last Pipeline win.  Plus, this year Slater won his 9th ASP World Title.  I guess Slater’s lucky number in 2008 was the number 9.

Do not forget about the 2008 Billabong Pro Pipeline Masters Triple Crown of Surfing.  The final rounds of the Pipeline Masters surf competition conclude today.  

A new Pipeline Master will be crowned after the final today, as well as, a Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Champion. The champion should be crowned around 2pm, local Hawaiian time.  The race for the Triple Crown is between three Australians: Joel Parkinson, Tom Whitaker and 2007 Triple Crown Champ Bede Durbidge.

Look for Kelly Slater to make it into the finals!  He is killing it right now in the quarter finals against North Shore local, Jamie O’Brien.

More coverage and live action:  http://billabong.wetsand.com/ 

ASP website:  http://www.aspworldtour.com/2008/

CJ Hobgood beat fellow surfer Joel Parkinson at the 2008 Billabong Pro Mundaka, Spain.  This was stop number 9 on the 11 event ASP Tour.  Who will make it to the top 10? Second place? Third place? 

There are 3 Australian surfers battling it out for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place in the overall ASP Tour standings.  The next 2 events will be fun ones to watch.  Next up is the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro in Santa-Catarina, Brazil.  Then the whole 2008 ASP season concludes at the Billabong Pipeline Masters and the Banzai Pipeline, Oahu-Hawaii.  Pipeline is where second and third place could be decided.

 Billabong Pro Mundaka Final Results:
Final: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 18.50 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.83

Billabong Pro Mundaka Semifinal Heat Results:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.80 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.50
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 14.66 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 6.70

ASP World Tour Top 10 after Stop No. 9 of 11 – Billabong Pro Mundaka
Kelly Slater (USA) 8042 points
Taj Burrow (AUS) 6324 points
Joel Parkinson (AUS) 6180 points
Bede Durbidge (AUS) 5990 points
Adriano de Souza (BRA) 5748 points
C.J. Hobgood (USA) 5760 points
Adrian Buchan (AUS) 5730 points
Mick Fanning (AUS) 5310 points
Bobby Martinez (USA) 5282 points
Luke Stedman (AUS) 4696 points

Kelly Slater Wins Number 9

Slater only needed a ninth place finish to wrap up the 2008 ASP surfing season.  Kelly Slater has done it again.  Or should I say, he has done it 9 times again.  Slater won his 9th ASP World Surfing Title at the Billabong Pro Mundaka, Spain.  That is better than Lance Armstrong. He only needed to advance past round 3 of competition and that he did.  He ended up beating local Basque surfer Eneko Acero with a combined score of 14.96 vs. 10.00.  Then Tom Whitaker (AUS) knocked Kelly Slater (USA) out of the Billabong Pro Mundaka contest with a perfect 10 and an 8.00 during Heat #4 of Round 4.  In 2006, Slater won his 8th world title at this same surf spot.  There are only 2 ASP surfing events left in the 2008 season.  Who will come in second? Third?

The event could finish Saturday with the quarterfinals already decided.

Round 4 Billabong Pro Mundaka Results:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.27 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 16.43
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.00 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.73
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.50 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 5.83
Heat 4: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 18.00 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 12.43
Heat 5: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.84 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 11.17
Heat 6: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 15.50 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 9.50
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.94 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.80
Heat 8: Luke Stedman (AUS) 15.00 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 8.63

Upcoming Billabong Pro Mundaka Quarterfinal Heat Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Tom Whitaker (AUS)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)

Kelly Slater will surf against Basque wildcard Eneko Acero in Heat 8.  The contest officials will likely start the contest at 8:30am (local Mundaka time) tomorrow morning.  If Slater wins he will clinch his 9th ASP World Titl.  Contest officials also expect to run overlapping heats again.  With only a certian amount of surfable waves during the contest waiting period, the officials need to complete as many heats as possible.  Thursday had the most heats ever surfed in one day of an ASP surfing event.  Slater and Acero will paddle out an hour and 20-minutes after competition starts Friday.

The contest is LIVE on www.billabongpro.com

The 2008 Billabong Pro Mundaka, Spain has started.  The first contest rounds were surfed this morning in 2 foot A-frame peaks.  Not the normal firing left-handed barrels that Mundaka spits out on a solid swell.  Too bad the surfers had to wake up to such fickle waves.  Hopefully, the forecasted swell fills in Thursday and pumps out some better scoring waves.  Watching 3 and 4 point scores on waves aren’t as fun as watching 8’s or 9’s!

Watch out for the 4 Euskadi (Basque for the Basque region of Spain) surfers in this years event.  There are a total of 8 non-tour surfers competing because 5 full-time ASP World Tour surfers could not make the event.  The 8 non-tour surfers are comprised of 5 replacement surfers and 3 event wildcards.

Watch the surf contest live www.billabongpro.com/mundaka08

September 30 is another lay day for the surf contest.  The surf event directors say there is some nice swell on tap for Thursday/ Friday.  Right now the swell is too small for competition.

Check out the official Billabong Pro Mundaka website:  Billabong Pro Mundaka

Kelly Slater was only 7.31 points away from clinching his 9th ASP World Title.  Adrian Buchan spoiled Slater’s title by beating him in the Quiksilver Pro France final and extending the ASP champion race to Mundaka, Spain.

The 2008 Billabong Pro Mundaka waiting period starts Monday, September 29.  Kelly Slater won his last ASP World Title at Mundaka and Slater only needs to secure a 9th place finish at the Billabong Pro Mundaka to clinch title number 9.  All Slater has to do is advance past Round 3, but if he does not and reigning ASP World Champ Mick Fanning or ASP number 2 Taj Burrow win the event, the title race will move onto Brazil.  Watch the video of Mundaka working it.

Look out for:  Santa Barbara local, Bobby Martinez, has won the Mundaka event the past 2 years.  His 5ht place finish at the 2008 Quiksilver Pro France has moved him into 7th place in the ASP world rankings.

The Billabong Pro Mundaka waiting period runs from Monday, September 29 - Sunday, October 12.  All the surfing news, reporters, and bloggers will be at the event to capture the potential history.  Sorry, but I won’t be ale to make it this year.  Maybe sometime in the future when all the world is reading The Surf Blog Spot.

Catch the event live at www.billabongpro.com/mundaka08

ASP Kirstin/ Covered Images

The contest is over and Kelly Slater has won again.  He defeated Mick Fanning in the finals to take home his fourth 2008 ASP tour stop title and his fourth J-Bay title.  Kelly Slater, 36-years-young, brought his “A” game to Supertubes Thursday and showed why he is the best surfer in the world.  He earned his 38th ASP World Tour victory while downing Mick Fanning in 4-6 foot J-Bay.  Winning is Slater’s middle name (not really) and after 14 years on the ASP World Tour, he still has the motivation to win.  He wants to be known as the BEST surfer ever!!

Slater beat Fanning 16.73 to 9.40 in the Billabong finals.  The start of Thursday morning competition was very clean and as the contest continued, the conditions started to deteriorate with the onshore winds.  The officials were worried about the North winds that tend to blow out the faces of J-Bay, which made the final round a little difficult.  But this did not stop Slater and his victory drive.  Slater now has a 1262 point lead on the World number 2 Joel Parkinson and now has such a large lead that his 9th World Title is in his sights.

The next event on the 2008 ASP World Tour remains a mystery. The “Search” event will be held July 30-August 10, 2008, “Somewhere.”

ASP World Tour Ratings after Stop No. 5 – the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
1. Kelly Slater (USA)  5210 points
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 3948 points
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 3782 points
4. Mick Fanning (AUS)  3753 points
5. Taj Burrow (AUS)  3638 points
6. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3540 points
7. C.J. Hobgood (USA)  3460 points
8. Andy Irons (HAW)  3338 points
9. Bobby Martinez (USA) 3028 points
10.  Adrian Buchan (AUS) 2884 points 

Jeffreys Bay finally got the restart it needed while completing Round 3 and half of Round 4.  The 20 heats of Wednesday’s competition went down in 4 to 6 foot (two meters) surf.  There are only 11 heats of the Billabong Pro left and the 2008 champion should be crowned Thursday.  The contest officials want to conclude the event with world class surf and the lingering swell.  The first heat of Round 4 will be Heat 5 featuring the reigning ASP World Champion Mick Fanning and Hawaiian Bruce Irons.

I thought the Round 3 rematch between Travis Logie and Kelly Slater would bring out some better competition, but Slater annihilated Logie 19.14 to 12.06 in Heat 8 of Round 3.  Next up, Slater will face the current ASP number 4, Adriano de Souza in Quarterfinal 2.

The Last South African Heat Matchup:

Heat 7 of Round 4:  Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)

Why watch this heat?  Taj Burrow beat Jordy Smith in the 2006 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay semi-finals when Jordy was surfing the event as a wild-card.  More reasons to watch.  Jordy Smith is the last South African surfer in the event, he will have home field advantage, and will have the local crowd cheering him to victory!

Go to the Billabong Pro website for the live webcast of the event.

Kelly Slater shredding at the 2008 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay

Bobby Martinez and his 2008 Jeffreys Bay Billabong Pro perfect 10 wave (Round 2 Heat 3)

The surfers and contest officials have decided to call off the Tuesday competition.  The predicted swell for Tuesday did not show up and the Jeffreys Bay contest officials only have 5 days left in the competition.  There are smaller and inconsistent waves at J-Bay, but not enough for a professional surfing contest.  Wednesday and Thursday look to be the last days for scoring waves and a new swell is on the horizon. 

There are still 3 South African surfers (Travie Logie, Jordy Smith, and Royden Bryson) left in Round 3 and look for them to work their local surf spot.

Check out the Billabong Pro website for live action and updates.

Round 3 of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay has been called off for the day. Lack of swell has forced event officials to look into the 11-day waiting period to assess which two days of the eight left will offer the best scoring potential for the remaining ASP Top 45 surfers.

The next best opportunity for swell might come Monday and Tuesday.  The official swell forecaster, Surfline, predicts Tuesday as the best day to re-start the competition.

Visit www.billabongpro.com for more information and live updates.

Round 2 of the 2008 Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay is complete.

Swell Forecasts indicate that conditions may be unfavorable for Billabong Pro competition over the weekend. Event officials will meet each morning at 7am, local time, to monitor the waves and make an official call.

Go to the Billabong Pro website to see live action and view heat results www.billabongpro.com

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Round 2 Heat Results:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.33 def. Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 9.67
Heat 2: Andy Irons (HAW) 15.17 def. Granger Larsen (HAW) 11.83
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 16.33 def. Rudy (jnr) Palmboom (ZAF) 4.33
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.07 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 11.00
Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.67 def. Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 11.34
Heat 6: Luke Stedman (AUS) 12.00 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 7.60
Heat 7: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.27 def. Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.94
Heat 8: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.50 def. Timmy Reyes (USA) 12.00
Heat 9: Ben Bourgeois (USA) adv. Pancho Sullivan (HAW) n/s
Heat 10: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 15.66 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.50
Heat 11: Heitor Alves (BRA) 16.66 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.83
Heat 12: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 15.10 def. Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 13.70
Heat 13: Mick Campbell (AUS) 15.30 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 9.50
Heat 14: Luke Munro (AUS) 16.33 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.55
Heat 15: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.60 def. Neco Padaratz (BRA) 11.33
Heat 16: Chris Ward (USA) 13.16 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 12.17

My Round 3 Key Matchups:

Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Daniel Wills (AUS)
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Ben Bourgeois (USA)
Heat 14: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

My Round 3 Key Matchup Revisited:

Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)

Look for some payback in this heat.  Travis Logie almost changed the 2005 ASP World Title race by beating Kelly Slater in their heat at the Brazilian Nova Schin Festival.  Then Nathan Hedge stepped-up with a heat win against Andy Irons and ended up sealing the deal for Slater.  That gave Slater his 8th World Title and 2008 looks to be another title year.

Supertubes at Jeffrey’s Bay

The 2008 Billabong Pro surfing contest at Jeffrey’s Bay (J-Bay) is set to start on July 10, 2008.  This surfing contest is stop number 5 of 11 on the ASP World Tour.  Supertubes will be the spot for the 5th surfing event and will include all the top ASP pro-surfers.  Kelly Slater leads the ASP World Tour rankings, has won 3 out of the last 4 ASP tour stop events, and is the only professional surfer to win J-Bay 3 times.  Another notable finish for Slater was his 2007 second place finish behind Taj Burrow.

J-Bay Location:Jeffrey’s Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa: Jeffrey’s Bay lies on the southern South African coastline, around 45 miles (70 km) west of Port Elizabeth.

The Jeffrey’s Bay surfing contest runs from July 10-20 with an 11 day waiting period.  Mike Parson, the contest director, will decide the best surfing conditions for the 63 heats required to determine the 2008 J-Bay Champion.

Anybody not attending the actual South African surf contest can watch the action LIVE on the ASP World Tour website and on the Billabong Pro webcast.  You can get instant event coverage, contest scores, and live video feeds from either website.

Past Jeffrey’s Bay Champions:

• 2007 - Taj Burrow
• 2006 - Mick Fanning
• 2005 - Kelly Slater
• 2004 - Andy Irons
• 2003 - Kelly Slater
• 1996 - Kelly Slater

My 2008 J-Bay Champion prediction:  Kelly Slater aka Jimmy Slade

Last Friday night there were some exciting 2008 XXL Billabong award winners.  The winners were announced in front of more than 2,000 surfing fans.  The eight annual surfing Oscars were given out 4/11/08 by a panel of 250 surfers, surf media, and big wave riders.

Staying true to my prediction, Shane Dorian claimed The Ride Of The Year Award, making his wallet a little fatter with a $50,000 check.  Dorian’s epic barrel can be seen on the Surf Blog Spot under the XXL Billabong Ride Of The Year.  Dorian was interviewed about his ride at the awards show and here is what he had to say.  “Usually at Teahupoo, you pick your line, set your rail and you normally make it, but that wave was really unique,” said Dorian.  “I nearly fell at the start, I nearly fell in the middle and then it clipped me at the end.  It was difficult because I was almost eating it the whole time.”

The other big winner of the night was San Clemente big wave surfer, Mike Parsons, who surfed his way into the history book (for the time being) for riding the biggest wave judged to be more than 70 ft!  Parsons achieved this new record at the Cortes Bank off the California Coast on January 5, 2008.  The wave was claimed to be only 70 ft, but the wave was cut off at the bottom of photo and the true height of the wave could not be accurately calculated.  Therefore, the wave was only estimated at 70 ft, but in reality the wave was more than 70 ft.  It is the second time this big wave aficionado earned the Biggest Wave Award.  Parsons also won the inaugural title in 2001 for a 66 ft Cortes Bank wave.  Parsons walked off the stage with a little extra $15,000 in travel money.

Another San Clemente surfer, Greg Long, scored big while paddling in at Todos Santos and bringing home the 2008 XXL Monster Paddle Award.  On 12/05/07, Todos Santos pulled in four out of the five 2008 XXL Monster Paddle Award nominees.  Only one went home with the prestigious $15,000 award.  

The 2007/08 Billabong XXL Awards can be seen on ESPN2 on Friday, May 29th at 9:30pm.

Other 2008 XXL Billabong Awards:

Monster Tube Photo Award $5,000

• Manoa Drollet (Tahiti) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on November 1, 2007. 

Best Male Overall Performance Award $5,000

• Greg Long (San Clemente, California)

Billabong Girls Best Performance Award $5,000

• Maya Gabeira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

 Billabong XXL info and video: www.billabongxxl.com

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEOS

Here are the crazy 2008 XXL Billabong Monster Paddle Award Nominees. These brave surfers will also be honored at the eight-annual awards ceremony at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, CA. Over 500 entries from around the world and 12 months of swell hunting turned out the top five nominees. The surfers and the photographers had to narrow down the field to only five. That limited decision was a difficult one. Think of all the possible waves that could have won and then only choose five.

Believe it or not, but four of the five paddle-in wave nominees came from the same epic day at Todos Santos. Todos Santos Island is located nine miles off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. With the odds in favor of a Todos Santos wave, the overall winner will pull in a nice $15,000 payday.

The five nominees include:

• Ben Andrews (San Francisco, California, USA) at Maverick’s, California on February 9, 2008.
• Mark Healey (Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007.
• Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007
• Jamie Mitchell (Gold Coast, Australia) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007.
• Rodrigo Resende (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007.

Post a comment on who you think will win the Monster Paddle Award this year!