Kelly Slater made surfing history by clinching his 10th ASP World Title! What a surfing machine! Slater is 38 years young, has been surfing on the ASP World Tour for 20 years and scored “a perfect 10″ championship at Puerto Rico’s Rip Curl Pro Search. What a nice round number for his number of world titles. Congrats Slater (again)!
Slater advanced out of the Quarterfinals today over Brazilian, Adriano de Souza. This advancement allowed Slater to lock in his 10th world title. Jordy Smith, the 2nd place surfer on the tour, can no longer catch Slats! Will he go for an 11th title?
Slater’s 2010 ASP World Tour results:
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast: 9th Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: WIN Billabong Santa Catarina Pro: Runner-UP
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay: 17th Billabong Pro Tahiti: 3rd Hurley Pro at Trestles: WIN Quiksilver Pro France: Runner-Up Rip Curl Pro Portugal: WIN
Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico: TBD Billabong Pipeline Masters: TBD
Mick Fanning moves into 2nd place behind Joel Parkinson. Mick, the 2007 ASP world tour champion, is only 146 points behind the 2009 ASP points leader. These two fellow Aussies will meet up in the Billabong Pro Mundaka that takes place October 5-17, 2009. This is the 8th stop on the ASP world tour and there are only 2 more events after the Mundaka Pro. The race is on for the world crown!
Past Billabong Pro Tahiti Champions:
2008: Bruno Santos (BRA)
2007: Damien Hobgood (USA)
2006: Bobby Martinez (USA)
2005: Kelly Slater (USA)
2004: CJ Hobgood (USA)
2003: Kelly Slater (USA)
2002: Andy Irons (HAW)
2001: Cory Lopez (USA)
2000: Kelly Slater (USA)
1999: Mark Occhilupo (AUS)
1998: Koby Abberton (AUS)
1997: Andy Irons (HAW)
The Billabong Pro Teahupoo -Tahiti started May 9 and the contest will end on May 20, 2009. This is event 3 of 10 on the ASP world surfing tour. The Teahupoo event has completed the first 14 heats of Round 1, but is on hold for right now. The contest officials have called for lay days this week due to weak swell and poor surfing conditions.
Watch for these exciting Round 2 heats:
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Heiarii Williams (PYF)
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Other notables to watch in the 2009 Billabong Pro Teahupoo – Tahiti:
Former three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons (HAW), 30, and Von Zipper Trials Winner Heiarii Williams (PYF) as wild-cards in the 2009 Billabong Pro Tahiti.
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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.
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.
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
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 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
