|
Okay, this thing just went down, so please pardon the brevity.
The rain in the air and the burgers in the water marking
early rounds were a distant memory as the third event on the 2010 ASP World
Tour, the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina, finished today in stunning, above-the-lip
fashion at Praia da Vila. Just another glassy, sunny,
chest-high day in Brazil.
Other than the fact, of course, that Kelly Slater took a
colossal step toward his tenth World Title, despite losing in the final
to the blow-tail-blitzing Brazilian rookie, Jadson Andre, who was not only the obvious
sentimental favorite here, but also the official favorite.
Sadly, Dane Reynolds eliminated an apparently rejuvenated CJ
Hobgood in the quarters, 14.27 – 13.17, while the soon-to-be Cinderella
Boy Andre bested an otherwise sharp-looking Damien Hobgood in Round Three,
15.26 – 9.23. Meanwhile, current World #2 Kelly Slater had to recover
from a Round One loss to Portuguese bulldog Tiago Pires, thrashing Brazilian
wildcard Messias Felix in the elimination round… and then going about business
as usual: dispatching rookie Tanner Gudauskas in Round Three, Chris Davidson in
Round Four, Jordy Smith in the quarters (where Kelly effectively took over the #1
spot in the world), and Owen Wright in the semis (which he did by — Gasp! — actually carving and
hitting the lip). Flat conditions prompted organizers to issue a restart for
the 35-minute final between Slater and Andre. The oldest surfer on tour versus
the youngest.
Slater instituted a textbook backside clinic despite falling
at the end (5.5), then balanced that power-positive approach with unflinching trickery
— an alley-oop straight into a reverse on a right (6.5). Jadson (who Dane
Reynolds claimed enjoys a 100-percent success ratio on his air-reverses) maintained
that game plan, posting a devastating 8.0 on a left for a flurry of fin-busting
moves and challenging Slater to up the ante, which he never did. But second here
is still first in the ratings for the Floridian favorite.
So since arriving on the ASP World Tour in 1991, 38-year-old
Kelly Slater has basically undone the ‘80s guard of Pottz, Curren, and Carroll to
win his first title in 1992; rendered obsolete the rest of the Momentum
Generation including Beschen, Machado, and Knox to win five more titles by 1998;
semi-retired to give a few other guys (Occy, Sunny, CJ) some glory; came back in
the early ‘00s to top Irons, Taj, and the Coolie Kids despite allowing A.I. and
Mick to grab a few titles of their own between winning three more titles; and
now he’s threatening to send the kids back to community college. That’s four
generations of otherworldly surfing talent, who by now are all likely scratching
their heads trying to figure out how to realize their loftiest surfing goals
with this bald dude in the way.
“If you look at the big picture,” said Kelly following the
final, “it’s nice to win a final but it wasn’t against Taj, Joel, or Mick, or
someone you’d really expect to be there. So I’m stoked for Jadson. This is
something he’s gonna remember forever — winning his first event during
his first year on tour in his hometown. I mean, the kid goes down the line and
does air-reverses on every wave. I guess we’ll have to see if he can do that at
Teahupo’o and Pipeline, but he’s got that stuff wired here and no one wants to
mess with him. You put the right waves in front of certain people and they turn
on. But [laughs], yeah, we’ll see
what happens at J-Bay.”
Composure. Confidence. Class.
Not only in the water; but also on the beach with the contest
interviewer. In what has become typical “GT” fashion, the guy approached Kelly
following his quarterfinal and asked The Champ, “So do you feel old?”
Kelly just looked at his feet, pondered the lame question,
and then answered with a smile.
“Not if I can beat them.”
For full results, photos, and videos, visit www.ASPWorldTour.com
|
