as Dane Reynolds entered the equation and thrown the tour and its highly-skilled participants into a spin? Has Kelly taken the lead and will remain untouchable for all of 2008? No, stupid, these contenders are listed because they’re exactly that. They are contenders unshaken by a few small events. They can see the big picture.
Joel Parkinson has already had two fifths. Andy could come out and win both events in the Pacific without breaking a sweat. Andy is the only surfer to win an event every year since the best two-wave rule was introduced. Mick Fanning’s had a second and a fifth. If he’s anything like last year, he’ll throw the fifth away. Taj didn’t even have a good heat at Bells and he still finished third.
Dane won’t win the world title this year. Nor will Jordy but it’s what they’ll do that will be hard to ignore. Where the rest of the contenders will be worrying about their next heat, Dane will be at the bar till it closes. He doesn’t care for winning, he doesn’t care about having the inside when a heat opens, he cares only about surfing well. The two biggest heat scores at Bells mean he’s more of a threat than anyone could have imagined. Not just the best single turns of the event but the ability to put together two brilliant waves.
This is what Kelly needed though. He needed someone like Dane. He needed someone to lift his enthusiasm. It’s taken him to his zone. He’s thirsty for blood. He’s found a board he likes (more of this later) and this makes him so dangerous. Dane and Jordy are what everyone needed. Parko, Taj and Kelly don’t surf as good as they should. It shits me to tears watching guys surf at 80%. They do it from now on against Dane and Jordy and they’ll be beaten.
Only 10 times in history has someone won 10 heats on the trot and Mick did it twice in 2007. Kelly has the record with 16 heat wins in a row.
The list of contenders is short. You have to be a certain kind of human: hyper-competitive, fit, focused and selfish. You have to want it more than anything and you have to let nothing get in your way. In the real world, normal people worry about money, girlfriends, wives, kids and friendships. You have to let all of these things go. Mick did. Kelly has. And Andy proved it three times. But can they do it again?
People ask me, is the tour more suited to naturalfooters? Why aren’t Bobby or the Hobgoods in the list? Because Andy and Taj and Kelly and Joel are just as good on their backhand as they are on the forehand. You think about Andy at 10-to-12-foot Teahupoo, sliding down the face sideways without grabbing his rail. No one can ride a tube like that.
My list should include more surfers because there are so many talents on that tour but in reality there aren’t many people who have won multiple events in a season. It’s gonna take winning a minimum of three events this year. Only Kelly, Andy and Mick have done that before. Kelly’s two-thirds of the way there.
These guys see waves in a different way to the rest of us and see scores in waves that other surfers just can’t achieve. And, they mix it so well to suit the criteria. They can do a huge hack, can float and won’t do the same turn twice. The judges wet ’emselves over the swoop they all do into another big turn. Good surfers can do big turns. You look at Pancho, he’s got a huge big hack but that’s all he’s got. He can’t do a huge big hack, then do a big floater into another crazy turn like those other guys. The good guys get a set and they’re looking at a nine, a high nine or a 10 and everyone else is frothing around to get a seven or an eight on the same wave. They’re a point or two ahead of everyone else. The way they see waves is completely different. They don’t do one big turn and hang their hat on that. They crack it hard, then boom, they do it again and two turns later they’re already sitting on eight points.
Kelly Slater
The greatest surfer of all time is also the smartest. Remember when Kelly was in that heat after Dane at Winki Pop during the Rip Curl Pro? Dane buried the rail and his competition with the highest heat score of the event. Following his heat, Kelly was about to surf. Kelly didn’t even go near trying to do a carve because he didn’t want it to look small compared with Dane. Instead, he took on snaps and floaters because, given his electric form, he knew he’d look stupid going up against Dane. The same way he paddled up to Rincon at Bells against Bede. He’s smart and he knows how to work a crowd.
Kelly has absolutely nothing left to prove. Can you imagine winning six world titles, retiring for four years – four years! – and coming back and nabbing two more world titles. It’s extraordinary. Of course, things got tougher when he was out. He came back and Andy Irons dominated. It shocked Kelly and he had to go back to basics. And he did. And it worked.
The start he’s had this year is exactly what he needed. He might just want to lock one away to make sure no one can ever catch him. From nine to 10 is such a gargantuan task. From eight to nine is big enough but I reckon he might just do it.
Jordy Smith
Jordy won’t win the world title this year but he’ll make a semi or a final somewhere. You just know how surprising this must be for him. He’s on this supposed dream tour and he’s got all his best boards packed into his coffin. You can imagine him getting ready for Bells with his shortboards and he’s looking at em and he’s got a groveller there that he can’t even think about. It’s Bells, right? Next thing you know he’s out two-to-three foot onshore high-tide Bells thinking, I signed up to this? But that’s the tour and that’s experience. The same day you’re surfing pumping six-foot Bells Bowl, you could end up surfing high-tide Rincon. Rank.
The first thing Kelly said when he won Trestles last year was that Jordy is the real deal. It looked like Kelly was ready to step down but it’s obvious he’s not ready to do that just yet. But don’t worry, Jordy and Dane will sting him. If they’re unfazed and get in a rhythm, they’ll sting him good.
Joel Parkinson
Why hasn’t Joel won a world title yet? He’s a threat at every single event. He’s been unlucky. He’ll get two nines and a guy like Troy Brooks will get a 9.0 and a 9.8. The lower guys just blow up against him. He loses tight tussles. He walked in from a heat in France years ago because he’d thought he’d won and he was cocky and Beau Emerton got the score. He had CJ combo’d a few years ago in Japan and CJ came back and got him with a couple of minutes to go. He’s got the hammer but he runs out of nails. He cannot belt those final things into the coffin. He does all the work, gets it done but then just can’t finish the deal. Taj came back from a combo in J-Bay last year and got him.
Taj Burrow
Everything in Taj’s life has come on a fucken silver platter. He qualified, brushed it for a year cause he knew he’d easily requalify and then all of a sudden without any effort he’s 20 years old and second in the world! Things have gotten a bit harder since then. I just wish he had have done what he did last year every year he’s been on. He would’ve won way more events, he would’ve won himself a title or even titles. His results probably could’ve won any other year except that Mick dominated so much.
Before the first event, TB said that the new guys were going to push him this year. The first two waves he rode, I saw him try the two biggest airs I’d ever seen him go for in a heat. He didn’t make em but it was like a shift in him. I think he needs these new guys on tour. He’s another who shouldn’t be surfing at 80%. The level this year has been like no other and it’s only gonna lift.
Mick Fanning
I could see a difference in Mick last year. He was in his own zone and he got the job done no matter what. The best thing about Mick is that he’s not vindictive. When he loses and other contenders are in heats he’s not down there with the voodoo dolls. He won’t get pissed off when they win a heat when they shouldn’t have, he’s just like, “Whatever” and he does his thing. He didn’t worry about anyone else in the world last year. He was always gracious in defeat. He knew what he had to do and went out and did it.
When Mick came back from the quarter against Josh Kerr in the very first event of last year, it was obvious something had changed. Coming from that far behind in a heat makes champions. Things go wrong for everyone but it’s in your dealing with it that make you a world champ.
Andy Irons
Back in the day when Andy was coming from behind to beat Kelly, he was an animal. Win three events in a row? Easy! Just like that. He’s cocky and arrogant. He is unbe- lievable! What, he needs a 10? Oh, okay, here’s a 10. Whatever. He’s got the cockiness to paddle deep at Teahupoo and Fiji and turn closeouts into 10-point rides. There’s only two or three guys who can do that. Mick and Parko aren’t in there. Nor’s Taj. Andy and Kelly are freakish enough to come out of closeouts. If there’s a world title race involving Andy coming into Hawaii then there is no race.
Dane Reynolds
Where do we start with Dane? He is out of this world. He’s there to show all the contenders how they should be surfing. Everyone is taking notice. Nothing is going to make him crash and burn because he doesn’t care. When Pedro Henrique got a 9.1 against him at Bells, that would’ve rattled the fuck out of anyone. He didn’t care. He got his waves, a 9.8 and an 8.8 and it’s spot you r’on.
Posts: 6
Reply #6 on : Mon December 14, 2009, 12:05:11