It would seem that even with all of the press and all of the hype about Kelly Slater winning his 11th World Title at Ocean Beach this week, somehow yesterday's competition still slipped below most San Franciscan's radar. Well, rest assured the word got out after yesterdays firing surf and heated competition. While yesterday one could still find a parking spot at 10:00 am, today all the spots were taken by 8:00 am. The first heat commenced with a crowd of easily over a thousand.
Ocean Beach once again saw perfect contest conditions with brilliant blue sky, pumping shoulder to head high surf and light offshore winds. The morning consisted of the remaining round 2 heats with the crowd growing in anticipation of the inevitable heat towards the end of the day that would decide wether or not Kelly Slater would win his 11th World Title here in San Francisco.
The swell and conditions held up all day and at 3:00, Kelly Slater and Dan Ross paddled out in front of a packed beach shoulder to shoulder and buzzing with tension and excitement. Spectators removed their shoes and endured the rising tide as everyone wanted to be as close to the historic moment as possible. While Kelly got off to a great start, Dan Ross found some great waves and put the pressure on Kelly late in the heat. With 6 minutes left in the heat, Kelly needed a 6.7 and there were not many good waves left on the horizon. With less than three minutes remaining the crowd erupted as Kelly found himself a solid wave and linked together 4 solid maneuvers to the delight of the crowd but everyone had to wait nervously until the scores dropped before they knew if Kelly had clinched it. In addition Dan Ross dropped in on two bombs in the last two minutes but could not find the door from deep inside the barrel on both waves. It was truly a nail biting final few minutes and when the score came in at 7+ points, the crowd erupted.
When the horn sounded and Kelly exited the water, he was greeted by an adoring and crazed crowd of thousands who hoisted him up on their shoulders and carried him the long walk up to the Rip Curl tent where he was presented with his World Title Trophy. Even after winning 10 World Titles previously, Kelly still managed to look as happy as if this was his first.
On a side note, some really good surfing went down today as many heats were as close as this one. Number two in the world, Owen Wright had the pleasure of surfing his Round Three heat as Kelly was being paraded back up the beach. He threw some unbelievable airs way over the lip that were probably only witnessed by those watching the live feed. The beach had their attention elsewhere.
The contest is only halfway through and organizers have 10 more days to get it done. Rip Curl will certainly review the forecast models and make the call whether or not to run the contest tomorrow or hold out for more perfect conditions later on in contest window.
Stay tuned...
