Kelly Slater vs Sunny Garcia round 3 at Trestles

What an awesome heat, there was so much buzz about this heat you would think it was the final! It was awesome to see the man Garcia back in a WCT event, looking super fit and focused. Garcia is currently in a great position on the WQS to re qualify for the world cup tour in 09`.
Kelly opened up the exchange with a great inside wave, the wave was pretty average, but Kelly is Kelly right? He looked super planted on that tiny little board he was riding, which though it looked like a 5`8" was actually a 6` pin tail. Throwing the tail out super committed, super critical, the wave went all the way threw and Kelly pulled down a 7 point ride.


Sunny replied with a short ride, but that signature, Sunny power hack to post a 6 point ride.
There were a few throw away rides then Kelly slammed out a 9.33, taking a sweet set wave all the way through, doing so many turns and riding it so far in that he stood there for a minute thinking about whether to paddle out or do a run around.
Sunny came back with possible the best left of the event, throwing down pure power turns right in the pocket again and again to score an 8.0 and pull himself out of combo land.
Sunny and Kelly looked more like 2 mates having a free surf then a world title contender and a legend trying to re qualify!
Awesome surfing from 2 of the sports most well known and admired ambassadors.

In the end Kelly moved onto round 4 and one step closer to clinching that 9th world title, love him or hate him, that is freaking awesome!

Trestles turns it on for the Boost Mobile Pro!

The Boost Mobile Pro presented by Hurley scored perfect 3-5 foot waves for the duration of round one and the first two heats of round two. Lower Trestles in Southern California hosted the worlds top 46 surfers for the seventh stop on the World Championship Tour of Surfing. The perfect A-frame peak produced world class waves and long rip-able walls for the best in the business to let loose and show case their ability. With such perfect and playful conditions the Boost Mobile Pro, turned into the Boost Air Show with the majority of surfers turning their focus on high risk high reward, fin busting moves. Defending Champion Kelly Slater continued his untouchable surfing, posting the highest heat score of the day (18.60).


The rest of round two and the first few heats of round three should hit the water by 8am tomorrow, (local California, Pacific Standard Time PST) with predicted swell to continue to build until Wednesday and hang around for the rest of the week.

Contest is ON for Tuesday 9/9/08 at 8am, California time.

UPCOMING ROUND 2 HEATS for Tuesday 9/8:
Heat 3: Andy Irons (HAW), Yadin Nichol (AUS)
Heat 4: CJ Hobgood (USA), Ricky Basnett (ZAF)
Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Jihad Khodr (BRA)
Heat 6: Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 7: Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 8: Heitor Alves (BRA)



ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 13.67, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.04, Travis Logie (ZAF) 11.70
Heat 2: Bobby Martinez (USA) 13.50, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.24, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 3.03
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.90, Taylor Knox (USA) 14.66, Jihad Khodr (BRA) 8.00
Heat 4: Daniel Ross (AUS) 12.67, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.74, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.70
Heat 5: Andy Irons (HAW) 8.57, Roy Powers (HAW) 14.33, Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 7.73
Heat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.84, Ben Dunn (AUS) 11.43, Brett Simpson (USA) 16.23
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.47, Tim Reyes (USA) 11.17, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 15.17
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.60, Dayyan Neve (AUS) 13.47, Shane Beschen (USA) 12.00
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.90, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 7.90, Rob Machado (USA) 11.17
Heat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.67, Chris Ward (USA) 10.56, Sunny Garcia (HAW) 14.50
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.50, Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.47, Heitor Alves (BRA) 9.50
Heat 12: Bruce Irons (HAW) 6.50, Mikael Picon (FRA) 11.60, Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 10.90
Heat 13: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.27, Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.67, Ben Bourgeois (USA) 14.10
Heat 14: Luke Stedman (AUS) 13.73, Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 12.30, Luke Munro (AUS) 10.93
Heat 15: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.00, Jay Thompson (AUS) 12.20, Royden Bryson (ZAF) 15.43
Heat 16: Dean Morrison (AUS) 14.0, Mick Campbell (AUS) 9.67, Neco Padaratz (BRA) 8.0


ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 18.50, Shane Beschen (USA) 9.0
Heat 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.33, Rob Machado (USA) 12.50

Could Kelly take the title at Trestles?

The upcoming Boost Mobile Pro presented by Hurley may be the closest thing eight-time ASP World Champion and ratings leader Kelly Slater (USA) has to a home court advantage on the ASP World Tour.

Held at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California from September 7-13, 2008, the 7th of 11 events on this year's ASP World Tour is the only elite tour stop in the continental U.S.A. Slater hails from Florida.

Trestles is probably [the closest thing I have to a home break on tour],Slater said. It is the only mainland U.S. event and it's been probably the most consistent event year to year for me. I've loved Trestles since I was very young.

Slater has featured in the Boost Mobile Pro final for the last four years, winning in 2005 and 2007 and finishing second in 2004 and 2006. Having claimed four of six events on this year's ASP World Tour, it is quite likely that Slater will win an unprecedented 9th ASP World Title in 2008.



In fact, had he not suffered his second hiccup of the year and posted an equal 17th finish at the last ASP World Tour stop in Bali, Indonesia, Slater would have been mathematically capable of clinching in California something that has never been done.

I know the numbers and possibilities roughly in my head, Slater said. I would love to wrap this thing up at any point but, yes, Trestles would have been really nice.

Despite his early exit in Bali, Slater maintained a healthy ratings lead when perennial title contenders like World No. 2 Joel Parkinson (AUS) and three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons (HAW) bowed out early too.

Bali was a gift to me in the end, Slater said. A good result at Trestles could really set my momentum back up. A mess-up could really rattle and shake things up for me. I didn't think I'd be looking at this the way it is now though, so it's all fine from here on out.



Parkinson is the closest thing Slater has to a spoiler at this point. The 2002 and 2004 runner-up to the ASP World Title beat Slater in the final to win the 2004 Boost Mobile Pro but has not earned an ASP World Tour victory since taking top honors in France in September of 2006.

Despite making it to the quarterfinals or better in 12 of the last 14 events, Parkinson has not featured in a final in close to two years a stark contrast to Slater who has made eight finals and won five events since Parkinson last stood atop a podium.

It's been a while since I had my last tour win, Parkinson said. There is no easy explanation but I do know that I am feeling fit, I do have the right attitude and I am going to be ready to compete. I've won the event before and know that I have to be 100% on my game if I want to repeat that.

Parkinson's consistency has secured him his No. 2 rating, and even if Slater looks like a shoe-in for the title, he hasn't completely conceded just yet.



The facts speak for themselves, Kelly is the form surfer this year and is rightfully well in front on the leader board, Parkinson said. That doesn't mean that I am going to sit on my laurels and hand it to him. There is a lot at stake at every event and I am not just going to sit back and let Kelly have it.

The Animated Surfer Challenge!

This is the 100th post on "Your Local Surf"! So I have made a little video challenge for you all! I made a the following video featuring 1 surfer, but added an effect to make it look like a cartoon. If you know who the surfer is and are even enough of a surf nut to name the dvd that this clip is from, drop a comment on this post and you will be recognized by all as a surf trivia god! I plan on doing this little challenge each month from now on. Seeing how this time is the first time "The animated Surfer Challenge" has run, I have started it off with a pretty easy one...The next Challenges will get progressively harder! Are you up to it?