Slater On Top
Friday - November 04, 2005
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Sebastian Zietz is one of many young,
red-hot competitor in the 2005 Xcel Pro
Howzit, surfers!
It’s official - the Xcel Pro has kicked off the 2005 season’s world class competition at Sunset Beach! With two days out of three under its surf-vest, the Xcel Pro will now wait for the Big Finale.
Last Sunday/Monday delivered some sweet 6-footers, but we’ve had a lull in the winterish storms in the North Pacific since then.
Storms “up there,” which make our waves, don’t only just “spin” in one place - they pack whole “spinner” moves! If it moves west to east, it’s called a “zonal” track. If they move more toward us, or north to south, it’s called “meridional” - and those are the ones we want. Why? Because it allows for a better “fetch,” or batch of winds blowing our way over a larger distance and time. So please sacrifice your old surfboards to Mother Meridional. Mahalo!
Hey, you gotta check out the live web casts and instant replays of the Xcel Pro - in and out of the water with the high-tech Surfinglive.com crew. It’s not just a surf contest now, it’s a lifestyle show. Sweet!
I’m writing now about the Fosters ASP World Tour in Brazil on Monday. This is a critical time which may prove to be old news about big news. Example: if Kelly Slater is the new world champ or not! He’s so far ahead of the pack no one can catch this humanoid ... no one except Andy Irons. The difference is Andy’s still considered human. He’ll use his “iron” will and competitive anger to do the job. But it’s a big job. Slater has made the finals in five events and won four of them! He’s dominated the whole season. Irons has won two, with one second-place finish. The Billabong Nova Schin Festival Surf Contest is the 10th, and second to last event of the year. It’d be way cool to have the showdown at Pipeline. Either way, this is the one of the hottest showdowns in surfing history. The other one was in 2003 with the same two surfers. Amazing, simply amazing.
Let’s say that by the time you read this we don’t have a World Title yet. Here are a couple situations that will make Slater a seven-time world champ: 1) Irons comes in fifth - Slater only needs to get through one heat. 2) Irons comes in third - Slater needs a fifth or better. 3) Irons comes in second - Slater needs a third place. 4) If both make the final, Irons has to win, period. Holy ...! OK, so I’m a little nervous and excited.
Some other surfnewsnetwork.com updates: The current Pipeline master Jamie O’Brien was sidelined over a week ago in a semi-serious laceration to his gluteus maximus. He’s got staples holding his back end together. You know Jamie O - he did it by getting freakishly high off the lip and landed on a poor little ole video guy, Chad Permian. “Rad Chad” ended up with staples on his face! YEE-OUCH! What we gotta do just to make a living! But (no pun intended), these two wild men are already back in the water - lights, camera, action!
Hey, I never had the chance to post just some of our winners of the 29th annual North Shore Menehune Surfing Championships. For those of you who missed it: Jack Johnson was there to support his niece, talk story and hand out awards.
Here’s a few: 4-6 years olds went to Barron Mamiya; 7-9 girls long-board winner was Tehani Perkins; Kahuka Kane won for the boys; 10-12 girls was Nathalia Hunter; boys was Cassidy Kuakini. Some of the short board ripper and winners were Alessa Quison, Kalani David, Koa Smith and Ezekiel Lau. Of course, each and every one of these kids who entered and did their best is a winner! Congratz to all of you! Thanx also to Skill Johnson and crew for a wonderful event! And to all the sponsors, a million mahalos!
I’m GQ dropping in 4 U! Until next weekend, stay wet!
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