Kelly Slater alerted the Association of Surf Professionals (ASP) to the fact that he still needed one more heat win to clinch the world title. Honesty is a surfing value, but he wasn't thinking of giving away the 11th trophy to Owen Wright. The deal is sealed.
All math calculations are done and Kelly Slater has taken the 11th world surfing title, for the second time in 2011. This is it, recrowned. The Floridian only had to win one heat to confirm what Excel templates couldn't do.
“It was a confirmed the other day, but we’re sure now,” Slater said.
“I’m stoked. I was upset about it, but I also thought it was really funny. There are no hard feelings towards ASP and mistakes happen. It’s easy to point things out. It was a little tough to readjust and I was going against kids who could be my kids and they throw radical airs. I was hoping for big offshore barrels, not closeout onshore ramps. I just didn’t know what to expect out there. I didn’t know if we’d have air sections and it was kind of flat with a lot of power. The waves were closeouts and fast with a weird landing.”
Slater, who was prematurely crowned the ASP World Champion after a mathematical error occurred earlier this week, admitted that securing his 11th elite crown today was a bit lackluster, but remained positive regarding the mistake.
“It’s a little anticlimactic,” Slater said.
“I texted my mom, because it’s funny because I didn’t really have the emotion the other day. This is my profession and it’s a little on me to know the situation and it’s not just everyone else’s fault. There have been a few of these mistakes over the course of history, but this one was a bit weird, but I called Renato (Hickel) in the morning after I won because I was supposed to do this Dan Patrick show and I hadn’t won yet. I knew we wouldn’t surf for a day or two so people could get it out of their system and I could have a few days to refocus.”
After parties, celebrations and world TV coverage, the 39-year-old can finally rest for a while. The Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco delivered three-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at Ocean Beach and the crowd went wild again to cheer up the newly crowned champion.
Kelly Slater had the dangerous young Brazilians on the Round 4 battle. Miguel Pupo and Gabriel Medina were focused and wanted to show off their explosive repertoire of aerial antics.
The Cocoa Beach surfer paddled out with the yellow rash guard and it was Medina who opened the hostilities with a 6.83 wave. Slater forged his first score rapidly: 6.6 points. He didn't want to let the boys go away, but the heat was tight and tense.
Brazilians were firing serious bullets and Kelly answered immediately with a huge floater: 9.10 points. With a total score of 17.17, it was Ke11y's day. Again.