“It’s hard to be really competitive with a good friend, whether it’s over a wave or a contest or a girl.” - Kelly Slater

“It doesn’t matter how much confidence you have; you can’t just run down and go for a surf and expect to win.” - Jordy Smith

The drive for excellence and progression that lies within surfers, especially those that are leading the way for our sport, is a unique one and such that trying to explain that drive is nearly impossible. We all see the wave differently, we all have our own views on the equipment best suited to ride that wave, and what it is that drives us as surfers to continually push ourselves differs from one surfer to the next.

Chris Malloy and Woodshed Films (The Moonshine Conspiracy) are set to release their latest production, One Track Mind, to stores on Oct. 7. The film features many of world’s top surfers in Kelly Slater, Andy Irons, Tom Curren, Jamie O’Brien, Mark Occhilupo, Dane Reynolds and many more in it’s quest to dive into the their thought process and views on surfing, where it’s at currently, where it’s headed, and who is at the forefront of the march for progression. Featuring footage from Mexico, Indonesia, Micronesia, Trestles, and other world-class waves, One Track Mind is set to be a film you’ll want to keep your eyes on.

“To have that single-mindedness about things other than surfing is a challenge” - Tom Curren

A golden opportunity lost by the Usual Suspects not named Kelly Slater at the Rip Curl Pro Search turned into a golden opportunity seized by Bruce Irons. How will Bruce finish out his last year on tour with that monkey off of his back? Does anyone still really have a shot at stopping Kelly on his march to number 9? How will the very highly-touted rookies Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds complete their first full year on tour?

The 2008 Boost Mobile Pro Trestles is the beginning of the descent down the mountain that is the Dream Tour. While many believe Kelly’s 9th is inevitable, there are still a lot of interesting story-lines to follow. And aside from all of that…. a hell of a lot of amazing surfing to be seen from some of the best surfers in the world! Here is how the Top 10 is sitting at the moment.

CURRENT ASP WORLD TOUR TOP 10 AFTER STOP NO. 6
1 - Kelly Slater (USA) 5620 points
2 - Joel Parkinson (AUS) 4548 points
3 - Bede Durbidge (AUS) 4382 points
4 - Taj Burrow (AUS) 4370 points
5 - Mick Fanning (AUS) 4353 points
6 - Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3950 points
7 - Andy Irons (HAW) 3938 points
8 - C.J. Hobgood (USA) 3870 points
9 - Bobby Martinez (USA) 3628 points
10 - Bruce Irons (HAW) 3392 points

Tiago Pires has delivered the upset of the year defeating Kelly Slater in round 3 at the Rip Curl Pro Search. With less than a minute to go in their heat, Tiago baited a priority holding Kelly into a mediocre wave that never materialized into anything. With the second (and better) wave of the set looming out the back, Tiago was left all alone with a chance to take down the champ and he delivered, getting pitted deep and coming out clean with fists blazing.

Tiago is the only top 45 surfer on tour to defeat Kelly this year. He’s undoubtedly made all the other title contenders happy and I’m sure there will be more than a few Bintangs coming his way tonight.

For those of you that missed Kelly Slater’s unbelievable switch-foot barrel during his first round heat at the Rip Curl Pro Search (which would be most of us considering the webcast crashed during that time), here’s a video clip for your viewing pleasure. Also included in the video is his 10 point ride. Just Kelly being Kelly.

While there is clearly a lack of drama heading into the back half of the 2008 ASP World Tour, there is still very much to look forward to with every wave that Kelly Slater paddles into. Sure, Kelly has all but wrapped up his unbelievable 9th world title only 5 events into the surfing year.  But if the lack of a world title race has you down and out about the tour, just keep your eye on Mr. Slater and witness a manifestation of greatness unlike any the surfing world has seen before, as well as any we may ever see again.

In an article veiled with personal attacks on one of, if not the greatest all-around surfers of all-time, the author of an article at Fuel.TV used an interesting approach to explain his lack of interest in this years Dream Tour.

Is there a whole lot to look forward to anymore as far as the 2008 world title race goes? No, not really, No. 9 is essentially sealed. But what does any of this have to do with Slater? It’s his fault the way it was the fault of Michael Jordan when he rendered his competitors as irrelevant. It’s his fault the way it’s the fault of Tiger Woods for standing head and shoulders above any other human who has a golf club in their hand. While there are a countless number of amazing surf talents throughout the world, right now Kelly is standing above them all in a big way.

Kelly Slater in 2008, as he has done throughout his illustrious career, is exhibiting a marvelous display of physical and mental skill with every wave he takes off on. Even at 36 years of age, Kelly is doing things on a surfboard that are simply unthinkable and, for most of us besides “The King”, unimaginable. His Bells Beach victory in which he paddled several hundred yards to Rincon and subsequently boosted a huge air in the closing minutes of the final is the type of action legends are made of.

You may or may not like what Kelly Slater is about, you may have your own personal issues with what you think you know about his lifestyle or the way he responds to questions, but make no mistake about it, as far as surfing goes, it is unmatched greatness taking place right before our very eyes. In that alone that there is more than enough to keep us tuned in as Slater’s run of sheer magnificence continues throughout this year and beyond.

Cheers Kelly Slater…..It’s a pleasure to watch you surf.

While we are only about half-way through the 2008 ASP World Tour, we are already becoming witnesses to one of the all-time great performances throughout the course of the surfing year. Eight-time world champion Kelly Slater defeated last year’s champ Mick Fanning in the final of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay earlier today for his fourth victory at the prestigious South African break.

Slater has now won 4 out of the first 5 events in 2008, and with the victory at J-Bay he has all but essentially sealed his record 9th world title. A gracious Slater had this to say following his 38th tour victory - “I didn’t realize I was going to be overwhelmed by it, but I haven’t been in this position before, at this point of the year, with this many wins, there are great things going on in my life so I’m just trying to soak it up and be appreciative.”

The morning started off with classic Jeffreys Bay conditions keeping the 4-6 ft swell in almost perfect shape. However, after just a few heats in the morning, the wind turned onshore for the quarters, semis, and final. Both Slater and Fanning had issues adjusting to the bump and crumble that was being offered up. “It was really challenging,” Slater said. “You really have to change your frame of mind because we were looking at waves the other day where we were getting 30-45 second rides and doing six to eight maneuvers and now we’re looking at waves where if you get three moves it’s a good score. It’s really hard to change your perception on how you are going to surf a wave. I didn’t really catch on until the very end of that heat when I realized I could get a three move wave and probably seal it.” Fanning appeared uncharacteristically sloppy, even falling on waves that held opportunities for high scores. While the Billabong broadcast team wondered aloud if it was equipment issues, an obviously Fanning quickly put that all to rest. “I surfed like an idiot,” Fanning said. “I had the opportunity to win the whole thing and I fell and I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened, I just had a shocker. I was feeling great, I just couldn’t stay on my board.”

With the rest of the Top 44 now with deflated hopes for a world championship, it will be intriguing to see how the year plays out. Aside from Fanning’s bid to repeat, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson, and Andy Irons all came into the year with very high aspirations to come out on top. They are all very aware of the difficult, if not impossible, task that now lies in front of them. “Kelly wins another final, enough said, unbelievable.” Burrow said. “The door is really closing as far as I can see it. He’s got a ridiculous amount of keepers now so… how many events left? Not enough!”

It sure does appear that way. Congratulations Kelly Slater, winner of the 2008 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay!

There are few breaks in the world that contain the prestige and history of South Africa’s Jeffreys Bay. Its a wave unlike any other that has been known to bring out the best in many of the greatest surfers to ever step foot on a board. Tomson, Curren, Occy, Slater, and so many other surf legends have seen J-Bay be the site of some of their most impressive and inspired performances. And now with the arrival of the 2008 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay upon us this week, we have another opportunity to witness a few of the worlds best on one of its greatest waves.

The holding period for the Billabong Pro J-Bay, the fifth of 11 events on the 2008 ASP World Tour, is set to open on July 10. While for us it means a chance to see the top 44 and others do work at Jeffreys Bay , for everyone taking part in the tour it only means one thing - possibly the last hope to putting an end to Kelly Slater cruising through to his 9th world championship.

Current world No. 2, Joel Parkinson knows this better than anyone, and is even hoping for the Aussie legend Mark Occhilupo to help stop the damage that Slater has been inflicting. “When it comes down to perfect 6 foot J-Bay, you know Occy has still got it. He is in the trials, so hopefully he gets into the main event and helps the rest of us by taking Kelly out early,” said Parko. Parkinson himself is extremely well suited for the long burly right, and Slater knows that he will be one of his biggest obstacles standing in front of his 4th win at J-Bay, as well as his fourth victory on the ‘08 tour. “JBay has been one of my best events,” Slater said. “I’ve had three wins out there, but it’s obviously a good event for Taj, a good event for Parko, a good event for Andy and it suits Bede really well.”

The stop at Jeffreys Bay has solidified itself years ago as one of the truly special events of each year. The chance to see another round of memorable performances is something that shouldn’t be passed up. Even those who aren’t huge WCT followers can appreciate the magic of seeing these guys carve up the endless walls that J-Bay is known and loved for.

You can give it a peep for yourself as the 2008 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay will be webcast live on aspworldtour.com as well as billabongpro.com

Coming into the 2008 ASP World Tour there was quite a bit expected from Kauai’s Andy Irons. Following a disappointing 2007 campaign - at least according to the standard set by the 3x world champion - there were many who expected A.I. to come back to form and put himself into a viable position to regain a crown that fell upon the head of someone besides himself and Kelly Slater for the first time since the abbreviated 2001 tour.

He is currently sitting at 8th in the WCT rankings following the Australian and South Pacific legs of this year’s tour. While I’m sure there would be a Trestles line-up worth of surfers who would gladly take an 8th place ranking a third of the way through the year, this clearly isn’t good enough for a surfer who will undoubtedly go down as one of the all-time greats both in and out of competitive surfing.

Andy’s frustration with his current position came to a head and was visible to all (actually, with the malfunctioning Globe webcast it may or may not have been all that visible….but that is another post in itself) with his antics throughout his loss to fellow Hawaiian Fred Patacchia. Between his boxing matches with the ocean, his punting his board away on kick-outs, and his eventual dropping in on Freddy P and picking up a last second interference he made it known that he is not at all happy about simply being ranked in the top 10. He wants it all, world title or bust. And to be honest, in my opinion he is the only surfer on tour who has any shot of keeping Slater from what many consider to be his inevitable 9th world championship.

How can that be? Well the simple fact that Andy has performed nowhere near to the level he is capable of is something he can look to as a positive. Yeah, he is in 8th and up against a seemingly impossible climb to reach Kelly, especially with Kelly appearing determined to end the whatever title hopes anyone else may dream of at the upcoming Billabong Pro J-Bay. But if Andy can somehow put himself anywhere near the top heading into the Hawaii stretch, he and he alone will be the only surfer able to pull off the miracle it will take to deny ‘the king.’ Of course the North Shore will have to cooperate and do the exact opposite of what it did last year in the form of swell.

I’m not sure Andy will have much of a chance if he’s forced to scrape up scores on meager waves. But if it does, and Andy is close and back to the form that has made him one of the most exciting surfers to watch and a living legend in his own right….Love him or hate him, he will be the only obstacle standing in the way of what looks to be clear path for Kelly Slater’s eventual crowning(again).

1. Kelly Slater (USA) 2810 points
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 2340 points
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 2318 points
4. Andy Irons (HAW) 2196 points
5. Mick Fanning (AUS) 1989 points
6. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 1932 points
7. Taj Burrow (AUS) 1886 points
8. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 1874 points
9. Kai Otton (AUS) 1800 points
10. Dane Reynolds (USA) 1742 points

A lot of big names bowed out early at the Billabong Pro Tahiti today as Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow, Bede Durbidge, and Jordy Smith were all defeated in round 3 action at 4-6 foot Teahupoo.

Kelly Slater wasn’t looking too sharp again and was caught a couple times dropping in too deep, getting drilled in the head by one of the heaviest waves in the world. It didn’t matter though, as he suffered an early interference penalty and was literally surfing a heat he couldn’t possibly win. It seems there’s something about going up against local favorite Manoa Drollet that gets in Slater’s head, as he performed similarly when then two competed against each other in rd. 1 action. “This is just one of many events, you’re going to have throw-aways,” said Slater.

The highly anticipated matchup between Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds saw Smith go down as Dane was on absolute fire. If he continues to surf like he did in round three, Dane could possibly in serious contention for his first ever ‘CT victory, only three events into his rookie season. He was looking good. CJ Hobgood is another surfer to watch this event. He posted an amazing 19.64 in round three and has been looking awfully good here at ‘Chopes. Seems super-confident as well when you listen to his interviews and he no doubt wants to keep the Billabong Pro Tahiti title in the Hobgood family.

Andy Irons and Joel Parkinson - who are both tied for current world #6 - can definitely smell blood. All five surfers ahead of them exited early from this event and now they’ll definitely be taking advantage and looking to gain as many points as possible. Look to both of these guys to make a run at winning this event.

kelly slatertaj burrowteahupoojordy smithbede durbidgewct