Kelly is King

In an interview following his convincing victory over Sebastian Zietz in the quarterfinals of the Volcom Fiji Pro yesterday, Kelly Slater made a simple statement, "I want to win this contest." It sounded harmless enough, but if you watched his heat before the interview, you knew it was Kelly time. Slater posted a perfect heat in the quarters, putting up a pair of 10-point barrel rides in the span of three minutes that surely left his rookie opponent dizzied out the back. We've seen it time and time again; when Kelly wants it bad enough, he's unstoppable. Add in the fact that he has more experience at Cloudbreak than anyone else on tour, and I didn't see a way Kelly could lose. And he didn't disappoint.

Kelly got busy early against John John Florence in the semis and went on to post an 18.17 to advance to the finals, where he met Mick Fanning. Fanning had just eeked out heats in the quarters and semis, and I didn't feel like he was much of a threat to Kelly. But nobody would have been a threat to the master, as Slater posted yet another perfect 10 along the way to a 19.80 score in the final heat. It was like watching a movie you know the ending to, but still being enthralled every step of the way. That's the kind of surfer and entertainer that Kelly Slater is.

With his victory in Fiji, Kelly moves up into a place he knows better than anyone in the history of surfing, the top spot in the World Tour rankings. He currently enjoys a narrow lead over Mick, who has been incredibly consistent this season with finishes of third, fifth, third and second. Jordy Smith followed up his win in Rio with a fifth in Fiji, good enough to put him third in the ranks. We've now got a quick turnaround for the next event, the Oakley Pro Bali, as the waiting period starts on June 18th.

Cloudbreak Comes Alive

The Fiji Pro got going again yesterday, and we saw why contest organizers were being patient in calling the contest on, as we saw some incredible waves comes through Cloudbreak. This quote from Kelly Slater (via ASP), a guy who has probably surfed this break more than any non-Fijian, really says it all about the conditions:

“That was unbelievable,” Slater said. “Those were some of the best waves I’ve ever had in a contest. On the 10, I was deep in the barrel and grabbed my rail, but I had to let go to get speed and then I hit the foam ball, I barely made that one. I did the turn and got another tube. On that one big one, it was so perfect and I just wanted to be in the right spot. As I was in the barrel, it spit really hard and there was lots of mist and I couldn’t see. The foamball pushed my tail up in to the wave and I just couldn’t come out the way I wanted to. I didn’t even care if I won or lost, because I’d get to surf again.”

That last statement was essentially the theme of yesterday's heats; the pros were so stoked and frothing at the sight of a pumping Cloudbreak that one of the sport's biggest events of the year boiled down to a simple and pure love for surfing. These guys are pros, but they were all little kids once that audibly oohed and aahed at hollow barrells and open faces. They still ooh and ahh, usually silently, but sometimes that little kid inside gets too excited an makes an appearance, and that's great to see. They're not surfing robots, after all, though sometimes their performance might have you suspecting otherwise.

We got down to the quarters yesterday, and here are the matchups:

John John Florence vs. Jordy Smith

Kelly Slater vs. Sebastian Zietz

C.J. Hobgood vs. Josh Kerr

Joel Parkinson vs. Mick Fanning

I've got to stick with my original pick of Kelly to win it all, but really several of these guys have surfed well enough thus far to make my confidence in that pick wane a bit, just because so many competitors have looked so good. John John has probably consistently surfed the best in the contest to this point, with Jordy a close second and Kelly probably right behind them, though Slater's Round 4 heat was absolutely insane. Zietz has shown that he can translate his Pipe skills to Cloudbreak without issue, C.J. Hobgood is one of the best lefthanded barrel riders in the world and always kills it in Fiji, Parko seems to finally be coming alive this season and Mick put together a 19-plus heat in the last round. This should be a great finish at what has probably my third-favorite event on the tour.

Billabong Rio Pro Completes Second Round

Finally, some surfing! The second round of the Rio Pro kicked off and was complected today in some stormy-looking surf at Barra da Tijuca. There weren't any real upsets in the round to speak of, so no surprises there.  Josh Kerr had the highest heat score of the day with a 17.94, and while the pros made the best of the conditions, only Kerr and Brett Simpson were able to crack a total of 15 in a heat.  For me, the most anticipated Round Three heats will be Taj vs. Kolohe (this could be a breakout year) and Julian Wilson vs. Sebastian Zietz.  Hopefully that will be tomorrow.