Hi,
Slater follows breaking the rules. Today, he was crowned the Pipemaster ‘08 champion again after 9 years without a title in this contest. This time he appeared with a 5’11’’ and to the delight of a openmouthed audience, he made insane tuberidings to Pipe and Backdoor. So, the limits are being pushed again…
Here’s a quote from Nick Carrol on another website. There can’t be any surfers, no matter what they ride who wouldn’t be amazed by KS.
Talked with Kelly for a while afterward. That board was v interesting. Kind of a blend of thinking – a bit like those thrown-forward single fins of the Shaun tuberiding era, width all forward and tail pulled tight, with a pretty straight rocker. It was creased to f**k by the way – had maybe one more heat in it. “Two 10’s left,” yelled KS as he ran down for the final.
He was gonna ride a 5’3" quad btw…except he snapped the thing. I like that he’s willing to try new equipment in a contest setting. He wants to make an 8’ gun for Waimea, with a twin-fin setup so it goes really fast. His contribution to the sport is far from finished.
Really, it’s amazing to see history being made. It’ll put some sauce in the shaping bay…
…well, I said in several threads that small (in length) is better
how smaller? depends on the skills, type of surf, design, etc
in this case, some of the guys are not performing a bottom turn and drop angulated just into the toob
so a smaller board is requiered
in this case, some of the guys are not performing a bottom turn and drop angulated just into the toob
so a smaller board is requiered
I agree with you RV
Kelly rode the right board for the conditions period!
His board selection has been spot on.
SD
Another look at the weapon…
I wonder how Roys board would have worked out there?
The thruster I just got from Griffin looks very similar to what kelly was riding.My board is a 5 11 x 18 3/4 x 2 3/16 It goes hella good to.
im stoked on his board choice for sure. dont forget his wave choice should get some credit,
a back door final,
congrats K
He isn’t the first(not tot take anything away from it) Ther is a few guys riding JC’s retro roket witch is very similar in shape at pipe. I ride a very similar boardwhen its just barrelling you put your weight foward and the thing just goes crazy. I love boards made for very specific conditions. Good job Kelly!
Sorry to veer off a bit, but I was watching the Finals highlights, and the music to it was an accoustical version of the Star Spangled Banner that sounded amazing. Does anyone know who made the music? I searched all over the asp/google websites, but no luck. I’d like to look into getting some of that music-kind of sounded like a synthesized ukulele or something. Thanks much.
i’ve said this before----the "PROs’ on the tour should hang their heads in shame. kelly makes fools of them whenever and however he wants. it’s sorta sad that the touris so under the thumb of one personally, not that i have a problem with that, most of them are ego-driven babies. o well, somewhere there’s a kid having fun in the surf who will take his place someday…
here is one of my popular models (DK) we sell at my shop. usually a quad but we have been trialling it as a thruster in Indo and here when we have waves. i guess its more than validated now. i dont think for one minute that KS/AM are copying my designs. they are an amazing design team and im sure they have done more things with boards than i can dream about but i really like the fact that mainstream public can now see the usefullness of designs other than the std 6’2"x18 1/2"x 2 1/4" squashtail thruster. i just wonder if the clothing brands that run big board brand board labels shudder to think that their 500 board megastore just opening for christmas stock is now dated stock and the public now want shorter thicker boards that float and flow…all good for progression or profit?
thats not true walrus. chris ward was surfing perfectly . there was only 4 waves in the heat
its not so much kelly is the best its more that he fits into the judging criteria
i think the standards are very high on the pro tour and anyone in the top 44 is equal in kellys ability
if there was points for style then parko would dominate
I think you make a valid point here: “i think the standards are very high on the pro tour and anyone in the top 44 is equal in kelly’s ability”
BUT, as far as consistently stepping it up during a heat, selecting the correct waves AND executing, no one else on tour comes close.
Kelly just moved to Santa Barbara from what I hear, so I dont think his progression in equipment will be stopping anytime soon, hes prob like a 10 minute drive from Al’s shaping bay/factory.
I was waching carfully kelly’s heat and what I saw was a really bad board
ridden by a really good surfer.
It seams like he had a hard time with that board and since he’s 10 levels above everyone he managed somehow
to win this event.
he could probably take off a wooden door out of his room and surf it to first place…
just my thoughts after some close observation.
paul, I’m with you… parko is the style master!
I was there for all but Kelly’s final heat. Seems to me that the criteria for pipe is different than say J Bay for instance where i also have seen live…
What I saw was him moving around on the inside…not lookin for the biggest waves …but the ones that would barrel for longer distance and he could come out of. That strategy would not work at J bay as it is more about the biggest waves. The wind was shifting some also and changing the opportunities…backdoor vs. going left… The biggest waves were not the best waves.
He is just very keen on what is going on and taking advantage of it. Yea all those cats can surf…but only a handful are in his league(sometimes) from what I have seen.
He probably would have won the tripple crown if he had entered the other two comps.
Roger
I agree. It looked like he was having trouble making bottom turns.
I hear ya Dave, thanks for your generosity with board info.
In regards to bottom turns, what bottom turns?? Didnt see many real rail bore in the flats bottom turns myself.
I think the judging wasnt too outta whack either, Ward had a more than a great wave no doubt but check out how fr554kin apprehensive he looks not saying one is better just sayin maybe judges see that also.
Anyway this comment isnt a red flag vs blue flag thing, The australians had a great showing this year imho. More good surfing to come I hope.
oh and thanks again Dave, I drew up a board on aku three days ago and had to pull it up and check the outline after seein Ks board. That is the stoke. Like ,validation after who the f56k is stealin my designs!
Creating original is probably almost impossible but that means we have a lot right?
that board and others like it a very tailored to certain conditions. Which it seems they work quite well in. This is not just in reference to Kelly’s board I read in one of my magazines another pro’s review of the JC retro rocket and how well it works in the barrel.
My fear is if people order these boards they are going to order them to big and they are going to be pissed with how it works and write it off.
Kinda off topic, the water was the color of the dirty Jerz. barrels kinda look the same just a helluva lot bigger.
i just twigged on my inspiration for the shape… tom currens PCB board… i had one a long time ago that was great