“It’s dangerous out there,” Slater said. “It’s always dangerous – if Pipe’s breaking it’s dangerous. Photo: ASP/Cestari
In some of the most dangerous conditions we’ve seen all year, Kelly Slater’s experience and persistence proved to be the difference in day two of the Billabong Pipe Masters. In their do-or-die Round two clash, the champ fought back from a series of horrific beatings to claim victory over Pipe trials winner Reef Mcintosh.
Needing a win to keep his title hopes alive, the champ picked himself off the ocean floor time and time again as big, blustery Pipeline refused to cooperate. As a WNW swell rose to six feet higher than the previous day, a deadly cross shore blew up the face – today was as dangerous as it gets. Because the end section is still clogged with sand, even if competitors survived the heart-in-mouth take off and the chop in the tube, they were left with a harrowing dart for the doggy door before getting drilled into dry sand.
In the opening heat of the day, Slater and McIntosh both struggled early. Slater threw himself over the ledge in a series of hair-raising drops. His step-up held, however, and he was able break through the stiff wind into the barrel, only to be crushed by giant chandeliering sections.
It was a feat he performed several times in the opening stages. On one wave, he almost re-enacted his miraculous no-hands wave of the winter from last year before being squished by the end-section. Despite racking up no real scores himself, with 13 minutes remaining, McIntosh found himself with a slender lead. When Slater found himself trapped inside on a ten footer, forcing him to ditch his board, he looked as though he was beaten. Finally, a wave cooperated for him: a flaring, backwashing insider, the backwash blowing the barrel wide open, pushing him just that little bit deeper before he emerged with the spit. The low six gave him the lead before he found another in quick succession.
Slater’s next wave was a bomb. As the wind threatened to suspend him in the lip, he paddled frantically. Once down the face, he timed his ride perfectly with the backwash, letting it push him deeper in a way so few surfers in the world are capable of. Then, in front of a stunned crowd, he emerged with the spit once more.
With the heat sealed, Slater sent flutters through the crowd with his final wave, an impossibly deep takeoff leading to a giant chandelier that would have sprawled most competitors. Slater somehow burst through it, emerging once more with the spit for a 9.57.
Despite the win, Slater spoke of his frustration with officials following the heat. The conditions were too dangerous for the contest, he believed, and was annoyed at having not being consulted by the ASP before the call was made to call the contest on – though the new rules mean the ASP no longer needs to consult with surfers.
“It’s dangerous out there,” he said. “It’s always dangerous – if Pipe’s breaking it’s dangerous – but this morning there were no waves being made.” As if to prove his point, as he was talking, Jordy Smith was rushed up the beach by medicos having been driven into the reef shoulder first while attempting to doggy door a closeout at Backdoor. Afterwards, he wore the biggest set of the day on the head – a ten wave pulse that lit up third reef – sending the water patrol into a frantic dash to pull him out. He was then taken to hospital for scans, leaving Dusty Payne to surf the remainder of the heat unopposed and claim a narrow victory. Payne will now surf against Medina in Round Three, with Medina needing only to make one more heat to knock Slater from the title race.
Elsewhere in the round, it was a bloodbath for surfers relying on results at Pipe to requalify. Six top flight competitors were sent back to the WQS in the deteriorating conditions. Aritz Aranbaru, Raoni Monteiro, Brett Simpson, Mitch Crews, Tiago Pires and Dion Atkinson all lost out in round that featured some of the lowest heat winning totals in ASP history. The seventh, Travis Logie, who lost out to Ace Buchan’s combined total of 3.47, surfed his final heat as a professional surfer having announced his retirement.
