The year is 2005. Andy Irons is fresh off three back-to-back-to-back world titles and his rivalry with Kelly Slater is at its height. Kelly and Andy both make the finals of the Billabong Pro J-Bay, and behind the scenes is Jake Paterson to document the hoots and hollers from the peanut gallery – including Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, and Taj Burrow in younger men’s clothes.
Taj tells the camera that he threw down $1,000 on Kelly to win the final – Luke Egan put $1,000 on Andy.
“Everyone says Kelly’s peaked – he’s had his 10s and his 9.5s – but, fuck he’s looking unbeatable.” A prophetic breaking of the fourth wall, if ever there were one, that seems relevant even today.
Maybe you know how this ends. Spoiler alert: Kelly wins. Taj gets $1,000 richer. But, maybe you don’t recall that Kelly, according to Andy, gets overscored on his last wave. Needing a 9.3, the judges throw a 9.4 at the last wave Kelly gets where he makes three turns and falls on the fourth. Andy took the loss hard but rebounded heading into a specialty event in Chiba, Japan where he and Kelly meet in the finals, again (the recent Andy documentary actually pinpointed J-Bay as an apex moment in Andy’s fall from grace). This time Andy wins. Kelly goes on to win a world title, but Andy wins the Pipe Masters.
Flick ahead in the video below to about 20:25 to hear Kelly and Andy’s takes on that fateful J-Bay final.
