Quiksilver Pro 2011 The Outsider: Winning's Just Another Habit

In: Quiksilver Pro 2011 by Steve Shearer 30 Comments Wed 9th Mar '11

Tags: kelly slater , coco ho , steph gilmore , jordy smith , The Outsider , Taj Burrow

"Is that all there is, is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing.
Lets break out the booze and have a ball.
If that's all there is."
- Peggy Lee.

When Wilko imploded in this morning's second Quarter Final I fell into a deep funk. Slater's opening ride against Payne in the first Quarter and the reality of the morning high tide and looming afternoon slop all pointed to a Slater chokehold with some opponent tapping out in an anti-climactic final. He has Jordy's measure, and Taj is old news for Slater. Teebs was the form surfer of the event no doubt, but his frontside finners were state of the art when Montaj was released circa 2002. In 2011 with Dane, Marzo, Coleborn etc etc they don't quite cut it as the state of the art.

I struggled to pull the notebook and pen out. Wilko was devoed, he had, what six or seven chances on overhead Snapper walls to put Tiago to the sword? Wilko himself knew it was an epic choke. Post-heat with Rosie as the last of his mojo dribbled onto the Snapper sands he laid a headbutt into the competitors tent and roared like a bull getting its nuts tapped. He cares, at least, and that is something to take away from the fiasco.

Teebs tagged it solidly in the quarter final against Simpson. He looked a million dollars on the clean and green walls, like he looked last year when he wasn't compared to Dane. His high speed rotation and commitment in the lip through critical top turns was the standard by which other surfing was judged this event. That will remain until Dane comes back on tour. He deserved every score he got, in retrospect.

Jordy grabbed another heart attack, last minute get out of jail card against rookie Alejo. Judges will continue to score Jordy high for any size wave but until he nails his opening turn with full commitment his control of the narrative is in dispute. He must dispatch Slater in an early round and inflict damage to challenge this year. From this angle it's hard to see that happening.

The waves were looking prettier than they had all week and the sight of so many unridden nuggets was driving me to distraction. I took a bodysurf as the legends were warming up. Skulking around the media room looking over journos shoulders couldn't hide the looming hole in my coverage. Inspiration deserted at the critical juncture: the perfect metaphor for the response to the Slater juggernaut by the rest of the Top 32.

Black storm clouds were looming over the Gold Coast skyline as Slater took the water against the Portugese Lion. I like the Lion and gave him a shadow of a chance against Slater. He has a winning 3-2 record against Slater. An upset would've bought the race to life.

I asked Slater this morning what he could learn from a perfect year like last year with so few errors.

"Well, it's true," he said "you can learn so much more from your mistakes."

The short, snaggle-toothed Pires was a "mistake" in Slater's eyes and he intended to illustrate what he had learned from losing to him.

Never have I seen a sporting victory conducted, orchestrated and performed with such brutal, elegant efficiency.

Slater opened with a sizzling ride which clearly showed a performance increase from the rest of his heats. He quickly followed with another, demonstrating a double-handed layback power cutback learned from Steph Gilmore and Coco Ho. Reverse gender education. It was all over in two rides in the opening five minutes of the heat. A huge alley-oop not completed was the hi-fi highlight of the event.

"Nothing can stop him now", I said to someone. Kelly's victorys now seem to carry an inevitability with them which matches the aura of an Ali in his prime.

The surf turned to mud for the Final, a result of underestimating the window of tidal opportunity and sending out the legends in the last of the favourable tidal phases. Still, the decision to run in the afternoon was the correct one. Kelly knew this and correctly calculated that Taj with his lightweight Firewire would be a disadvantage in the afternoon onshore.

The pheremonic overload on the beach caused both surfers to gag in the Final. 39 and 32 years of age in a youth sport based on progression. I rooted for Kelly. I always do. I was there on the beach at Pipeline when he won the first all those years ago. If he embraced his inner-Ali he could make a statement far greater than what a wavepool in Oklahoma provides.

He was underscored both waves but no matter. He had control of the heat. He feigned, he stalked, he made Taj paddle for shitty waves when Taj had priority. Taj fell. He never laid a punch on Slater. What'll it take?

They must be asking themselves this, those other pro surfers. What will it take? They can't lay a glove on him. You can see Slater at 50...still pulling an alley-oop in the shorey...hobbling up the beach like Jake La Motta, "You never got me down...you never knocked me down!"

But, how good can it feel still? The danger is not that Slater bows out early and quits. The danger is he keeps winning and one day wakes up in another hotel room with another surfing trophy and thinks, "Is this all there is?"

Peggy played it good and true, just like Slater: Let's break out the booze and have a ball.

Why the hell not Peggy? I bet even Slater had a glass of light beer this evening.

PS. Occy and Tom Carroll both rode round-tail quads in the legends session.