Anyone who buys clothes from a surf shop is a complete idiot. Go to Marshalls or Ross. The bro industry is run by family suck ups.

if you guys haven’t guessed yet, i am an aussie. and i was being a smartass when i told you guys to talk about loveing kelly. but seriously i think kelly is the best surfer of all time, i was about 13 when ks in black and white came out, i watched it 1000 times, for a decade he was head and shoulders above the next best guy, he was the best and it was recognized on both sides of the pacific. i was lucky enough to surf with him a bunch of times at burleigh, kirra, and d/bah, man he was good compared to the level of other pros of the day. but i think kelly is making a mistake by hanging around on the tour, let me explain. kelly no longer stands out. he was once the fastest, most inovative, stylish, and hardest charging surfer in yhe world. but today he’s not the fastest [ mick is] or the most progressive[ dane, jordy, taj] most stylish [parko] or the hardest charger [andy]. sure he can still win contests off the back of experience, his cheering fans and the good will of judges, but im sure this not how kelly will want to be remembered. 19 years ago kelly was critical of the pros of the time for toneing down their surfing to fit the judging criteria, he said their surfing was “gay”. well look who is running off to the judges to find out how he can fit his surfing into a criteria now. kelly. it is without doubt that owen beat kelly in that quarter, the judges stuffed up big time and they know it. the surf media are onto it already, heads may roll. if you asked kelly off the record he would tell you the same. a similar thing happend at bells, kelly won that too. if kellys not careful he will be badly remembered. many of the groms today dont know the mindblowing kelly of the 90′s, they just know the bald, sneaky, overscored kelly whose recent victories are questioned by many. kelly its time to go, there is nothing left to prove, buy a boat, sail to indo, retire now with the knowlege that you were the best.

MIk,
it’s all good. I never entered the surf industry world by choice as an employee. Just do it myself at a smaller scale, happy and on my own, slow path.

Craigs,
DAMN straight! Slates is HELLA COOL! Represent East Coast. How do you come from crumble slop to world thorough dominance??? Hard work, freak talent and a pinch of playing the game right (thankfully he does not thanks God when he wins).
DOMINATE!!!!!!!! 10 should be easy. Will he get paid (by Hurley, Bong, Rip Curl, etc) to stop competing on the tour?

they knock him over and over and he comes back.

ps – ain’t someone supposed to rag on a Brazillian in the next post or two? Keep the quota up commentators!

@ Zach:

Your idea sounds a little far fetched. Ending contests would take the sport out of surfing. And if you lose the sport you end up with a hobby. I don’t see too many hobby organizations who have the money to buy islands and build reefs. Put down the pipe, bro. Surfing contests and the sport of surfing are what help the industry actually make so much money. Without competition there would be no surfing organization to buy these private surfparks you speak of.

hey peak and mik. your wasteing time arguing when you could both be telling the world how much you love kelly

Jimmi Slade is back in the drivers seat.

Go the Mik!,
ahhh, name calling is what the www is for ain’t it? I’m not scared of that guy, he’s my size (I was this size first) AND I’m more angry, ha!

I’m more saddened/angered that the world is progressing too fast for me. Real prize money and major sponsors brought to surfing+contests will mean that the rich execs in the surf world OR the sponsored pros will need to get a paycut if “surf brands” want to pay to play on a real world of “what we put in vs how much we rip off the consumer to the tune of $60 trunks and $28 metrosexual t’s. It WOULD be good to see how COKE or McDonalds would LAUGH at the paltry amt of $ that it takes to throw a week’s event on a beach somewhere. I bet it’s way less than they drop on the big city bus side placements for a month. What gets more eyeballs? Or would they think it’s core to be so under the radar. Or then again, maybe they will just make a $100 pair of shorts to make up for the losses? oops too late. a select few in the surf industry have it ($, power, control) on lockdown and down at the trickle down out here on the mean streets, the reps who work hard day to day get paid what, 10% of sales. How about 5% of sales and 1% of overall corprate profits? Maybe a bit more evenly distributed share of “what WE ALL are building”? and NO I’m not a rep, I just hear their sob stories, even the top 3-4 brands.

I guess I’m happy for Bob H? He did good stuff saturating the Bong brand to a certain level in the USA, but if you think that setting up Hurley and then in a short matter of time selling it out to NIke is a “let’s keep this family business” you must be on the mull.
If he REALLY wants to be core and keep it real as surfers are want to do, he should be a full time shaper. I’ve seen some shapes, not too bad.THERE’s where the $$$$’s at! AND the recognition. Who needs to be authentic (to a true surfers needs) when one can sell a watch or hoodie w/earphones in the strings or sneakers, all things a surfer “needs”, or I guess all things an aspiring surfer should want to wear/look like?

I work a lot of other sporting events in the field and it’s always a downer when one sponsor has such a branding/logo dominance to an event. Like I said, if it was “verizon, coke, hurley event at Trestles”, guess who wins??? the PRO surfers, they would get paid 2-3x as much, but at a loss to one companies monopoly/dominance.

surfing is surfing, it’s all supposed to be fun, but when the pro level contests it’s so heavily saturated with this “fame/guilt by association” it seems forced, flat or just played out.

I would not have even browsed over to see any of the contest was it not for the good swell promise and when I did I felt glad I was not a part of the Hurley Tribe (or any surf brand per say).

i agree with mik. sometimes the judging makes me scratch my head. the judges are too influenced by the crowd around them. like with dane for example, he is my favorite surfer right now, he rips the bag, but every now and then he will just bog rail, and the judges will still throw down big scores out of habbit or something. same with kelly. a lot of the spectators at these events dont know that much about good surfing, but they will cheer for him, because he is kelly and this often helps his scores. however i have seen it go against kelly too, in south africa kelly got screwed by the judges when the crowd went wild for sean holmes. i dont have the answer to this problem, i just think that no longer does the world title reflect the best surfer, but then it never did

BTW: Slater is awesome, make no mistake. He’s the King, and it is going to take a significantly more exciting surfer to take his crown this year. 10 in 2010.

@Paul. I agree. Dane, Jordy, and Owen are the next in line behind Mick. But, Kelly is still tops!! His power, style, fluidity and versatility rules it! While still being one of the top innovators. Incredible!

Absolutely astounding. First rate waves, powerful surfing throughout. And Kelly is the master. Two style gurus in the finals made it all time. Everyone just absolutely blew it out every freakin heat. I just wish Bobby Martinez had gone further. Dane your surfing is so cool, I’d buy a used car from you right now!

kelly surfed well as always, although he was lucky to get past owen in that quarter final. its common knowlege that kelly gets overscored more than most.

Fanning’s 15 minute ‘skull-sessions’ before heats left
him ironically fragile to an interference “trick” which
only he ‘called’.
It may empower him for the remainder of the season.
More likely to show everyone he’s wound WAY to tight.

Could he do it with 150 others in the Lineup?