This is what go-time looks like for Mr. Kelly Slater. Photo: ASP/Cestari
The Pressure Is Off: Taj Burrow Will Win In Peniche
Antonio Nielsen
This Is Legacy: Kelly Slater Will Win Supertubos
Zach Weisberg
Time for Revenge: Gabriel Medina Will Win Rip Curl Pro Portugal
Tetsuhiko EndoKelly Slater will win the 2013 Rip Curl Pro Portugal. I don’t care if it’s an unimaginative pick. The mathematical scenarios of the 2013 ASP World Title Race are available for all to see, and with unapologetic arithmetic grace, Kelly will do the things he needs to do in order to claim an unprecedented 12th World Title.
We could get granular about Supertubos’ conditions and how they lend themselves to Slater’s style, but with equal parts spite and pleasure – just as Anthony Kiedis put it in the best surf movie fight scene ever: “That…would beee…a waste of time.”
Board snap!
This is bigger than contest conditions. It’s legacy.
I believe that had Kelly clinched his 12th World Title over Joel Parkinson in an ultimate showdown at Pipeline last year, we would have witnessed a mythically ceremonious retirement. The legend at his summit, graciously transitioning to a new, exciting stage in his life. Indelible in our surfy, salty minds. But, alas, we did not. We witnessed something else entirely. And although Joel Parkinson deservedly removed himself from a short list of “almosts,” something was rotten in the state of Denmark. Kelly didn’t win. And, as we know, Kelly must win.
So if ever a perfect opportunity were to surface for Kelly Slater to reassert himself in a way that could satisfy his competitive appetite, Portugal is it. This is the make or break contest of the year. Moments like these are molecules in his blood. Quinoa in his chia. They enable a drool-worthy narrative that hits the third plot point right where it belongs: at the famed Banzai Pipeline during the Triple Crown on the North Shore. Short of Tanya Harding-style sabotage, Kelly will do what he needs to do to win in Portugal. Plain and simple.
