The Corona Open J-Bay is just around the bend. The horn sounds on July 13, and if conditions are anything like they were on July 8, we’re in for a treat. What’s lacking a bit these days — at least in some people’s opinion — is a good old fashioned rivalry. Sure, there have been a few dust ups here and there, and sure, for a while the powers-that-be appeared to be trying to create a rivalry between John John Florence and Gabriel Medina, but it seems as though everyone in pro surfing is just too dang nice these days. Or they’re too aware of the current climate and don’t much feel like airing a bunch of dirty laundry. Back in the day, though, the surf rivalry of all surf rivalries was Kelly Slater versus Andy Irons.
For the viewer, it was fantastic. Two of the best on on the planet. One a complicated, tortured soul who surfed with a controlled and suppressed rage, the other a mechanically good surfer who never seemed to make a mistake. “I loved and hated the guy,” Kelly Slater wrote in a heartfelt tribute after Andy Irons’ tragic death. “But I probably only hated him because I admired and envied what he was capable of,” he said.
In 2005, the pair came up against each other at almost perfect J-Bay. It was the first time they’d come up against each other in a man-on-man final, and it was a show, to say the least.
