{"id":26299,"date":"2011-11-02T16:34:42","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T23:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=26299"},"modified":"2011-11-04T23:15:43","modified_gmt":"2011-11-05T06:15:43","slug":"ke11y-slater-makes-in-eleven-in-san-francisco-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=26299","title":{"rendered":"Ke11y Slater Makes In Eleven In San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Slater-Title-Release\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Update November 2, 2011<\/strong>: The ASP admitted on Friday, November 4, 2011 that, due to a tabulating error, Kelly Slater had not actually won the 2011 title on November 2, 2011 and that he needed to win one more heat. Click here for that story<\/a><\/strong>.]<\/p>\n

We figured there was nothing that would keep Kelly Slater<\/strong> from winning his 11th World ASP Title (aside from some wild life), but Australia’s Daniel Ross<\/strong> gave him a run for it. With less than three minutes to go and Ross in the lead Kelly Slater got the wave he needed to clinch the title at the Rip Curl Pro Search SF<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is pretty fabulous,\u201d Slater said. \u201cTwo days ago in the afternoon it was chunky and small and didn\u2019t look inviting at all. Yesterday was nice and today looks like a nice day in France. I don\u2019t know, this hasn\u2019t sunk in. I\u2019ve been pretty stressed about it and I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over. It\u2019s very fulfilling and there\u2019s personal satisfaction. It feels real nice. I\u2019ve dedicated my life to surfing and competing and to go a whole year and win a world title and have it pay off, it\u2019s really fulfilling. To win on American soil is nice. Everyone\u2019s been so cool and the locals have been so stoked. It\u2019s been a special time. It\u2019s been warm and offshore and a nice little swell. Someone\u2019s looking over us and probably Andy (Irons).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP.OCEAN BEACH, San Francisco\/California (Wednesday, November 2, 2011) \u2013 Kelly Slater (USA), 39, has claimed a historic 11th ASP World Title today, clinching the year-long pursuit with his advancement out of Round 3 at the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco.<\/p>\n

In pristine three-to-five foot (1 \u2013 1.5 metro) peaks at Ocean Beach, Slater fought back to an inspired start from opponent Dan Ross (AUS), 28, to claim victory in the dying moments in front of a capacity crowd at Ocean Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a scrappy heat, I didn\u2019t win it in the most effortless style,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of heats with Rossy (Dan Ross) this year, and he\u2019s real dangerous with a little power so I knew he\u2019d be dangerous and I was nowhere to be found in the beginning of that heat. I was hunting those lefts and they were fading off I was thinking \u2018why am I taking off on these things.\u2019 I knew I had to get in on some of those rights. That wave had a nice open face and I thought it\u2019d probably be just enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a banner year that witnessed the iconic Floridian make five of nine Finals (thus far) and post three wins, Slater seems to be surfing at the top of his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is pretty fabulous,\u201d Slater said. \u201cTwo days ago in the afternoon it was chunky and small and didn\u2019t look inviting at all. Yesterday was nice and today looks like a nice day in France. I don\u2019t know, this hasn\u2019t sunk in. I\u2019ve been pretty stressed about it and I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over. It\u2019s very fulfilling and there\u2019s personal satisfaction. It feels real nice. I\u2019ve dedicated my life to surfing and competing and to go a whole year and win a world title and have it pay off, it\u2019s really fulfilling. To win on American soil is nice. Everyone\u2019s been so cool and the locals have been so stoked. It\u2019s been a special time. It\u2019s been warm and offshore and a nice little swell. Someone\u2019s looking over us and probably Andy (Irons).\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s clinching of the 2011 ASP World Title comes on the one-year anniversary of the passing of Andy Irons. Irons, who is credited with being a defining force in Slater\u2019s career, was once a bitter rival of the champ (claiming three consecutive ASP World Titles himself) but became a close friend and confidant in recent years. The symbolism of today was not lost on Slater.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of weird and I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot of things coming together,\u201d Slater said. \u201cWhat are the chances of me winning on the anniversary of Andy passing away? It makes it a lot more special for me. It\u2019s a way to celebrate my memories with him and be thinking about him. It\u2019s been on my mind and I wrote a story about him the other day. It\u2019s a time to think back.\u201d<\/p>\n

2011 ASP World Title Series Results:
\nQuiksilver Pro Gold Coast: WINNER
\nRip Curl Pro Bells Beach: Equal 5th
\nBillabong Rio Pro: Equal 13th
\nBillabong Pro Jeffreys Bay: No Show
\nBillabong Pro Tahiti: WINNER
\nQuiksilver Pro New York: Runner-Up
\nHurley Pro at Trestles: WINNER
\nQuiksilver Pro France: Equal 5th
\nRip Curl Pro Portugal: Runner-UP
\nRip Curl Pro Search San Francisco: TBD
\nBillabong Pipeline Masters: TBD<\/p>\n

With the 2011 ASP World Title sealed, Slater is now focused on performing in the event at hand, the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m refocusing on another win here,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI\u2019ve accomplished the year goal. I definitely feel like I can go out and surf a lot more relaxed now. It\u2019s really nice to win here in these conditions with so many people on the beach, I thought it\u2019d be freezing cold and onshore and it\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having claimed his first ASP World Title in 1992 at the age of 20, Slater still boasts the record for the youngest-ever ASP World Title holder. Now at 39 years of age, Slater holds the record of being the oldest ASP World Champion ever, but was characteristically coy regarding any talk of retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think 39 is actually pretty young to most people,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI guess in the past, you would top out once you hit 30, but that\u2019s definitely not the case now. I feel like I\u2019m surfing at the highest level of my career and I feel like I can keep going. I haven\u2019t thought about it too much, but I plan on relaxing for the rest of the year and enjoying my time in Hawaii. We\u2019ll see what 2012 brings to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Slater\u2019s ASP World Title Clinch Locations:
\n2011: Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco \u2013 USA
\n2010: Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico \u2013 USA Territory
\n2008: Billabong Pro Mundaka \u2013 Basque\/Spain
\n2006: Billabong Pro Mundaka \u2013 Basque\/Spain
\n2005: Nova Schin Festival – Brazil
\n1998: Mountain Dew Pipeline Masters – Hawaii
\n1997: Expo 98 Figueira 97 \u2013 Portugal
\n1996: Coca Cola Figueira 96 \u2013 Portugal
\n1995: Chiemsee Pipe Masters \u2013 Hawaii
\n1994: Chiemsee Gerry Lopez Pipe Masters \u2013 Hawaii
\n1992: Alternativa Surf Rio \u2013 Brazil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Update November 2, 2011: The ASP admitted on Friday, November 4, 2011 that, due to a tabulating error, Kelly Slater had not actually won the 2011 title on November 2, 2011 and that he needed to win one more heat. Click here for that story.] We figured there was nothing that would keep Kelly Slater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26299"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26316,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26299\/revisions\/26316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}