Best Conditions EVER Surfed in Competition: Tahiti on Monday…

“This is the best World Tour event that I’ve ever seen.” – Kelly Slater, 22 years on tour

The best surfers in the world showed up to surf the heaviest barrel in the world this week.  The Tahiti Pro at Teahupoo did not disappoint.  The swell came in HUGE for finals day on Monday and truly freaked everyone out.  These were the biggest, most perfect waves ever surfed in ASP competition history.  It was mesmerizing to watch…

I sat in my kitchen in Argentina and screamed my head off for 3 hours on Monday night watching this comp live.  Absolutely the most entertaining thing I’ve ever watched ever.  Ever.

Kelly Slaters ENORMOUS perfect 10 wave in the quarter finals was just silly…

Kelly Slater damn near won this thing but ended up in second place losing the final heat to Brazil’s Gabriel Medina by .03 points.  It was an epic heat, but not the best heat of the comp.

The best heat of the entire comp was Kelly Slater against John John Florence in the semi finals.  They both charged perfect, enormous Teahupoo and ended up tied.  Slater won the heat because he had the higher individual wave score – a perfect 10.

Gabriel Medina looks like he’ll win the tour this year making him one of the youngest if not the youngest to ever win a world championship and the first Brazilian to ever win one.

Here is what Slater had to say about Gabriel and his Tahiti win:

“On stage at the awards ceremony…Congrats are in order for Gabriel Medina and his performance this week. There are more conversations happening about this guy than anyone and for good reason. He’s the most dangerous guy in the world of surfing. Why?

Just this year he won at Snapper, a wave dominated by regular footers for over 10 years. He won in Fiji, one of the classic waves on tour. And now he wins the BillabongProTahiti in giant surf, an event that he wasn’t considered to be a main threat by many people. That’s exactly why Medina has become so dangerous…he can and does win in waves/conditions where he doesn’t even have a lot of experience at yet and people don’t know what to expect.

He’s more determined and hungry for the win than any other surfer. He’s complete, combining airs, barrel riding, and carving. He can shoot whole video parts in single sessions. He has passed every test thrown his way. Even though I’m gonna do everything in my power to stop this guy this year, I’m a big fan of his surfing and he’s a really good guy.

The biggest obstacles he will face in his career will be staying motivated long-term and dealing with a fanatical, Brasilian fan base (BrasilianSwarm?) that is resting the hopes of a country on his shoulders. I’m sure he’ll accept and handle that challenge like every other one thrown his way so far. Congratulations for yourTeahupoo win and hold on for a huge career ahead.” -Kelly Slater