By Jay DiMartino, About.com Guide to Surfing / Bodyboarding since 2003
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Sl8ter About to Become Sl9ter and Surfing like a Girl
Saturday September 13, 2008
Below you can see the World Tour ratings after the Boost Mobile Pro in California. Held in fun, clean point surf, the contest highlighted the best in small wave ripping and was brimming with the world's greatest talent. But look at the ratings closely and see that Slater is standing head and shoulders (actually some 1418 heads and shoulders over the closest Aussie) above all rivals, and his surfing at the Boost Mobile was spot on flawless, dropping 10 point rides like most folks make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 6820 points
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 5402 points
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 5258 points
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 5148 points
5. Mick Fanning (AUS) 5085 points
6. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 4550 points
7. Bobby Martinez (USA) 4360 points
8. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 4280 points
9. Andy Irons (HAW) 4163 points
10. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 3997 points
But tasty, nourishing snacks aside, Slater is secure in his run for world title number 9. In fact, the rest of the flock would have to surf perfectly, and Slater would have to lose every heat through Hawaii...not gonna happen.
New names, Martinez and Flores, in the top 10 are also worth noting as well as bulldog Bede Durbride grabbing hold of the third spot. It's great to see so many new names making a run on the old guard and pushing the "old" dudes to new levels. That said, with all the surf schools and surf leagues and such pushing young surfers into the water, there has been a strange development in the lineup lately. It appears that young surfing girls are progressing a far faster rate than their male counterparts.
More and more teenage girls are charging harder and pulling more radical maneuvers than previous generations while young guys are surfing at levels similar to the young guys from 10 years ago. Yeah, there are some new squiggles and some higher (still mostly unmakeable) airs, but Joe-local-dude just isn't representative of what's happening on the world stage. Young girls, however, are pushing themselves and truly pushing the limits of what the previous ladies have done. On a related note, Lisa Anderson was surfing my local break a few weeks back and totally schooled every guy out in the water (I refuse to admit whether I include myself in this example). While lots of guys are shredding and it's obvious that surfing at a professional level is reaching mind-boggling levels, women's surfing is poised to see a jolt of energy in the coming years and "surfing like a chick" will no longer be a put-down.
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