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Owen Wright Crowned King of New York + VIDEO
By Luke Kennedy | 10 September 2011 |
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To infinity and beyond! Owen realising his potential as a possible 2011 world champion. Pic: Matt Clark Owen Wright summed up his moment and the day perfectly in his victory speech. “Thank you Longbeach! How good is this?” Wright stood before a throng of New Yorkers as the emphatic winner of a finals rematch with Kelly Slater and the recipient of professional surfing’s biggest ever pay check – $300 000. Meanwhile, Quiksilver had pulled off an incredible Houdini act, taking an event that was on the brink of cancellation after Hurricane Irene, and turning on a contest with an electric atmosphere.
With plenty of junior wins under his belt Owen's no stranger to numbe one, flying to first New York style. Pic:ASP/Kirstin I’d begun the morning with last night’s free tequila still throwing ten-foot close outs in my frontal lobe but as I squinted towards the Long Beach lineup there was a sight, which seemed to make the pain go away. Three-foot, brown-velvet barrels were spinning left and right before a super-charged NY crowd. It was ‘pumping’ by anyone’s standards. The waves might have been pretty to look at but the absence of yesterday’s cross-shore was going to make it difficult for the early surfers to repeat the air show antics.
Kelly has won 47 finals, losing one is foreign and painful, especially one run by his major sponsor. Pic: Matt Clark Taj adapted well, whipping through turns like a sparkler being twirled across a night sky to sneak past Jadson Andre in their quarter but everyone was waiting for the re-match between Josh Kerr and Kelly Slater. Slater wast textbook, top-to-bottom perfect from the get go. Kerrsy was never going to beat him in a battle of technique and needed to find something special inspite of the air-repellent offshore breeze. “ Who are you going for?” I asked the lady next to me, who’d been boasting about her local surfer son. “ I’m embarrassed to say Kelly Slater. It’s like going for the known product.” Right on cue the unknown entity, Josh Kerr, found a right ramp and lofted. By the time he’d hovered through a silky reverse the judges had delivered him a 9.07. You could see the panic in Kelly’s paddling when he heard the cheers but unfortunately fly-boy Kerr couldn’t find another wave, and the ultimate entertainer was bundled out by the divine one. Kerrsy was out but still deserved much of the credit for making it a memorable event.
With his body heating up in the quarters, Taj opted for boardies in his semi against Kelly. pic: ASP/Rowland By the time Alejo Muniz slid past Heitor Alvez and Owen Wright triumphed in a cat and mouse encounter with Julian Wilson, I was right down on the beach amongst the moms, dads and American masses. Crowd-tossed, pink Roxy beach balls dotted the blue sky, bikini-clad girls and their tattooed beaus toyed with their digital cameras and every time you looked up it seemed like the shimmering lines were stacked six-deep. It was in fact a perfect surf contest moment. Shortly after Camera company, ‘Go Pro’ pulled a guerrilla marketing stunt by dropping two guys out of a chopper with heavily branded parachutes. By the time they hit the beach the local police were waiting with cuffs. I was a little luckier and a friendly local, who went by the nickname of “Foot”, said “ here, have one of these” and jammed a beer in my hand just in time for the semis.
Whoever said an old dog can't learn knew tricks has never seen 39-year-old Slater surf. Pic: ASP/Rowland Making things a little more twisted in the match up between Kelly and Taj in semi one, was the fact that Taj had been dating Oleema Miller, the sister of Kelly’s girlfriend Kalani. As the two surfers paddled out, I looked to the VIP stand for clashing Poms Poms but didn’t site any. By the seven-minute mark both surfers had nine plus scores and it was game on. Taj was lightning sharp and precise but seemed to be relying on a classic top-to-bottom approach rather than the high risk surfing the judges had been rewarding. Kelly was chasing the chocolate tubes and trying alley-oops every time he exited. With a minute left Kelly was still hunting an 8.04. Then he paddled into what most would dismiss as a closeout and threw himself at the lip. When he landed the crowd reacted as if their team had just won he super bowl.
He had his doubter's early on in his career, but in the last two events JW has proved he's the real deal. ASP/Kirstin The judges issued the first ten of the event and shattered Taj’s chances of claiming surfing’s biggest ever pay day. Meanwhile, Taj’s extensive entourage winced as their budget for a big night in the city took a hit. When he calmed down later, Taj was happy to comment on the experience. “That’s the best air of his life and he did it when he needed it and it just happened to be against me. It’s awful.” Owen coasted past Alejo Muniz, who had surfed well all event but frequently progressed by being the highest scorer in scrappy heats. It was Slater Vs Owen all over again. As he strode down the beach, swamped by a patriotic crowd it might have seemed like another one of those moments in history, custom made for Kelly Slater.
Crowd care. Pic: Matt Clark “ The most historical event in surfing history,” boomed Dave Stanfield as the two surfers made their way out. I wasn’t sure what Dave’s logic on the claim was but it certainly felt like some special was going down. Owen proceeded to ignore the crowd psychology and open the heat with massive four-hand airs on consecutive waves. Within five minutes he already had a heat total of 16.23 [he finished with 17.90] and the thirty thousand-plus crowd went kind of quiet. Kelly responded with an eight but couldn’t halt the momentum of the goofy-foot giant. Owen continued to surge, throwing apple-crisp tail-wafts at will. One fully committed fins throw with a lay back slash exit seemed to create the perfect synthesis of surfing past and present. Suddenly the New York crowd decided they wanted to cheer for him anyway. He totally turned the crowd with an exceptional display. This was the best surfing Long Beach had ever seen and they were going to shout about it. By the time a Slater diehard shouted, “ Come on Kelly, get one more!” in his best Rocky voice, it was all over.
Australian Josh Kerr left a lasting impression on the New York faithful and his fellow competitors. Pic: ASP/Rowland Surrounded by media after the final, Owen paid homage to Slater as a major inspiration but insisted “this was a re-match he’d really wanted.” He also acknowledged that the event had perhaps redefined the possibilities of contest performance. “ We’ve definitely stepped it up.” Kelly had to deal with a more colourful line of questioning. “Hey Kelly, is that a sock in your suit or are you just happy to see us?” screamed a crowd member loud enough for all within a fifty metre radius to hear. Kelly laughed it off. The win puts Owen in a solid position in the world title race and he would be the first goofy in ten years to claim the crown, if he does go on to do so. In what has been an indisputably successful event last word on the contest went to official contest director, Rod Brooks, who had to endure heavy criticism from multiple sources for staging it in New York. “A lot of people in the press have been very critical of this event. I hope that now they are happy to see it for the reality it was.” Right on Rod. Right on!
Inspired to surf by witnessing the world best rip up their local, surfers froth out post event. Pic: Matt Clark QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK FINAL: QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK SEMIFINALS RESULTS: QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK QUARTERFINALS RESULTS: ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 10 (After Quiksilver Pro New York):
Congratulations Owen Wright ! Quiksilver Pro New York Final Day from Yves Van den Meerssche on Vimeo.
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