Spectacular Slater shots from Tahiti

Dusty Payne

Spectacular final day Slater sequence from Tahiti

Teahupoo, Taiarapu/Tahiti- The Billabong Pro Tahiti, Stop No. 5 of 10 on the 2010 ASP World Tour, finally concluded having used up the entire waiting period in the quest for the best available waves possible., Andy Irons was the event champion winning in his come back year.

Andy won the very first surf event held at Teahupo’o as a teenager. This was his 20th ASP WCT victory, arguably one of his most important considering his time off the Tour last year and his results so far this year

Kelly Slater past nine-time ASP World Champion, looked the form surfer of the final day, scoring the event’s first and only Perfect 10 in the Quarterfinals for an incredible freefall layback barrel. “It’s been a while (since getting a 10),” Slater said. “That was probably the best wave of the day.

I was a little bit far back when I was paddling, and when I turned around to go, the wind was pushing me back. So I really had to overcompensate once I got to the bottom and finally set my edge. It was a good one though.” Despite the Semifinal loss to Irons, Slater moves from 3rd to 2nd on the ASP World Title Race rankings.
 
“I’m up there pretty close, going all the way to J-Bay and getting 17th makes me wish I had stayed home. You lose confidence and waste time on planes. That’s the way it goes – you have good events and bad events. This one has been pretty good though. The waves haven’t been good, but we’ve seen a lot of cool things. We’ve seen the young guys really step up and we’ve seen Andy (Irons) come back and put one together.”

Andy Irons, 2010 Billabong Pro Tahiti champion 

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