2011 ASP World Tour action all set to resume with Billabong Pipe Masters
It seems like just yesterday when we were celebrating the beginning of what promised to be yet another thrilling season of Association of Surfing Professionals. Now after 10 months, we are staring at the final chapter of the 2011 season, The Billabong Pipe
Masters in Memory of Andy Irons, which will be kicking off in a matter of hours at Banzai Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii.
The event, which is scheduled to run from December 8-20, is bringing back all the superstars of surfing, which include the likes of America’s Kelly Slater, South Africa’s Jordy Smith, Australia’s young sensation who announced himself as a formidable competitor
through a series of exquisite performances over the last few months, Owen Wright. The line-up consisting of extremely talented surfers for the last stop of the ASP World tour is huge, which is bound to bring a heavy dose of action and cap off the action-packed
10-month ride.
The fate of the season has already been decided, with the 39-year-old Slater emerging as the ASP World Champion for a record 11th time. Sealing the deal may have removed all pressure off the iconic Floridian surfer as he does not need to push
himself hard for a good result, but that has not reduced the anxiety that he is feeling at the aspect of finally getting to surf at the Pipeline after a year.
Slater has stolen the show at Billabong Pipe Masters on numerous occasions in the past, which in turn helped him secure the ASP World Championship title a number of times. The Pipeline has featured plenty of spectacular performances by Slater over the years,
but the legendary surfer does not feel too confident about the waves this year. Not only did he remained deprived of getting warmed up through free-surfing as the waves remained pretty flat during the last few days, he also feels that anyone hoping to catch
a second-reef Pipe wave in the next few days is most likely to get disappointed.
Talking to a reporter about the waves on offer at the upcoming event, Slater said, “It’s a whole different deal, you kind of have to make a decision. Everyone would love to get one of those second-reef bombs in their heat. The truth is, they are heats and
you get scored so the chance of getting out there and getting a second reef wave and maximizing your scoring potential at Pipeline probably isn’t going to happen. It’s been a long time since someone’s had a second-reef Pipe wave in a contest, but it’d be nice
to see.”
The swell is also expected to increase as the event progresses, which would test the surfers in demanding flat conditions and later throw huge barrels at them to see how they handle them.
The 33-year-old Taj Burrow of Australia is looking forward to surf at the Pipeline as well and had put his time in at the primary event site to come prepared for the competition. However, the expected rise in swell has been a source of concern for him as
well, as the Pipeline had not offered him huge swells to practice in. Regardless of the shift from flat waves to barrels, Burrow is still excited about the huge swell that is on its way.
The field for the Billabong Pipe Masters has been extended this year, which has allowed the young American prodigy Kolohe Andino and Brazil’s Willian Cardoso to be added to the line-up through wildcard spots.
The much-awaited competition is just around the corner now and there is little reason to expected anything short of intense action at the finale of 2011 ASP World Tour.
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