Kalani Chapman falls to the might of Kelly Slater in Round 5 of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters
America’s Kelly Slater bounced back from a Round 4 defeat to get the better of Hawaii’s Kalani Chapman in the second heat of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters’ Round 5 that went down at the renowned North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Friday, December 9.
The victory carried the 39-year-old Slater into the Quarter-final, while the local talent found his journey with the elite Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) surfers coming to an end for now.
The surf reef break of Oahu was not in a merciful mood on Friday and kept firing 10-foot barrels in the direction of the surfers seeking to make a solid impact in the final stop of the 2011 ASP World Tour and Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series.
The iconic Floridian, Slater, had already sealed the fate of the season by securing the 2011 ASP World Tour title at the previous stop of the season. Therefore, the elite tour-veteran was focused more on making the most of the opportunity to surf the Pipeline
instead of feeling the pressure of possible elimination from the event.
The relaxed state of mind allowed Slater to put forward a superb performance to steal the limelight during his Round 5 bout against the local surfer. While the latter possessed the local knowledge of the waves and a significant amount of support in the crowd
to cheer him on, Slater was still being tipped as the favourite and quite understandably so.
As the showdown between the two surfers kicked off, Chapman got off to a solid start, throwing a series of quick turns on a wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 7.33 on the score-board. Slater was apparently sticking to a more defensive strategy,
patiently waiting for the right wave to appear before making his move.
Almost halfway through the heat, the American caught a wave to collect 6.93 points off it and soon locked on to the sort of wave that he had hoped to find when coming to Banzai Pipeline. He allowed himself to freely express himself on the second business-wave,
the effort getting rewarded with 9.87 points. The two-wave total of 16.80 points moved him ahead of Chapman, who had enjoyed a dominant position earlier in the heat.
Close to the finishing buzzer, the Hawaiian locked a wave and gave it his all in hope of collecting the necessary score, but the effort failed to bring him the desired result and he eventually finished in a 2.17-point deficit with a heat-total of 14.63 points.
The vigour and determination exhibited by Chapman during his face-off with Slater was unarguably remarkable, but as it turned out, it still was not enough to bring down the greatest name in the history of surfing.
For more updates on Round 5 of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters, stay tuned to bettor.com.
Tags: