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Kelly Slater 'hungry' for 11th title as ASP World Tour resumes
Author: GrindTV.com
Why such a long intermission? Presumably to allow Kelly Slater to age a little more to give others a chance to contend for the world title.
Slater, 39, is the 10-time and defending world champion who prevailed in the season-opening Quiksilver Pro on Australia's Gold Coast. He won the Rip Curl Pro last year and has won the event four times overall.
Going into this year's contest he made it clear that he's not yet ready to retire from competitive surfing. "If I wasn't hungry to win an 11th ASP World Title, then I wouldn't be here," he said.
Of the allure of competition at fabled Bells Beach, the Floridian explained, "As a kid in the States I saw a lot of film of this event. I got an idea of what the wave was like and that it was like surfing in an arena. I thought of it like two gladiators battling with fans watching from the cliffs. I remember watching Tom Curren and Occy's [Mark Occhilupo] heats, and I couldn't wait to come here."
Slater goes up against Aussies Kai Otton and Adam Robertson in a first-round heat.
The ASP Women's World Tour also resumes with the Rip Curl Women's Pro at Bells. The top storyline is whether Stephanie Gilmore, who has won three world titles in three years on the elite tour, can bounce back from a quarterfinals loss in the season-opener.
Gilmore will face Courtney Conlogue and Alana Blanchard in a first-round heat. Conlogue, a rookie from Santa Ana, Calif., is the only surfer from the U.S. mainland on the women's tour. Blanchard, from Hawaii, is a close friend of Bethany Hamilton, subject of the inspirational hit movie, "Soul Surfer."
Lorraine Nicholson plays Blanchard in the movie, which is about Hamilton's remarkable comeback after losing her left arm during a shark attack in 2003 off Kauai. Blanchard was surfing with Hamilton when the incident occurred. Hamiton is entered in the Rip Curl Pro as a sponsor wildcard.
-- Pete Thomas
Image of Kelly Slater is courtesy of © ASP 2011 Kirstin Scholtz
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