FULL STORY: 10-Time Surf World Champ Kelly Slater Takes Trestles

Ten-time surfing world champion Kelly Slater took the Hurley Pro win at Lower Trestles for the second year in a row Wednesday, beating out serial rival Owen Wright.

The event, hosted by the popular Hurley surf apparel brand and the Association of Surfing Professionals, pitted the 34 top surfers in the world against one another. It was the seventh event in 11 annual World Tour events the ASP organizes.

The coast was shrouded in a marine layer for most of the morning, and wave conditions remained consistently in the 2- to 4-foot range. Because of the fading south-southwesterly swell, the contest window was cut to four days. Wednesday featured the quarterfinal, semifinal and final heats.

“I think we’re lucky to have had what we have today,” contest director Pat O’Connell said early Wednesday, commenting on the mediocre swell. “Most places are pretty small, so we’re lucky to have waves at all. I think the timing works really good because it’s low tide now, and it should increase throughout the day with the higher tide.”

Long lulls in between sets slowed some heats, and scrounging for a wave in the man-on-man heats in quarterfinals and semifinals proved a challenge for contestants.

“We’ve got Kelly surfing the best he’s ever surfed, Owen Wright’s been amazing,” said renowned big-wave surfer and San Clemente local Mike Parsons. “The judges want to see a mix of stuff. You have to surf with power, precision and timing and make no mistakes.”

Paired with aerialist surfer Australian Josh Kerr in the quarterfinals, Slater managed to jump ahead with a 9.43-point score for his last wave, giving him a 15.50 of 20 total wave points for his heat in the quarterfinals.

“I think the standard of surfing is the best we’ve ever seen," Parsons said during the quarterfinals. "It’s not the biggest Trestles [waves] we’ve ever had, but I think the standard—even from last year—is higher, which is incredible. I think [contestant] Julian Wilson is setting the pace with some of the most futuristic stuff we’ve ever seen at Lowers. And then we’ve got Kelly surfing the best he’s ever surfed.”

Meanwhile, Wright, who beat Slater to win the Quiksilver Pro New York this month, battled fellow Aussie Mick Fanning in the quarters. Showing some incredible backhand surfing, the 6-foot-3 Wright managed to overtake the tour vet.

The semifinals showcased quite an upset for Australian Wilson when surfing against Wright. Wilson was penalized with a paddling interference while trying to catch the same wave as Wright and take off on it in the same direction. After that, Wilson would have had to score two perfect 10-point rides and accumulate a 15-point wave total to beat Wright.

Slater’s semifinal heat saw him against Brazilian "goofy-foot"—or left-footed—surfer Heitor Alves.

“I think Heitor’s going to go to his strength, which is his aerial repertoire, because he’s an unbelievable aerialist, and he is really strong on his backhand,” said contest announcer Peter “PT” Townend. “He’s going to have to be on his game, and in these types of conditions, Heitor is definitely a threat.”

Slater caught the first wave of the heat, setting the pace with a combination of powerful carves and aerial tricks. Though Alves and Slater often seized the same waves, hurtling and carving off into opposite directions, Slater remained on top of his game throughout the heat.

Slater scored an 18.40 wave total, besting Alves’ wave total of 16.57—still a respectable score against the perennial world champ.

For the third time in ASP history, Slater and Wright duked it out to showcase a tense and keenly observed final heat.

Until the final minutes of the heat, Wright had a razor-thin .2-point lead. Slater caught a wave late in the heat, pulling ahead of Wright. After several nerve-wracking seconds of calm, Wright caught a wave in the last 45 seconds, leaving the results up in the air and the crowd breathless.

Wright's final effort wasn't enough to unseat Slater, however.

“I’m glad there was a set that came through at the end,” said Wright. “It was a bit of a dead final. There wasn’t that many waves coming through, but that last exchange was pretty fun, and it made it pretty exciting.”

The Quiksilver Pro New York also saw the pair surfing the finals; however, Wright managed to get a victory over Slater then. Not so today.

“He’s a tough competitor, and he’s been surfing great,” said Slater. “He really doesn’t have any weak points—big waves, small waves, right and left barrels, mush, whatever. So he’s going to be a standout at every spot, and a lot of guys tried their best to get him this week, and I think I got lucky in that last exchange.”

Slater won with a total wave score of 17.50 over Wright's 16.74, earning a $105,000 purse.