The Heat That Crowned The Champ

It was one of the most watched heats of the year. Round 5 of the Rip Curl Pro Search event in San Fransico that saw Dan Ross against Kelly Slater. This was the heat that unofficially crowned Slater with his 11th ASP World Surfing Title. Patagonia ambassador Dan Ross gives his inside scoop on the heat that ended in a 15.13 to 14.40 battle.

“The waves turned on, the beach was packed and lots of people wanted to see the champ get crowned. I was so nervous, that I forgot to wax up before I paddled out.… I got halfway down the beach and thought — heavy! I cant run back now haha.”

“I really like this photo that Adrian Wlodarczyk took, it tells a good story from that day.”

“We matched up against each other a lot last year — Portugal was unreal fun because we were both getting barreled :) Tahiti was disappointing because i thought the judges had got in wrong, in terms of the degree of difficulty between mine and Kelly’s high scores. I felt i was going to do well at that event!

But in this heat there was so much focus with his 11 titles on the line.. The energy surrounding that was incredible, and awesome to be a part of! I didn’t even realize the night before that it was a title heat until my girlfriend told me :) Then straight after that a brand new white suit arrived from Patagonia. I contemplated wearing it and thought, naa — what if i have a shocker in front of all those people wearing a white suit against Kelly haha. Then I thought I might be able to psych him out a bit like he does to his competitors .. so I decided to wear it.

To have all my friends and family watching online was an amazing feeling. Along with all the crew at patagonia who put a hold on emails and calls at the office to gather round and watch the heat. I felt like family when they told me that. So proud :) And all the people that genuinely enjoyed watching the heat, lots of people commented on it and it was so cool to hear their thoughts. To know that with a few million people watching, I went out and performed the best I possibly could, and didn’t crumble with the pressure. Mick, Taj , Taylor and heap of the boys on tour were all smiles when I came in and said some great things. I idolized those guys for years so that was special for me. Kelly also was great in that he paddled up to shake my hand before getting a wave in.

It was a huge heat for me — one to tell the grandkids .. yeah kids — I surfed against slater haha.”

You can follow Dan through his blog Fresh Mullet and check back on the Patagonia Journal for Dan’s ASP results and travels throughout 2012.

 

 

 

Background Photo: by Mike Tittel