Slater/Parko Drop-in

yea that still shot is all-time haha.

 

The rules are there for a reason and they both clearly understood them. Parko would have done the same thing had he been in Kelly's position.

 

competition is different than regular surfing. there's a LOT that goes on in the water during a heat that would be unacceptable to us every day surfers, esp. in 3 or 4 man heats.
i have no problem w/ what slater did...as you said, he's an intense competitor & will make use of everything he can to secure the win. parko knows this, which is why it hasn't really been made a big deal of, i think. it's not like the back-paddle mess from the 90's when slater paddled behind shane beschan at huntington to force an interference call. i also don't think slater would've done it if the wave had been a poor one, but it seems fairly obvious that it could've swung the final in parko's favor, so he exercised his priority & dropped in. i don't doubt that fanning or parko would've done the same in that position.

 

lol. how can anyone have a problem with this? In a competition, having priority, the heat on the line.... You don't get to be a champion by being nice.

 

exactly. nowhere in slater's decision did the thought that parko's wave would be an awesome wave for the spectators & armchair pundits to watch cross his mind. all he thought was, "crap, if he makes this i won't win. oh wait, i've got priority. sorry parko, i'm stuffing you on this one."

 

that was my favorite move of the entire contest...! Slater's a real competitor...uses the rules to his advantage. However, it could of been worse though...there could of been a Dean Morrison repeat.

 

Seems like a solid move on Slater's part. Parko would of done the same if the situation was reversed.

 

I wonder if Parko would've made it out of that wave anyway since Kelly barely did

 

Should there be some limitations to the priority rule?
If the surfer without priority is riding a wave well before the surfer with priority even paddles for the wave, then maybe the surfer with priority doesn't have a right to that wave. Makes sense to me.

 

Thats just straight up competition priority. It has to be there... That was actually not the worse instance of it during this contest... I think it was the 4th round heats, Brett Simpson got a crap wave, pulled off immediately to paddle back to the peak... The other guy was like 100 yards back coming back to the point. Simpson basically took off on another wave before the guy even got back in position, and he got hit with a penalty for breaking the priority rules. In the interview after the heat, he and all the guys were pissed about it. He was saying "It was a sh** wave, I obviously jumped right off the back so that I didnt have to lose priority... The other guy was sitting out of position thinking Brett maintain his priority and the judges dinged him... That was a shame... Simpson would have advanced... it was a bogus call. That was way worse than the slater incident... Everyone was pissed just because it was suck a sick wave... and in my opinion, Parko was too far back and it would have closed out... Maybe he would have had a miracle... He is insane in the barrel... But I think he would have blown it anyway.

 

Thats interesting....i dont even understand how Brett Simpson broke priority rules in that situation you describe. I thought that the guy WITHOUT priority (Simpson) could still take off on a wave, as long as he was IN NO WAY interfering with the guy who at that point had priority (The other contestant 100 yards away)

In other words, Simpson could take off on a crap wave and kick out - lose priority - and then still take off on a second wave and get scored - as long as the other surfer (now with priority) didnt go after the second wave.

 

Does Parko have to stand down when Kelly took off? I don't think he would have made it anyway but it would have been cool to come blasting from behind out of the barrel.

 

Kelly was totally right for doing what he did. He wanted to secure the victory, knows the rules and used them to his advantage. It would have been so sick to see if Parko could have made that wave, but it was like a 50/50 I think.
That heat was so sick! The whole time I was yelling and screaming like it was a football game or something(I am not really into team sports though)
I think Surfline Admin makes a valid point that should be considered. However rules are rules.
Parko or Kelly, they both rip. Its a privilege to get to watch them surf, especially together in a final like that one!

 

He had to do it... And Parko said he would do the exact same thing. If they removed the prioity rule they would just keep paddling around each other

 

Hes the world champ in a tight heat.. give him a little credit

 

Even with all the world titles, appearing on BayWatch, sponsorships, dating Pamela, and the ability to say he's surfed pretty much every good wave on the globe, his name is still Kelly. Perhaps its like Cash's song 'Boy named Sue.'

 

kelly is his middle name; his first name is robert.