Surfing Soapbox: Now or never at Trestles for Kelly Slater

With the way this summer has been, with plenty of swell and warm water, there’s a good chance that there could be plenty of swell for the Billabong Pro, set for Lower Trestles from Sept. 13 to 19, which would be nice, considering the site is largely considered one of the best high-performance waves on the ASP world tour.

This is exactly what the chosen one, Kelly Slater, needs to get back into the world title race if he’s going to give Joel Parkinson a run for his money.

While Slater dominated last year’s tour, Parkinson has set this year’s tour pace with three victories in only five events.

While Slater has dominated this event over the years, including his first victory as a pro in 1990, one can only assume he will be fired up to defend last year’s title here. But so will Parkinson, who has yet to win a world title and has lived in Slater’s shadow since he decided to come back on tour.

It’s now or never for both men, as this is the swing event on this year’s tour. It’s the sixth event out of 10, and the outcome could very well decide this year’s world title.

Other contenders include current No. 2-ranked surfer CJ Hobgood; No. 4 Taj Burrow; and No. 7 Mick Fanning, as well as my two dark-horse picks — Dane Reynolds and Taylor Knox — if the surf comes up.

My Cinderella story pick: wild card Brett Simpson, winner of this year’s U.S. Open of surfing.

In the end, however, Slater will again reign supreme. Riding off into the world tour of surfing’s premier sunset with world title No. 10, making way for the next generation.

Peace.

JAMES PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach native, professional surfer and John Kelly Environmental Award winner. His websites include AlohaSchoolofSurfing and ECOWarrior Surf.com. He can be reached at Jamo@Aloha SchoolofSurfing.com