Kelly Slater (USA), 38, newly-crowned 10-time ASP World Champion, has claimed his 45th elite tour event, taking down the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico over Bede Durbidge (AUS), 27, in pumping three-to-four foot (1.5 metre) waves in Porta Del Sol.

Event No. 9 of 10 on the 2010 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico has been an event of extremes.

Last Tuesday, the international sporting world was dealt a devastating blow with the tragic and unexpected loss of former three-time ASP World Champion and current ASP World Tour competitor Andy Irons (HAW), 32.

After a somber two-day postponement of the event out of respect for Irons’s passing, the world’s best surfers roared back to life for two of the most high-performance days in surfing history.

Today, Slater clinched his historic and unprecedented 10th ASP World Title before going on to take out the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico, as comprehensive and dominant a performance as the sporting world has ever bore witness to.

“This is the only event close to my home and I spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico when I was a kid,” Slater said. “I used to surf a lot of contests at Jobos and Wilderness, so this was kind of like a homecoming for me. A lot of my friends here I’ve known for 25 years and to surf with Dylan (Graves), I used to surf with his father in Florida when I was a kid. It was a special time. To be close to Florida and to win the 10th and get that wave (the Perfect 10) in the Final, there is nothing else I could add to it.”

Slater, who would go on to post an incredible 18.77 out of a possible 20 in the Final, secured the event’s second Perfect 10, exhibiting a masterful display of diversity and control in the rippable afternoon conditions.

“The wave that did it for me was that first one in the Quarterfinals against Adriano (de Souza),” Slater said. “That was the heat I needed to win to get the Title, and after that first wave, I felt this wave of relief. I still had to win the heat, but I was so relaxed and everything just started going my way. I was in the best possible headspace I could have been in for the rest of the day. This is a dream.”

read more at ripcurl

In the most recent issue of Wired Mag (October) wired reviews some of this year’s new wetsuits. I have to say I am a little disappointing that they did a halfhearted review and did not review more suits like the relatively new Billabong SGX.

1. O’Neill Psychofreak – $530, oneill.com
2. XCEL Infiniti Drylock – $440, xcelwetsuits.com
3. Matuse Tumo – $475, matuse.com
4. Rip Curl H-Bomb – $1,000, ripcurl.com

see story @ wired

Photo by Jens Mortensen

Surfers raise their arms in honour of the late Andy Irons (Haw) during a paddle out memorial service held at Middles Beach in Porta Del Sol, Puerto Rico today.

Irons’s friends Roy Powers (HAW) and Dusty Payne (HAW)  lead the paddle out followed by fellow ASP World Tour surfers, friends, industry representatives and fans who carried bouquets of flowers which were scattered into the ocean in rememberance of the late Andy Irons (HAW).

AI Memorial Paddle Out from Surfing Life on Vimeo.

Irons won three  ASP World Championship title in 2002, 2003, and 2004 and was the only true rival to 9X ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA). He is survived by both his parents, his brother Bruce and pregnant wife Lindy.

story via billabong