Joel Parkinson won the 2009 ASP World Title today. Not officially, of course, but go ahead and stick a fork in this season because it's merely a race for second, and one of survival for everybody else. The only remaining drama now is who will be staying and who will be moving on next year, and what exactly what next year is going to look like in the world of pro surfing...but more on that later. For now all you need to know is Slater's loss to Taylor Knox and Parko's subsequent win today ended all hopes of Kelly's quest for 10 world titles.

The whole "nine is enough" thing seemed to be haunting Slater at Jeffreys Bay. On Tuesday, when everyone else was racking up 10-point rides the judges were a little greedy with Kelly. He could only muster four scores in the 9-point range. "I really don't know what else I could have done," he said afterward, sounding perplexed and just a little pissed.

What likely happened is Head Judge Perry Hatchet had a bit of an intervention with his team before Slater's heat. With J-Bay on fire and Kelly taking to the water it would have been easy for them to screw themselves early by getting all giddy and throwing down huge scores right out of the gate. When they make that mistake it leaves them with very little wiggle room should he actually follow up with a better ride. As a result, they end up judging Kelly on a tougher, lower scale.

Regardless, Slater was wishing he could have rolled his unused 9-point rides into his heat with Taylor Knox, when the tide suddenly turned against him. Slater never got anything going sitting up the point, and sitting and waiting is the toughest way to lose. His disappointment was obvious to anyone watching. Slater sat in the lineup, seething, lightly smacking the water for a good five minutes afterward. Knox, who knows exactly how much Kelly really cares, came over to console him in what became a very telling moment.

To his credit, Slater spoke with G.T. afterward. (Note to anyone who runs pro surfing events: it should be mandatory for losers to talk. Pissed off people are emotional, making the comments far more interesting.) In the course of the interview Slater all but conceded the season to Parko, "I'd have to win three straight now to get back in this thing." But with everything else going on in Kelly's world right now, Trestles and Europe are a lifetime away. Expect some big announcements in the next week or two about his plans for this year and next.

Ten years after his wild card win here in 1999, Parko celebrates another one as tour leader. Photo: ASP/Scholtz via Getty Images



"So Tom, whadya say we do this some place warmer next time." Photo: ASP/Scholtz via Getty Images

There were other subplots at Jeffreys that are worth mentioning, like Sean Holmes, who should get some type of lifetime achievement award for his incredible J-Bay performances; Curren and Occy got robbed on waves, but are still square in their lifetime battle, which means we'll see more. The goofy's got their groove on and the Californians had a pretty good run. In fact, not a single one of them bombed out. On that point, the real Dane Reynolds finally showed up, which was refreshing. (Note to Dane: uhm, how should I put this...we're really not interested in watching you go retro, dude. We've got butt loads of those guys in California, so we get it. What we don't get is how the hell you do that crazy shit you do. We'd pay to see that. That's why you make the big bucks.)

The real Dane Reynolds was standing tall in Jeffreys Bay. Photo: ASP/Cestari via Getty Images

With the mid-season break on the tour now upon us, it's time for our own All Star Game. Most of the ASP big boys will all be jumping on the horrible two-day long flight home in preparation for the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing, which promises a few very cool new twist this year. Stay tuned for more on that.