There's no denying that surfing is at a threshold, its toes perched over the precipice, ready to make the leap into the new and away from the old. It all began about a few years back when Dane began redifining the sport and steering the ship into a new direction. Dane, with enough apathy to make a niahlist jealous, may or may not have intended to give surfing a facelift, but that's exactly what he's done nevertheless. Yes, his surfing is raw, unfiltered and potent, but there's more to what Dane's doing than just that. From his style and composure both in and out of the water to his beard, Dane is changing the way we view the sport and "athletes" but I'd bet Dane wouldn't refer to himself with that term.

Never was this more present than his showing in the Hurley Pro. It's been written about half a dozen times since the final ended, but you can rest assured that we all sort of wanted Dane to win, thus ushering in a new age. No more stock turns, however swift and precise, we've had enough. It's time for surfing to evolve, put on a new outfit, reinvent itself. When did we become jocks? Taking nothing away from protein shakes, yoga, and medicine balls, but is that really us? I don't think so. We need massive punts, knee-shattering hacks, and a general disregard for pulling back in a heat if we're to evolve. It keeps the sport rough, the way it should be.

At the Quik Pro, Dane's been surfing true to form, which is to say he hasn't been holding back in the slightest. In his first heat against Nathaniel Curran and Jay Thompson, Dane came from behind in the last minute and threw down the punt of the event, moving him into round three where he surfs against Roy Powers. God speed to Roy.

If the words above don't ring true, check out the videos below. Surfing needs Dane.

Dane Reynolds nearly reached his full ASP potential today. The 24-year-old Californian made his first Final ever at the Hurley Pro, where he was quickly disposed of by Australian Mick Fanning. Reynolds in now rated 11th in the world, a nice place to be for somebody who likes to play the accidental star role. Dane's made a career being indifferent toward competition because, apparently, he struggles with the notion of his "art form" being packaged and sold into a digestible criteria for the great unwashed masses.

Surfing, after all, isn't a stick and ball sport with hard fast ground rules. Like gymnastics, figure skating or American Idol it's subjective. Yeah sure surfers are athletes (and rapidly becoming acrobats) but the debate over whether or not surfing is a sport will never be settled.

Therein lies the gist of Dane's identity crisis.

Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning, on the other hand, aren't burdened by this problem. Reynolds' crisis, you see, is unique to California's surf culture. Only in California is it "totally uncool" to look like you care. That's far too competitive.



Dane was on fire early thanks to his full-figured 5'7".

Here in the Golden State, any and all extra effort, preparation, or excitable behavior is a flagrant violation of an unwritten coolness code. Some say this code dates as far back as the Chumash, but of course, we've been comically bastardizing it for decades, never more than in the 70s, when our character as a surfing community was being permanently molded. The violence that was pervading California lineups back then was rooted in a brand of localism where strangers came to blows over who was mellower than whom. That was especially the case in Dane's hometown of Ventura, a bastion of militant mellow cats.

Ultimately this why California's brightest stars, from Tom Curren and Rob Machado to the surging Dane Reynolds can't ever be seen surrendering to their primal beast, because the thing we Californians try hardest to do is make it look like we're not trying. Success here has to be incidental--even accidental, because it's allegedly way cooler that way.

Meanwhile, Mick and Kelly were raised without those cultural shackles. Both are ridiculously competitive freaks due to their surroundings. Young Aussies are groomed into the competitive scene at an early age as their surf clubs ready them to do battle against others. Floridian surfers like Kelly and the Hobgoods were raised on a starvation diet of waves and relevance, scraping for every sliver of respect.

Mick Fanning putting the extra-effort in on his way to claiming $105,000

Today, Mick and Kelly make no bones about being professional athletes. They work out, eat right, stretch before heats and even check the waves. Dane, frankly, is still figuring out what the hell he is. But we all know he's one hell of a surfer who likes to dare a lot more than care.

Fortunately for Dane, his equipment risk appetite led to success at Trestles. Like Kelly, he decided to ride boards that were actually suited for this fat, feathery wave. His wide 5' 7" and Kelly's dwarfy 5' 8" are boards neither would have been caught dead on a couple years ago. But had they ridden their "traditional" boards neither would have done as well. Yet even their equipment couldn't help them against Mick, a guy who cared more.

For Fanning, this win was as well deserved as they come. Mick was never pushed. He was polished though. Then again he has been all year, but this is the first time it's paid dividends. Luckily his moment came just in time to collect the record $105,000 prize, the biggest ever in pro surfing.

Sometimes it pays to just care.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- The surfing world has known since 1992 that Kelly Slater is a freak. We'd been charting his rise for years, and the theories were validated that year when a 20-year-old Slater became the youngest world champion ever.

Today, some 17-years after winning that first title, 37-year-old Slater is still the defending ASP World Champion, having racked up 8 more titles since 1992, including five straight from 1993-1998, and a list of records that can fill a phone book.

To put his longevity into perspective, remember that 1992 is the same year Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird did their whole Dream Team dealio at the Olympics. Slater went on to dominate the 90s's, winning five straight world titles from 1994-1998. Like Jordan, he stepped away at that point and played golf for three years. Came back in 2002, fought his way to the top again in 2005-2006, then did it again in 2008. Last year was the third time Slater had reclaimed a world title after surrendering it, and he's been in the books for years now as both the youngest and oldest world champion.

But it's his quest right now for a 10th world title that has some in the outside sports world finally taking note of this guy, as they should, after all, his records hold up against anyone in sports history. What's amazing is he still seems to be getting better. His world title run last year was statistically his best ever as a pro, and you won't find many 18-year veterans who can say that. Naturally, with 9-titles under his belt the a number 10 was too much for him to resist.

Yet his campaign got off to a horrible start back in March, as Slater fell victim to his own experiments. Like Tiger Woods a few years ago, Slater felt he had to change his approach in order to get past the threshold guardians only he could see. Tiger, you may recall, changed his grip in order to move forward, taking a temporary step back in the process. Slater took a similar step down, shrinking his surfboards first to logical, and then illogical extremes, while testing their limits.



As a result of his unproven equipment his 2009 season began with three early round flame-outs. Meanwhile, Australian Joel Parkinson won three of the first five events on the ten-stop tour. Slater won just once.

This week the Hurley Pro at Trestles has kicked off the second half of the season. Trestles is one of the best waves in California, and it's also known as Slater-town. He won his debut as a pro here back in 1990, and he's won this event three of the past four years.

Last week the task of catching Parkinson seemed hopeless in August. But Parkinson lost early this week to Wild Card Rob Machado (one of Kelly's closest friends) on Tuesday, and Slater seems ready to pounce.

If Slater can hold serve at Trestles the pressure for Parkinson to clinch during the three-event European leg will be huge, because the final event of the year is at Pipeline, where Slater's won six times.

For the record, Parko has only won in Europe just once back in 2006, and he's never won at Pipeline. But he did do something worse as far as Kelly's concerned. He played a huge role in helping Andy Irons defeat Slater in their famous 2003 world title showdown by holding Slater off a wave he desperately needed.

Right about now Kelly's holding onto that memory.

This season is hardly over.

After a not-so-stellar start to this season, Dane Reynolds has elected to take a page from Kelly Slater's equipment playbook in order to keep himself interested in the tour. He was ripping on a 19.5-inch wide 5' 7" today. Reynolds, you may recall, is renowned for his indifference toward the tour. While some say that's what makes him such a cool cat, others say it's a pretty transparent copout. For what it's worth, I think both parties are right.

The big problem with most tour surfers have to endure is the rut their equipment forces them to reside in. There's a huge paranoia among most of them that if they dare shed a half inch here, or gain one there, that their entire world will cave in. But if Slater's 2008 season taught us anything, it's that the touring pros have been slow to catch on to the design renaissance that's been thriving. Yes, even King was years late to the party. But he's hellbent on catching up fast.

"I've got the 5' 8" quad, and the 5' 4" quad, and my 5' 10" thruster" says Kelly. "I really want to try the 5' 8" in my heat, but we'll see." Slater seems genuinely excited talking board design. Whatever remains of his competitive fire seems closely linked to his thirst for validating design theories. But even Kelly has to reign in his passion from time to time. His experimentation earlier this year cost him.

Only after he opened his Round One heat at Trestles with two 9-point rides on his 5' 10" thruster did he come in and swap it for the 5' 4" quad. "I actually think four fins are the best boards for Trestles," he explains. "I took that 5' 8" out the other day and it felt like I was cheating."

The fun Slater is having on his equipment seems to be driving guys like Dane to experiment. "I don't know if my 5' 7" will work in hollower waves or not," says Reynolds, "But I guess we'll find out."

Reynolds will face Rob Machado next, a guy who, in his years away from tour life, has nearly lost all track of what a "normal" board is. "It's weird that we always put the fun stuff away when it's time to surf in heats," says Rob. "I don't get that. I mean I do, but I don't, y'know."

San Clemente, CA -- Rob Machado delivered us from a very evil Fall season this morning. By defeating tour leader Joel Parkinson, he opened the door for Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning and C.J. Hobgood to claw their way back into the title race. Had that not happened, this would have been a snoozer of a season.

Parko handled his first early loss of the season well, all things considered, because it came with a little controversy. The basic rundown is this: Machado held a razor thin lead through most of the heat as both surfers struggled to make anything happen on the mushy righthanders, and the lefts weren't providing much relief.

Parko had two opportunities to catch Rob, but came up fractionally shy both times. It was clear he didn't have his A-game. Parko is still nursing an ankle injury he suffered in early August while free surfing in Bali. As his biographer Sean Doherty put it, he injured it "trying to pull a Dane Reynolds" maneuver of some sort.

But Parko remained well within striking distance, needing only a 5.77 to advance. Then Rob made the mistake of leaving him out the back alone in the closing seconds of the heat. Sure enough, Parko spotted a small insider with a good wall and started scratching his way in as the announcer counted down.

"Three!" Paddle, paddle, paddle..."Two!" Scratch, kick, scratch..."One!" Pushing hard...Horn Blows...Parko is up, and he proceeds to rip a few good size hacks into a steep little face, getting what looks to most like a winning wave...if it counted.

The judges took their sweet time making that decision. The next heat, with was Slater's, was put on hold as they pondered the matter. The instant replay was no help without audio. According to Mike Parsons, who was in the commentary booth next door, the head judge asked all nine people in the immediate area what they thought. The list was comprised of active judges, judges on break, and even a random passer by or two. Seven of the nine said Parko was up after the horn blew. And so he was.

My guess is all seven would like to see this year's title race last a little longer.

Witnesses say there was no debate of the ramifications. But, c'mon, they're never is when the fix is in. If somebody needs to be "taken care of" it's all done with winks and nods, right?

"Nah!" says Luke Egan, Parko's coach and gatekeeper to the media. "I don't think they'd do that. I don't think he got the score anyway," he explained, sounding very much like a good sport. "Joel could easily be bitter if he wanted to, but with his injury this result isn't that bad."

But Parsons disagrees with his buddy Luke. "He's tripping. That was easily a 6.0. That was the heat right there."

That debate might be over for now, but I'm guessing it'll be revisited on Saturday if C.J. Hobgood, Kelly Slater or Mick Fanning can follow the script writers.

For what it's worth, each of them looked ridiculously solid today.



HURLEY PRO TRESTLES REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 7: Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.33 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.94
Heat 8: Rob Machado (USA) 11.27 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.73
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.83 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 9.24
Heat 10: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.50 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.46
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.10 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.73
Heat 12: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.77 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.50
Heat 13: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.50 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 10.93
Heat 14: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.60
Heat 15: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.74 def. Michael Picon (FRA) 10.33
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.84 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 13.44

HURLEY PRO TERSTLES ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Rob Machado (USA)
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)