Dudes, here it is: Highlights from the final day of the Rip Curl Pro Search at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.
Gabriel Medina won the competition, but surfing legend Kelly Slater gained enough points to secure his 11th world title. Slater took the crown after a scoring error led to the premature announcement of his achievement six days before he actually won.
On Friday, I asked Mark Lukach, associate editor at our news associate The Ocean Beach Bulletin, what the significance of Slater winning the title would be.
"Kelly Slater is already a 10-time world champion," Lukach said. "The closest surfer behind him has won four world championships and a couple of guys have won three. It further cements how incredibly dominant he is. Not to mention the fact that he's 39 years old. For the same guy to keep doing it over and over again over a 20-year span is really exceptional."