Despite having just lost his quarter final heat to Rob Machado at sparkling 6- to 8-foot Banzai Pipeline, Kelly is rejoicing at taking his 6th World title.
 

"It's unbelievable, coming from behind to win the title in the last contest," Slater said. "There is no way I can top this next season.”

Kelly showed up at the ASP awards banquet the next night and announced his retirement from full-time competition.

Lucky he didn’t keep his word on that.

Many thanks to Aussie surf photog Sean Davey for this photo. 

Check out Sean’s cool collection of fine art, surf and ocean photography at http://www.greenflashphoto.com/
 

A surfing fairytale come true!  17-year-old schoolgirl and triallist wildcard, Stephanie Gilmore, competing in her first WCT tournament, cut a swathe through the ranks of the world’s top surfers, eliminating reigning world champion Sofia Mulanovich (Peru), World No.9 Samantha Cornish (Aus) and six-time world champion Layne Beachley (Aus) in succession to take out the Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast.

Photo courtesy of Sarge at http://www.sargesdailysurf.com

Joel Parkinson has just taken down fellow Australian Taj Burrow to win the Bells Rip Curl Pro.

In the semis he eliminated defending two-times Rip Curl Pro champ Andy Irons, and shook off his bridesmaid tag from the year before.

Here he’s being chaired up the beach by good mates and previous Rip Curl Pro winners Mick Fanning and Mark Occhilupo.

Photo courtesy of Sarge at http://www.sargesdailysurf.com