Breaking news
21 year old Billy Stairmand from New Zealand rode a perfect wave scoring 9.0. In that one moment he not only created the upset of the event, but also gave hope to thousands of surfers across the globe, showing that anything is possbile with hard work and good decisions.
With minutes to go Slater needed to score over 9 to win. Despite getting a great ride, that included the events first barrel, the judges only scored it an 8.0, and so Slate is out of the competition.
After the heat a beaming Stairmand said he was living a dream, ‘I’ve got the biggest smile I’ve ever had’. Before being totally swamped by media he added ‘I was just having fun with Kelly Slater, going man on man with him. It was a dream to have a heat with him, to win is a dream come true’.
A subdued Slater said ‘it happens’, adding ‘I had a chance but it wasn’t to be. Anyone who knows how to surf can go out and make the right decisions, it’s not big news that you lose’
Mick Fanning paddled out next to compete against Richard Christie…also a kiwi…
More later.
