Kelly’s Oop

The top 34 sat around waiting for the Billabong Pro, Rio De Janeiro to kick off round one this morning, but it never happened. A solid six foot swell was shutting down more than it was holding up and the masses of whitewater didn’t look particular contestable. “A lot of closeouts out there,” said Jordy Smith. “But a few are running off. It’s meant to drop all day.”

Not all’s been dull in Rio though. A would-be standard freesurf took a step from regular to next-level when Kelly Slater pulled the biggest alley-oop we’ve ever seen done on a surfboard. The original YouTube video was taken down, but the above clip just popped up. Let’s hope this one stays up. The trick’s velocity is truly is outrageous. For comparison, we’ve also included Jordy Smith’s goliath ‘oop from Modern Collective – the only other version of the trick that we think comes close. Which d’ya think is bigger?

Kelly frames courtesy of Tiago Garcia.