Parkinson outduels Slater

Australia’s Joel Parkinson and Florida’s Kelly Slater didn’t surf head to head at Pipeline on Friday, but they were still locked in an epic, daylong dogfight with the ASP World Tour championship on the line.

Every time either surfer entered the water on the final day of the Billabong Pipe Masters, it was do or die, and it was Parkinson who made it just a bit farther to clinch his first world title and wrap up the Pipe Masters crown. In the process, he also denied Slater a 12th world championship.

"It’s a surreal feeling," said Parkinson, moments after a bright rainbow on the north horizon put an exclamation point on his season and his day.

The rainbow was situated in the same direction the swell was coming from, which meant the 6-foot-plus sets were lining up much better for the rights at Backdoor than the infamous lefts at Pipe.

"I can’t actually believe it happened. I don’t know who sent me those waves," Parkinson added. "Maybe it was Andy (Irons) pushing them through. There was a point where I didn’t know what was going to happen and wondered if it was going to be my day, but then I started thinking what Andy used to say: ‘I got this! I think I’m going to win this thing.’ "

Parkinson was great friends with the late Irons, the three-time world champion from Kauai who died in 2010. The Pipe Masters is run in Irons’ memory.

Slater had two monster heats, beating Miguel Pupo with a 19.27 in the fifth round and edging his buddy Shane Dorian 18.73 to 18.20 in the quarterfinals. Slater scored a 10-point ride against Dorian for one of his Backdoor barrels, and it turned out that anything less than a 9.47 would have meant elimination.

Meanwhile, Parkinson surfed past C.J. Hobgood in the quarterfinals and sped down to exit a gaping barrel at Backdoor for a 9.13 to get past Damien Hobgood in the semifinals.

But the semifinals is where Slater couldn’t keep alive the dream of another world title. Josh Kerr, who was hurt in his first heat of the day and was treated at Kahuku Medical Center for pain and numbness in his neck and left arm before returning to Ehukai Beach, eliminated Slater 11.13 to 4.90, ending the chances of a Parkinson vs. Slater final.

"I had three really good scoring heats (in the three days of the event)," Slater said. "But I guess I used up all of my waves. I felt confident out there. For a while, I felt like it was going to go my way and maybe I would win it. But the energy shifted. In the first semifinal, Joel caught a bunch of waves and then when my semifinal heat started, Josh got a great wave right away, a 9.2, and I knew I couldn’t just get 5-point or 4-point waves. It’s all right. Not winning the world title doesn’t change your life. Winning the world title doesn’t change anything, either."

Rumors are swirling that Slater might retire and not compete on next year’s world tour. When asked what he’s going to be doing, Slater said, "Surfing." He added that he isn’t ready to make an announcement on whether he’ll be competing.

In the final, Parkinson continued his show-stopping Backdoor barrel dominance with a 9.17 and an 8.00 to beat Kerr 17.17 to 14.83.

Parkinson, who is a four-time ASP World Tour runner-up, got it done with consistency all year. He was the points leader heading into Pipeline, even though he hadn’t won an event all year.

After clinching the world title following Slater’s semifinal loss, Parkinson still had to go out and surf the final, and he wondered if he could concentrate enough to surf well.

"But I did want to go out there and win it and prove that I deserve the (world) title," he said.

And he didn’t hesitate to show that he fully knows just who he beat out for the biggest accomplishment of his career.

"Kelly, no doubt, is the greatest surfer of all time," Parkinson said.