OP PRO SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Slater Helps U.S. Beat Australia

Kelly Slater helped the U.S. team defeat Australia in the Op Pro surfing championships Sunday, but he wasn’t in a celebrating mood afterward.

Slater’s 18.0 double-scoring wave helped the United States to an 84.5-62.5 victory over Australia in the tag-team competition in front of an estimated crowd of 25,000 at the Huntington Beach Pier. The Americans won the tag-team and four of seven individual and doubles heats for an 18-6 victory in the overall standings.

The victory was clear-cut, but the ending wasn’t without some controversy.

Slater, a Cocoa Beach, Fla., native now living in Huntington Beach, was upset with the figure on his prize money voucher after the event.

He was fined $500 for missing a mandatory press conference Tuesday, reducing his winnings to $3,500.

Slater also was upset with Op contest coordinator Joe Adams for criticizing him for wanting to skip the tag-team competition.

Slater scheduled a photo shoot in Tavarua in the Fiji Islands, and his plane was scheduled to leave Los Angeles 15 minutes after the event ended. Slater eventually rescheduled the trip for Thursday.

“Joe is being a real (jerk),” Slater said. “I think he handled it unprofessionally. He didn’t talk to me about the fine or about leaving (Sunday).

“He has bummed me out. I don’t know what his trip is. I can’t figure it out.”

Adams said Slater was fined in accordance with Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ rules regarding mandatory attendance at press parties. He said Slater was mailed a copy of the rule before the event.

“I asked the ASP to tell him about the fine after (Tuesday) night,” Adams said. “That’s their job. It’s their rule.”

Slater said after the contest that he would compete at future Op Pros if invited. Adams said he “wouldn’t think twice” about inviting Slater back.

“Kelly deserves to be here because of his ability,” Adams said.

Slater’s 18-point wave and overall score of 30.5 were the highest of the tag-team final, and gave the United States a comfortable 58.5-33.5 lead with 20 minutes left.

It didn’t last for long.

Shane Powell scored a 16 on his double-scoring ride as Australia cut the deficit to 69-67 with 13 minutes remaining.

Then it came down to another Cocoa Beach, Fla., native--1990 Op champion Todd Holland--to win it for the United States.

Holland outscored Australia’s Glen Winton, 15.5-5.5, to give the United States the victory.

Holland won it on his last wave, a small one-footer he caught with 1 minute 30 seconds remaining in the one-hour heat.

With the United States leading by nine points, Holland and Winton took off on the same wave.

Winton pulled alongside Holland in hopes of getting an interference call (and a five-point deduction) on Holland.

“I was trying to stand up and run into him,” Winton said. “But I wasn’t up far enough on the wave.”

Winton’s strategy failed as Holland got the wave and scored only a 3.0, but it was good enough to clinch the victory.

“I knew they were nine points behind and I was trying to get anything to put the lead over a 10 (a maximum score),” Holland said. “Glen was hassling me on that last wave, and I was trying to sucker him in (for interference).

“Glen has been on the tour a long time. He knows what to do in that situation.”

The Australian team will share $10,000 in prize money, but the second-place finish was a blow.

Tag-team surfing was created in Australia, but many of the top Australian surfers skipped this event to concentrate on the world tour.

“I’m sure Australia will try to field the best team possible next year,” Adams said. “And they’ll try to win it back.”

The future: Although no definite plans have been made, Adams hopes to expand the team competition for next year’s Op Pro.

“We would like to go to larger teams where we could have reserves and coaches,” he said. “I also would like to add a coach for each team.

“We would have to get some more sponsor money. Ideally, we would like to give $10,000 in prize money to each of the winning surfers.”

The total purse this year was $85,000, which is $35,000 shy of the required purse for an ASP world tour event. The Op dropped off the world tour schedule this season after 10 years of holding individual championships at the pier.

Op filed for protection from creditors last month, but Op President Bobby Klotz said he expects the contest to continue in the future.

Klotz said Op might move the contest back to its original time slot in late July. Op officials moved this year’s competition up a month because its original date conflicted with a world-tour stop in South Africa.

But Klotz wasn’t sure if the Op will remain a team format or return to the world-tour format.

“We’ll take a look at it and evaluate the pluses and the minuses,” he said. “The biggest question is will there be an Op Pro in the future. There definitely will.”

Crowd estimates ranged from 20,000 to 25,000 over the final three days of the six-day contest. Past Op Pros have attracted as many as 50,000 fans.

“The crowds were about what we expected,” Klotz said. “Today’s a little smaller with the (small) wave conditions.”

Op Junior: Tim Buechler of Titusville, Fla., edged Anaheim’s David Pina, 17-16, to win the Op Junior amateur title.

Buechler won a trophy and a $1,000 scholarship from Op, administered through the U.S. Surfing Federation.

“I’m surfing full time right now,” Buechler said. “But the scholarship is going to make me go to college (Central Florida in Orlando).”