BMT Rankings - 25th October 2009

Who blew up?

1. Chris Bertish

As the conditions clicked into place and looked good for a start to the Nelscott Reef Big Wave event  in Northern California, Chris quickly packed his bags for The States. 48hrs later he was standing on the podium on the other side of the world having just finished 3rd in the event. 0.6 separated first and third and word on the beach was a bit of ‘home town’ judging was all that prevented Chris from taking the top slot. Nevertheless a great performance from the Capetonian Hellman. The surf was firing, perfect 20 ft plus and yes he absolutely charged!

2. Owen Wright

This young Aussie is having a hell of a year. From dabbling on the WQS earlier this year he is currently sitting at 3rd and looks a dead cert to qualify next year. His latest exploit was to beat Kelly Slater in the Rip Curl Search event Portugal in their round 2 match up. What can we say but this kid is on fire!

3. Ryan Payne

Please go and examine the video footage of Ryan Payne surfing a heaving wildside slab recently http://www.thebombsurf.com/thebombsurfvideos/433/ryan-payne-charging-the-wildside. To say he charges is a gross understatement. We always knew he was a great surfer, we just didn’t realise he had a huge pair of stainless steel clangers as well. Surfing a wave that almost isn’t a wave and doing it with this much commitment deserves recognition, either that or a psychiatric evaluation!

 And who blew it?

3. The ASP

The ASP. A week after the Mundaka event closed and the tour had moved down the road to a fun little beachie the fabled left of Mundaka roared into life. To say the waves were magnificent is being modest. It absolutely went nuts. What the ASP needs to learn is that we want to see the worlds best surfers compete in the worlds best waves when they are ON! Imagine the top 45 in these conditions http://www.thebombsurf.com/thebombsurfvideos/434/mundaka-goes-apeshit.

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2. Kelly Slater

Ousted by the upstart with nothing to lose. Kelly’s year is turning into a mare. He needed to win that R2 heat and the Rip Curl event to keep his world title hopes alive. Instead Owen Wright had other plans. It’s pretty much back to the drawing board for Slater this year. It will be super interesting to see what he does after Pipeline.

 1. The drunk driver who crashed into Heather Clark

How's this loser? Get loaded and crash your car into an innocent driving home from a friends house. The karmic wheel will turn dude and when it does your life will become decidedly un-funny.