THE GREATEST HEAT EVER? John John Florence VS Kelly Slater '14 Tahiti Full Heat Replay | WSL REWIND

Semi-final number two features a rematch from last year's Pipe Masters final. JonJon Florence from the North Shore of Oahu taking on the best of all time, Kelly Slater from Cocoa Beach, Florida, currently ranked number six in the world. Paddling into the first wave, it's JonJon Florence free falls. Let's go the rail. The wave unloads. JonJon Florence starts with an insane one. And Kelly is going on the next one. Big free fall. He grabs his rail. Pulls into a huge cavern. And he flies out back to back. Insane rides to start off semi-final number two. Two of the best regular foot tube rides on the planet. Just going head to head here, Potts. Have we just started the year with two 10s? That's all I've got to say. Have a look at this one from Jon. Standing tall in there, driving, driving. You can see how when you grab that rail, you don't have that ability. Jon comes flying out of the end. And you can tell he doesn't claim at all. Have a look at the next one. Kelly Slater paddles in. He goes, OK, well, I know Jon just got a barrel. Let's see what I can do here. As Kelly bottom turns, he opts for the other option there. Grabs a rail. Look how high he is on that wave. Driving through that barrel and comes flying out of the end. Kelly Slater, JonJon Florence is just, both of them have just posted, in my eyes, 10-point rides. But the judges might have something else to say about that. As one of the best opening exchanges in a long time in pro surfing, Kelly Slater, 42 years of age, the oldest surfer on tour with 11 world titles, the winningest surfer in Chokwu history. Now coming head to head with one of his favorite surfers. You start hearing him last year and the year before when JonJon came on tour, that he wanted to have big finals with JonJon Florence. He wanted to have that heat last year with him at the Pipe Masters. Kelly got the chance to have that final last year. He was able to beat JonJon at the end of the season. And it meant so much to him. Now again, a rematch in perfect conditions. You couldn't ask for a better battle in waves like this. Well, you know, Kelly said, I'm not going to be happy retiring until I have a final at Pipe with Jon. And he got that wish. And it was just enough to keep Kelly going for another year. And that's what we want. We want to see Kelly find those things to just keep him going. Because, I mean, look at the way he's surfing. 42 years young, and he's still mixing it. Jon's half his age, and these guys are going head-to-head out here, pumping, choping. Well, those scores are still yet to come on the screen. Let's now hear from world number one, Gabriel Medina, out on the channel with Rosie Hodge. Thanks, Joe. Yes, Gabriel Medina, what an incredible day of surfing. You know, there's been a few questions about you surfing in big barreling waves. Does that add to pretty much the prestige of making it into the final, just because of the way the conditions are, and you're kind of answering a lot of those questions? Yeah, it's just too good, you know? I've been having fun out there, and I think everyone is having fun right now. And I'm pretty stoked to be in the final, you know? It's my third final this year, and yeah, can't wait to the final. Your third final for the year. Like you said, you are in the yellow jersey. That puts you world number one at this current moment. Obviously, this is huge gains in the rankings for you. Is that playing into your mind at all, going into the final? No, not really. I'm not trying to think about it, you know? Just surf and have fun, and that's what I've been doing, and it's been working. So I'll keep like this. All right, well, Gabby, thank you so much for catching up with us right now. It is Pete Mell in the channel with Bede Debridge. Yeah, thank you very much, Bede. Well, Bede, with me here. First of all, let's talk about that heat a bit, you know, the start of the heat. You and Gabriel were kind of going deep. You know, playing into that game a little bit, huh? Yeah, no, he definitely sucked me into his game plan, and it just took me out of my positioning, and I was too deep on both my waves. And especially the second one felt like it could have been a 10 if I was just a little bit further over, I would have been able to make it. But yeah, no, he's very tactitional in his approach, and yeah, it worked perfect for him. And yeah, it was such a bummer, but yeah, I'm pretty stoked to be a part of this day. Like, the heat before was, yeah, pretty special. I'll never forget that. I was surfing with one of my best mates. We've been surfing against each other since we were 13, so yeah, it's pretty cool. But, oh! But yeah, these boys in this heat, they're next level, those two first waves, wow. Yeah, their backhand bow riding is just second to none, and yeah, and the other guy you put in that mix with JonJon and Kelly is dandy. So yeah, it's pretty exciting to watch sitting here in the channel, and yeah, just such a great day for ASP, and yeah, stoked to be a part of it, and yeah, that's cool. Right on there, good job, Pete. Loving this day. We're right there with you, Pete, Pete Durbidge holding his head high for one of the best performances we've seen at Chobu. Back to the replay, because JonJon got a wave during the interview, where he let go of the rail again, Potts. Again, well, let's have a look at that first exchange. We saw the replays on him. Kelly dropping a perfect 10, and when I say perfect, that means every judge gave him a 10. Jon, every judge, well, three judges gave him a 9.9, one gave him a 10, one gave him a 9.8, averaged out to a 9.90. 28 and a half to go, Jon's just dropped another score, and that looks like it's going into the nine point range again, let's have a look at this wave right now as Jon pumping, this was wave number one, this was the 9.90. Now, he came flying out of that, that's a Jon claim right there. And then Kelly right behind, falling out of the sky, grabs a rail, look how high he gets on the face of the wave and somehow manages to come out of that one. So we are in for an unbelievable semifinal, Jon's just locked in a 9.10. Kelly needing a nine to get himself back into the heat. Insane start, JonJon Florence already with a 19 point total against Kelly Slater. Kelly with the 10, he needs a nine, as you see what the panel thought. Five judges on, they all were quick to react with the perfect number once again here at Billabong Pro Tahiti. The perfection continues, we're still seeing sets above the 12 foot range, and that's always a modest number when they talk about the size here in Tahiti, this is backless, it's coming out of deep South Pacific and unloading on such a shallow reef, that's so much power, you could probably keep the lights on in Tahiti for about a year with one of these waves. It's exactly right, Joe, just the amount of power that unleashes on that reef, and that sort of amazes me how these guys can actually handle that. You know, the body gets twisted and torn and ragdolled like in five different directions, and you know, it's amazing that there's no broken limbs and torn ligaments and busted knees and stuff like that, but it's just testament how strong these guys are. John, I mean, two nines already, Kelly slated with a 10, and you know, we heard Beat Durbidge say these two guys are the best backside tube riders, second to none, and the only one really in the same ballpark is the late great Andy Owens. Well, we always like keeping up with the progression movement when it comes to any type of surfing, more waves on the way, first priority's with Kelly, he needs a nine to take the lead, glides in, beautiful stall on the pit, the wave unloads, and Kelly comes out. Looking for a nine point ride to take the lead off of John John Florence, a fair answer back, clean ocean surface on the face, a clean read and maxed out the tube time pots. Well, you see that little bit of onshore breeze that we were experiencing through the day, that is gone now, it's gone back to that beautiful, clean texture, look at how clean that wave is, Kelly just driving up into the barrel, nice and deep again, and just comes flying out after the spit right there, that thing threw up twice, so Kelly Slater, super deep on that one, and well, looking for a nine point zero to take the lead from John, have a look at this one right now, perfect positioning from Kelly, about as deep as you could possibly get here at Topu on that wave, especially as he comes out. And now still 25 and a half remaining, starting with near perfect scores for Florence, a nine nine and then a nine one zero, Kelly already had a 10, as you think about this year for Kelly in the world title race, the odd part about our top five picture was not having him in the top five before this event started, but already getting some serious points to move up into that top five picture as we head to lower trestles, we're seeing the ocean pick up, John John Florence deciding not to go here, and it looks like priority is sitting with John John for the time being, let's get more insight on Kelly's role this season with the desk with Ronnie, Strider and Aki. Well, the only thing keeping Kelly from right up the top end of the ratings at this stage Joe is the fact that he hasn't made a final, he's got his work cut out in this heat, despite opening up with a 10 point ride, the best matchup you could have asked for on Paper Rock, but you were just absolutely loving Kelly's backhand tube riding technique on that last exchange. Yeah, especially on this wave, I noticed something really different that no one's done yet, and if you can replay this 10 point ride for you, look at Kelly, look how big this wave is, but what he does, he goes high and he gets himself so high here, that's where there's no foam ball up there, if he was down at the bottom, see the foam ball would have got him, but he went high, he went up and around the foam ball, no one's done that yet boys. Such amazing barrel awareness Strider. That was one of the most amazing techniques I think I've seen you ride, I haven't seen anybody do that yet, and Kelly Slater showing us something new again out here at Chopu, historical day, just bringing us everything we wanted to see, and now we're getting more notes on the books, I can't believe it. Kelly's got the 10 point ride, but John John with two nines still holds the lead at this stage, boys this could be one of the greatest seats of all time, Kelly shaping up for perhaps the perfect head already. Ronnie, I think that's a really fair call, watching the start of this seed with a 10 from Kelly, a nine nine from John John to start, and I love how Aki reacted to that tube ride, I mean that's what Aki was expecting from him if Cloudbreak was pumping, and that's why he ended up having to shave his head and lose the dreadlocks, because he was waiting for Kelly to showcase that at Cloudbreak, and now he gets to do it with a pumping swell like this in Tahiti. Exactly right Joe, so we have a look there, our past winners out here at Chopu, Ace Buchan last year with an 18.94 two wave total, Mick Fanning the year before in 2012, 18.87, so some pretty high scoring heats there, 18.43 for Kelly against Owen in the Code Red Swell, Andy Irons, Bobby Martinez, Bruno Santos, and Damien Hobgood, so Kelly Slater backed up his 10 with an 8.17, that's not enough to get the lead, Kelly still looking for that 9.0, barrel awareness Joe, from Kelly Slater, that's something that, it can't be taught can it, it's just something that naturally happens, that's just his reaction in a situation like that. Well you can tell that Kelly rises to the occasion when the swell picks up, he started missing events in the last few years because he was chasing waves on other sides of the planet, showing up sometimes in round two to compete in WCT events, he wants to get barreled that bad, you can see him all day on finals day, he is so driven by swell, and it's impressive for how long he's been in the game, to be able to redefine his surfing, and always comparing him to the best, that's why he always wants to have John John Florence in his heats, John John's the guy now that people are saying they're the best at pipeline, but you look at Kelly, matched up against John John at pipe, and Kelly's never lost to John John at the Pipe Masters. Kelly went to the next level last year in the Pipe Masters, John was probably the only guy that could have really matched Kelly out there, and Kelly just really stepped it up and just did some stuff out there, took one drop that I just thought was impossible to make, and he's doing exactly the same here, starting off with a 10 point ride, showing a point of difference in those big barrels, going up and around the foam ball, instead of trying to go over it as Marco Calupa pointed out. Well as Pete Mel knows, back in the day it used to just be like making a wave out here was incredible, now it seems like what are they doing inside of the tube that's making the big scores really effective, Pete are you getting a good vision on how to kind of contrast John John's approach to Kelly's, or is it too close to tell? It's so close, I mean they're both just firing off each other, and they were so relaxed before their heat, I'm just sorry, but look it, you guys gotta check this out. John John Florence takes off, walks in, he'll let go, deep, the wave breathes, and John John styles his way out of another bomb, he kicks out to the cheers of the channel, there's one going below sea level, but Kelly's gonna hold back, his last wave came in at an eight one seven, so Kelly was still second, John John trying to better a nine point one zero, how'd that one look for you Peter? Oh incredible, I mean I didn't think he was actually gonna make it, I mean he's somehow able to do the same thing where you just stable the board over the foam ball, or just actually where he's positioning his board, I mean he's completely behind my view, and I'm looking straight in the hole, and he was gone, and came out of it. Pete, with John not grabbing the rail as we're gonna watch the replay right now, it's given him that ability to pump inside the barrel, and avoid that foam ball as we see right there just come flying out, but just a little bit of a different technique to Kelly, as we saw Kelly's ten, he went really high in the barrel to avoid that foam ball. As we see John sliding in, and you watch him, once he sets the rail Joe, he lets go, and then he starts using that rail work, he starts maneuvering that board inside the barrel, those little check turns, those little idiosyncrasies that we don't see as he comes out, just perfect style right there from John Florence, what a barrel, and another big score just about to be locked in. Kelly Slater commits to this next wave, he'll touch the rail for a moment, stands tall, foam ball right under his board, and he makes it. We could be witnessing one of the best heats of all time, with still 19.30 to go. Wow, look at the conditions, conditions are absolutely perfect, these guys are just slotting themselves deep inside the barrel, and just shooting for that channel, hopefully they come out, yes they do. Kelly Slater, another beautiful barrel there, an 8.17, he's trying to better, he's looking for a 9.0, I think John's gonna better his two-wave total, he's looking to replace that 9.10. Joe, I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, I'm about to stand up right now and jump up and down, because this is absolutely crazy. Oh, big numbers coming in for John John Florence on wave number three, he hasn't scored anything under a 9.10 in this semi-final bash. We saw John John go down to Kelly at Pipe a couple of times in the past, he was able to beat Kelly Slater this year at Bells, remember he had that 10, that full rotation air, you could see him inspired as well to get a chance to beat Kelly Slater, and John John's looked up to him, he's known him his entire life, when Kelly used to come back to Hawaii, John John was about five years of age, in the shore break at Ehukai, and they started a lifetime relationship. You know, Kelly used to talk about this little blonde kid, eight-year-old blonde kid that was surfing Pipe already, six to eight foot Pipe, you know, he was in the Triple Crown at 12 years old, surfing eight to 10 foot Haleiwa, you know, John was destined to be a great surfer, especially in radical conditions like this, and you know, I can tell you right now, this kind of heat means more to John than anywhere else in the world, you know, obviously we'd love to beat Kelly at Pipe, but in these kind of conditions, on this stage, this is Kelly's background, this is Kelly's home pretty much, he's won this event more than anyone else, there's nowhere better for John right now to take Kelly down, and at the moment, he's got Kelly against the ropes at 9.4, but Kelly has just about to lock in a pretty massive score, Joe, there it is. A 9.77 for Kelly Slater, he takes the lead off of John John Florence, last for Florence, a 9.40, John John in second, now needing a 9.88 to come back, massive numbers continue, both in the 19 plus range once again, still 17.30 on the clock, John John does have first priority. That's it, I'm standing up. So he can't answer back pots, and we're expecting a big bomb to come through. Well, you know what, you look at that, the score required from John, a 9.88, you're thinking, okay, anywhere else in the world, that's gonna be a really tall order. Out here at Tchopu, on today's conditions, taking in consideration what we've already seen in such a short space of time, John is pretty much destined to get that 9.88, I reckon John's gonna throw down a 10 here any minute, Joe, I think the next big set that comes through, he's gonna have to go a little deeper on the reef, and he's gonna have to make sure he comes out well and truly after that spit. Well, John John's been setting the pace on what to expect as far as tube riding's concerned. We always talk about the best natural footers in the world at tube riding. He's among the guys like Jamie O'Brien, Jeremy Flores, Kelly Slater, you know, the Irons brothers kind of defined how you slow down and speed up in the barrel. That technique is insane to watch. It's an art form to watch him do it in waves of this kind of power. How would you explain what Kelly's doing when he's slowing down in a pit like this? Well, like I said, I mean, what Kelly did on that 10-point ride is not something you can teach anyone. You know, that's something you're either born with or you're just never gonna get it. You know, that's barrel awareness. That's just the ability to know exactly what to do at that point in time. And, you know, things are happening so quick. And, you know, Kelly said, you've gotta take those slow breaths, you know, you've gotta calm yourself down and allow yourself to think slowly through those kind of situations. You know, it's really hard to explain. You know, obviously there's a technique that these guys use. You drag half your body in the wave, slow yourself down, and then you use your arm in the wave to sort of guide you through it. But in saying that, what Kelly's doing out here today is something that most surfers on the planet will never, ever, ever get. Well, now with 15.40 to go, Potts, you've been loving the kickouts throughout this entire event from round one all the way to finals day. We've seen claims in the past, and it's a big topic of conversation when you come to Chopu. How do you think it affects the panel that are watching the tube ride and then the kickout and then claims throwing hands above their head? How does that affect the score? Well, you know, I like the flyaway kickout. I used to do that when I was a kid. I think so far, John's winning in my eyes. And he came out and he sort of motioned like he was walking on water, which he can pretty much do. You know, it's an interesting part of the wave. And I think, you know, to really show the judges that you're in control of that whole ride, I like the fact that you kick out with control. You know, these guys have all been doing that. John, very rarely does he spin out on his kickouts. Same with Kelly Slater. He makes sure he just trims out of the wave. And what that does is it gives him speed to then get back on his board and get out as quick as possible. You know, the guys that have been spinning out, you know, we saw Brett Simpson go over the falls. We saw Bea Durbidge skip like a rock at the end of his wave and get picked up and slammed. So, you know, you've got to be kind of graceful in that exit as well. As we have 14.30 to go, John John needs a 9.88 to come back against Kelly Slater. We'll find out if he does. Kelly Slater and John John Florence, two of the best tube riders in the world, two of the best surfers on the planet going head to head for a spot in the final at the Billabong Pro Tahiti. Kelly started with a 10. John John started with a 9.9. John John's had three nines in this heat and he's still losing. He needs a 9.88 to come back. We're still 12.50 on the clock. Florence holding first priority as the ocean's gone just a little bit quiet, adding to the drama in this matchup, Potts. Absolutely right, Joe. I think John's going to have to get a 10 by the end of this heat if he wants to walk away with it. You know, Kelly's got a 10 and a 9.77. And I guarantee you Kelly's looking at replacing that 9.77. Why? Because he's got John John Florence in his heat. He knows what John's capable of doing. John's been posting 10s through this entire event. So Kelly's got to really, you know, surf a really smart back part of this heat. As we see the inside Westbowl unloading and John John and Kelly know exactly what they're waiting for. He talked about those early starts for John John back at the triple ground at about 12 years of age. That's when he was making his first trip to Chopu to surf this wave as just a grommet. It's been a familiar routine for him. No wonder he's one of the best tube riders in the world, Potts. Yeah, well, you know, you've got to, you don't need to do that when you go to places like Brazil or Snapper or Bells. You know, those are waves that you kind of get used to. And, you know, they sort of kind of manhandle those kinds of waves. But, you know, Cloud Break, Chopu, Pipeline, you know, those are the kind of waves of consequence. Waves that will take a fair number of years to get used to. So John's done that at an early age and you can really tell because he's looked ultra comfortable from the get-go here in this event. Well, Kelly Slater is undefeated in the quarterfinals out here in Tahiti history. When it comes to the semifinals, he's made the semis eight times with five wins. The last time he didn't win a semifinal was against Andy Irons back in 2010. Potts, that was one of the greatest rivalries in professional surfing history. Must've been pretty fun for you to watch that one go down. Absolutely. I mean, I've experienced that many heats with these two guys going head-to-head, you know, Pipe Masters. I saw them go Hammer and Tong in Japan and, you know, just, you know, two amazing athletes. And, you know, it took Andy Irons to bring Kelly back on tour. And, you know, Kelly's got to thank Andy for those extra world titles that he's got because if it hadn't have been for someone like Andy Irons, Kelly probably would have given it away. It was kind of rare to see anyone with Kelly's number because it was unheard of when Kelly took a brief hiatus back in 99, 2000, and 2001. A guy named Andy came around and won three consecutive world titles, became one of the most successful pro surfers in such a short time. And it wasn't always easy for Andy. He came on tour, fell off, had to re-qualify, and he had this new presence about him on tour. He's very intimidating, not only in the free surfs out here, but whenever this place came to life in competition. The thing with Andy is, you know, he was a complete package from, you know, from big gnarly ways. I mean, he was, you know, pulling into the barrel in the short break at Wymer Bay. Pipeline he had wide. He surfed that place like a beach break. You know, then you take him to the beaches in France where he was, you know, one of the most winning surfers in the southwest of France, all the way through to Australia. I mean, the guy was just amazing.