Photo:http://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/

Bells Beach is located near Torquay, the birthplace of Rip Curl Wetsuits in the 1960s.

Despite the chilly weather, a large crowd turned up for the final day of the Rip Curl Pro. -ASP

Clean offshore waves and a big swell increase provided surfers with a classic stage for the final day. -ASP

Mark Occhilupo defeated Andy Irons in a quarter final heat but got put out by Joel Parkinson in the semi. -ASP

’It’s really punishing on the body,’ said runner up Joel Parkinson (Aus) of the wave at Bells Beach. ’Just when you finish the wave at Bells, you have to deal with the shore break on the paddle out… there’s no let-up.’ -ASP

Pancho Sullivan (Haw), made quite an impression at the Rip Curl Pro with his smooth powered approach. Equal 9th overall and an impressive start to his Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour! -ASP

Pancho Sullivan hang five...on a shortboard! -ed

Andy Irons...floater. -ed

Bruce Irons...radical cut-back. -ed

Kelly Slater achieved a few extra milestones in winning the Rip Curl Pro as he now equals Tom Curren’s (USA) record for having won 33 Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour events, the most in pro surfing history. -ASP

Slater scored a 9.73 on this 3 manuever wave. A high score by the judges, but well deserved as these were turns only Kelly Slater could do! -ed

An unstoppable Kelly Slater made light work of the chunky 8-10ft walls at Bells Beach to take the Rip Curl Pro title ahead of Aussie favorite Joel Parkinson. -ASP

I don't know what you call this one. This photo is from Easter weekend.. I was up in Jacksonville for Easter and saw this in the local Jax paper! -ed

A jubilant winner!

With his face painted by aborigines and the eerie sound of the didjeridoo, Kelly Slater proudly holds the Bells Contest trophy over his head. -ed

The Kelly Slater Show

2006 Rip Curl Pro Kelly Slater on winning the event:

"I’m in disbelief really. I haven’t won the first contest of the year since ’98 and I think I’ve won the first two events before but it’s been a really long time. It feels good to start like that and get it rolling. It’s a magical start, no one who did well in the first one really did well the second one, so it gives me a nice little cushion. If I just surf loose and get a result or two then everything is lining up pretty good for the start of the year."

On the rest of the Top 45 and what he expects of them:

"Andy has won the next two events before, and last year he got ninth in both of them and that was just so out of line for Andy, you always expect he’s going to do better than that. He has two fifths but he’s always going to be that guy who’s going to make it to the quarters at least. And Taj is on fire. He looks psyched and has gotten second in Teahupoo before and this will probably fire up Parko a little bit. Mick is always hungry so it’s going to be interesting, in Tahiti as well because the Hobgoods always do well there and they haven’t really had a result yet."

On going for his eighth world title matching Tom Curren’s 33 event wins:

"In a way [it makes sense to have a real dig at the world title this year] but it might also be fun not to. I didn’t think of it until after I got out of the water, but I tied Tom Curren’s 33 event wins now so I’m just sort of happy with that and to do it at Bells Beach is kind of ironic being the spot where Curren won his first title – he’s just always been my hero so I’d like to dedicate this win to Tom."

Men's WCT point rankings after contest number two:

1 Kelly Slater USA 2400
2 Taj Burrow AUS 1632
2 Joel Parkinson AUS 1632
4 Bobby Martinez USA 1476
5 Andy Irons HAW 1464
6 Taylor Knox USA 1332
7 Greg Emslie ZAF 1200
7 Pancho Sullivan HAW 1200
9 Mick Fanning AUS 1142
9 Damien Hobgood USA 1142
11 Mark Occhilupo AUS 1101
11 Luke Stedman AUS 1101
11 Adriano Souza BRA 1101
14 Bruce Irons HAW 1010
14 Tom Whitaker AUS 1010
14 Paulo Moura BRA 1010
14 Marcelo Nunes BRA 1010
18 Raoni Monteiro BRA 957
18 Shaun Cansdell AUS 957
18 Bede Durbidge AUS 957
21 Travis Logie ZAF 825
21 Troy Brooks AUS 825
21 Darren O'Rafferty AUS 825
21 Michael Lowe AUS 825
25 Phillip MacDonald AUS 820
25 Trent Munro AUS 820
25 C.J. Hobgood USA 820
25 Cory Lopez USA 820
25 Dean Morrison AUS 820
25 Daniel Wills AUS 820
31 Nathan Hedge AUS 635
31 Jake Paterson AUS 635 ,
31 Fredrick Patacchia HAW 635
31 Victor Ribas BRA 635
31 Peterson Rosa BRA 635
31 Tim Reyes USA 635
31 Chris Ward USA 635
31 Toby Martin AUS 635
31 Roy Powers HAW 635
31 David Weare ZAF 635
31 Mikael Picon FRA 635
31 Jarrad Howse AUS 635
43 Richard Lovett AUS 450
43 Adrian Buchan AUS 450
43 Pedro Henrique BRA 450
43 Yuri Sodre BRA 450
47 Jihad Khodr BRA 225