A triple, triple-up of this past year’s biggest breaking news from Surfing Magazine By Matt Walker

Nine!? Why Nine? Aren’t these annual wrap-ups always even numbers—5, 10, possibly 20? Either that or “12 and 5/8 Reasons to Celebrate ‘08” – some weird, digit ripped off a stringer and custom-built to catch your eye.

Sorry. We’re surfers first. Mag-dudes second. And there’s no bigger news for surfers this year than Kelly’s ninth title (just see below.) Besides, these lists are inherently contests anyway: a subjective competition among individual players (the articles) ultimately ranked by a bunch of judges (the editors), with who wins generally coming down to a matter of taste and opinion. The difference between us and this year’s title race? You can’t be so sure of who’ll make the final until it’s over. So keep reading.

KELLY SLATER CELEBRATES HIS 9TH WORLD TITLE

PWC’S RETIRED AT GHOST TREES….FOR REAL

WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE TRESTLES

GOOGLE EARTH CHALLENGE GOES OFF THE MAP

CARISSA MOORE CASHES IN WITH HER MILLION DOLLAR SMILE

GUESS WHO’S BROKE AGAIN?

HOT AMATEUR ACTION

HURRICANE HANNAH

SEA MONSTERS, GHOSTSHIPS AND SPACE ALIENS . . .ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW

Full stories on all at Surfingthemag.com