After winning another 6-Star event in France (he won the US Open as well) Oxnard?s Nathaniel Curran is sitting pretty in the top spot of the World Qualifying Series ratings?but can he cut it in the big leagues?

There?s no doubt about it, Nathaniel Curran is one hell of a surfer. Born and bred in the bowly beachbreaks of Oxnard, he?s a machine in sloppy, small conditions that usually greet WQS competitors. We what he did at the US Open and the recent Sooruz Lacanau Pro In France, but what?s gonna happen when he?s got a maniacal Andy Irons at death-defying eight foot Chopes? What if he draws one of the local wildcards at Second Reef Pipeline?

I?ll tell you what?s gonna happen: He?ll paddle out there and charge.

Nathaniel Curran is not the 2009 version of Kirk Flintoff, who was bad-ass on the WQS but a ghost on the WCT (World Championship Tour). Curran may not have the reputation as a hellman, but he?s so polished and talented that he?s good enough to make the drop an pull in?the winning formula for places like Teahupoo and Pipeline.

And if you look back at the last couple years, the waves on the WCT have been anything but deadly (much to Andy Irons?, Kieren Perrow, and Pancho Sullivan?s chagrin).
Puny Pipeline and knee high Teahupoo have greeted competitors of late at the world?s heaviest waves. I think Bells this year was the biggest surf the tour has seen in a while, and an eight-foot mushburger is nothing for those guys.

Hopefully I haven?t cursed the waves on the 2009 tour with this?good luck Nathaniel, we?ll be pulling for you.