What's on the other side of the mirror? Photo: Sean Davey
It is quite obvious that surf the surf media will be saturated with speculation of what 11-time world champion Kelly Slater will be doing next season. Slater is a driving force in surfing. His mark on the sport is rivaled by almost no other athlete on the planet. What he chooses to do matters. His impact on the tour is unquestionable; his fabled patience with the press is a gem amongst aggressive losers.
While Kelly Slater isn’t the only important surfer on tour, right now he has the attention of the vast majority of the professional surfing world. Sunny Garcia probably put it the best when he publicly blasted Slater for not being a bigger voice for tour surfers. Whether or not this is Kelly’s responsibility is a completely different issue, but what this shows is that everyone knows – inside the tour, to the surfers, and to the fans – what Kelly says and does matters.
One of the beautiful things about being a surfer today is the vast array of opportunity there is in the water. Most of the time we gripe and moan about poor conditions and overcrowded breaks, but really, it is not difficult at all to be in the water everyday. You just have to be adaptable. Conditions change from day to day, break to break, high tide to low. Being able to ride a longboard, shortboard, bodysurf, and charge can come in handy to staying in the water. You don’t win 11-world titles and become the most famous surfer in history by being a one trick pony. Slater’s penchant for curiosity about different styles of surfing and his steep learning curve make him not only incredible to watch, but a lethal competitor in almost every arena. So it is no surprise that the 11-time world champion already has a competitive reputation outside the “shred-fest” that is the ASP World Tour.
Slater won the Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau back in 2002 and put up a legendary big-wave performance (though ultimately losing to an even more legendary Greg Long) in 2008. He has been known to charge Mavericks, even being invited to surf in the controversial Jay event that never ran last year. The video alone of Kelly surfing Shipsterns Bluff for the Quiksilver Cypher Wetsuit ad is awe-inspiring enough to make me want to push my own limits. While Slater has not made any seriously notable big-wave excursions in the last year or so, he did dominate over-sized Fijian reef breaks with the likes big wave heavy weights Mark Healey and Kohl Christenson.
Another huge facet of Kelly’s career is product development. Slater has been pushing the limits of board size and design since the 90’s, and his recent lack of foam beneath his feet has spurred a revolution. As the top 32 keep a steady eye on Slater’s equipment, their equipment begins to mirror his. Josh Kerr admitted to riding a board with more girth in the upper middle because it seemed to be working for Kelly. There is the question of Kelly riding his 5’11 at massive Cloudbreak and Teahupoo, which was previously unheard of. Slater is putting up landmark performances around the globe for one reason: the advancement of the sport. And it’s a hell of a thing to watch. The real question is what is next?
The logical route (at least in the mind of this opinionated writer) is that Slater would bring together these two progressive components to push surfing in a direction it has never seen. Just as big wave surfing has cleared its collective conscience of tow-in and gone back to paddle power, it seems that bigger boards could be here to stay. But if Slater chose to, it would not be impossible for him to start helping shave some foam off the tip of big-wave surfing. Last year there was even talk of Kelly leaving the ASP World Tour for the all-new Big Wave World Tour. How amazing would it be to see the 11-time world champion face the world’s top REAL watermen? Just hardcore charging in waves of real consequence. No air-reverses, no ally-oops, no slob grabs, just balls to the wall big wave surfing.
Undoubtedly, another dozen or so op-ed pieces will circulate the surf media concerning what Kelly is going to do next. Kelly himself will be suffering from deja vu by the time he reaches Hawaii as journalists repeatedly hurl the same question at him: “What’s next?” The wonderful thing about this situation is that there is only one man who knows the answer (if he’s even made a decision) and there is absolutely no reason for him to show us his cards. We will have to wait and see, as a certain part of surfing’s history is resting in Slater’s lap. One thing is for sure: it is an exciting time to be a surf fan, and an even better time to be a surfer.
