Kelly Slater has done a lot in his 50 years on this planet. He’s the winningest surfer of all time, a bonafide international star, a businessman, professional titan, etcetera. But as with all great success stories, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. There have been bumps in the road. There have been hiccups. Injuries. Mental hardships. And Kelly Slater: Lost Tapes, a new series presented by Outerknown, gives his fans an opportunity to see behind the scenes of what his life consists of.
Above is the second episode. It follows Slater as he heads into Bells after a disappointing start. Bells is not exactly his favorite wave. “Bells is such a weird one for me,” he said. “It’s such a challenging competition and wave. It’s the oldest competition in pro surfing… it’s decided world titles. I’ve had last places here, I’ve had first places here. And I’ve won the event four times. Each of the years I won the event, I won the world title.”
Since he’s been on tour for a very, very long time, he has friends all over the world. He’d rather stay in a home than a hotel, and as such, he’s developed close ties with a whole lot of people in a whole lot of surf communities.
Slater, as you can probably imagine, still takes surfing competitions seriously. He puts in the time, gets his feet in the wax, watches footage of himself, and breaks down what he might need to improve on. It’s how a winner stays a winner. And even if Slater isn’t able to nail down another world title, this installment of Lost Tapes shows a man who is still hungry and still deeply involved with every community he travels to.
