Kelly Slater is a gift to the world of surfing. As the sport’s preeminent and most dominant professional ever, the man could just as easily have little interest in anything other than his sport. Or, worse, perfectly manicure his image to the point he never says or does anything people might find provocative or controversial. Thankfully, Slater is neither of those things. He speaks his mind, for better or worse. He’s been known to wade into debates on topics as far-ranging as shark attack mitigation, flat Earth theories, and climate change. He uses his platform to start conversations, and surfing is better for it.
In the decades that Slater’s been competing, he’s been subjected to countless interviews and in them, he often exposes his cerebral approach to his sport.
The video above isn’t new material and doesn’t cover any new ground – really, it’s a fan-created chop job – but there’s something compelling about hearing the many pearls of wisdom the GOAT’s dropped in interviews over the years distilled into a single piece. It may be a tad on the dramatic side, but, hey, the grab bag of clips that back the voice over are absolutely classic.
