When Jordy Smith won in Brazil and capped it with an ironic Christ pose (a reference to the Christ statue overlooking Rio De Janeiro) we laughed. When Kelly struck the same pose in a ten-foot Cloudbreak cavern while riding a tiny 5’ 9” quad, we wailed and fell to the ground in prayer. Photo: ASP/Kirstin
Take his board choice in Fiji, a 5′ 9” quad. A 5’9 quad! While the rest of the tour edged towards 6’ 3” rounded pins – the classic big wave tube riding step up – he was riding surfing’s equivalent of the Penny skateboard, and going at light speed. How can one man exist as such an outlier compared to his competitors? And why does it work for him but no one else? Experimentation. In the more than 20 years Kelly’s been travelling the tour, he’s tinkered extensively. There have been “failures,” like the Wizard Sleeve of Snapper ’09, but that’s unavoidable in the name of progression. When it comes to Cloudbreak, Kelly knows that a quad not only lets him fly at warp speed through tubes but, just as importantly, lets him sit on the foam ball when it’s not barreling and repeatedly smash the Cloudbreak coping like, “a red headed stepchild,” to borrow from event commentator, Dave Wassel. Against John Florence his board choice and wave knowledge proved the difference. The young Hawaiian, despite nursing an ankle injury had been the form surfer of the event until he met Kelly. In long barrelling lefts the John is almost unbeatable, but on the outgoing tide Kelly knew that barrels would be hard to come by. As John sat on the first peak waiting for the set that never came, Kelly scavenged the line up picking up wider, more rippable bowly ones and inside pits. His 9.4, caught under John’s priority, featured nothing but turns.
The final was a tube shoot out in all-time Cloudbreak. With the tide coming back in eight foot tubes began to thunder down the line, setting off a famous opening exchange. On the first wave of the set Mick nabbed a long double barrel for his highest score, a 9.2. He then turned around to see Kelly, arms outstretched standing in the bowels of a double overhead freighter. The champ was obliterated while trying to doggy door it and that right there could have ended his career. But he shook it off and by the mid point of the heat had an unassailable lead after racking up a 9.8 and perfect ten in successive rides. Kelly’s secret is that he controls more of surfing’s countless variables than any other surfer. He has plans, back up plans, and knows exactly when to abandon one and pick up another. He mightn’t necessarily top the world in pure skill but his physical ability when matched with his intelligence and his meticulous attention to surfing’s countless variables, is still a potent combination. One that few other athletes in history of sport have mastered as well. – Jed Smith
