Pro Surfing and Contests
Kelly Slater, the Regular Surfer - A feature interview
Kelly Slater is unstoppable. By the end of the fourth contest of eleven in 2008 on the ASP World Tour, many of his top competitors were already ready to give up. In fact, Slater is so unstoppable that he had time for a pit stop away from the world tour for his new book, For the Love. DailyStoke.com caught up with him during this break at a recent Quiksilver book signing; the Quiksilver store was packed for two hours with devoted fans. And as intrigued as we were about the reigning champ and his time on tour, we wanted to learn more about Kelly Slater in a way that you and I can relate:
As a regular surfer. (Well, to the extent Superman is a regular surfer, of course.)
Kelly Slater, the fish out of water
Right now, I’m going on seven days of no surf, largely due to the ocean conditions where I surf. Many readers will be able to relate; if it’s not the swell, it’s other life responsibilities, including maintaining a job! But for someone often seen as the face of surfing and whose job it is to surf, it’s hard to imagine Kelly Slater spending more than a few days away from the water, let alone seven. So just what has been the longest stretch of time Slater has gone without surfing? A born fish, he didn’t have to give the question much thought at all. Says Slater: “About 35 days – partly by choice.”
“I had poison oak, but I also wanted to stay out of the water for a while. When it’s your work, you want to skip it from time to time,” Slater says, and pauses.
“It’s exactly like a desk job!”
Kelly Slater, the free surfer, and friends
In a recent interview with Tom Curren with DailyStoke.com, Curren cited Slater as one of his “absolute favorite” people to surf with. Sharing this with Slater, he was flattered but seemed genuinely surprised to hear this from one of Slater’s lifelong favorites and biggest inspirations.
“On occasion I’ll surf with Tom out at Rincon. He surfs with his kids every day and they don’t always want to surf the crowded, premier breaks. His kids always want to surf beach breaks to get away from all of the people, since it’s a little hard to pick off the good waves when you’re only 8 years old. If it’s just me and Tom, we’ll head up to one of the points and not really worry about the crowds,” says Slater.
Slater also loves to surf with Al Merrick when he gets the chance, building on their strong shaper/surfer relationship. Slater says that some of his best sessions have been with his longtime friend, Shane Dorian. “I’ve surfed with Shane Dorian more than anyone else, easily,” said Slater.
Other top favorites for sharing waves with are his brothers, Sean and Stephen. “I don’t get out with my brothers all that often. They don’t surf all that much. I just went home for the first time in a year and Stephen had only surfed twice since I was home last year, and Sean only surfs a few times a month,” Slater says. Slater also noted Ross Williams and many of the guys on tour as favorite free surfing partners.
Time alone
Slater has no shortage of top pros and everyday Joes who would love to join him for a surf. Surfing alone is the antidote. “It happens so rarely, but I really enjoy a good solo session.” Slater logs a lot of his freesurfs at Rincon and a number of other secret spots which we will not mention. He likes to head up to other points that not many guys surf.
“They’re tricky to get to and you can’t really park too close to them. I go and find one of those spots alone every now and then,” Slater says.
Could Kelly Slater shape your next board?
In his free time away from the tour, Slater has been shaping boards at the Channel Islands Surfboards mothership in recent weeks. (Sounds like a nice gig.) Every surfer can relate to wanting to create their own surfboard with their hands.
Slater explains that he’s currently just making boards for himself. “I finished one surfboard and was working on another, but then I left town for the Quiksilver book tour. I’ll go back and finish that one next week.” As for future shaping plans, Slater grins, saying: “I think I’m going to just start making boards for other people and not tell them I shaped it. I’m just going to hand them a board and see what happens.”
Kelly Slater is often linked with his long-time surfboard shaper, Al Merrick. Says Slater of his shaping mentor (in a slight understatement): “Al Merrick and I are on the same wavelength. We’re sort of similar designers in that way. He has so much experience shaping boards, while I have so much experience riding boards.” Kelly describes Merrick as the master craftsman who puts all the design elements into a board. “He knows what will go with what. How a certain vee will go with a particular rocker. If we change the rocker here, what do we need to do with the width of the tail? At some point of it the theory of it gets pretty deep. Every time you give something to a board, you take something else away, and vice-versa. If you make a tail wider it creates more lift, but then you lose a bit of control. Every little change makes some difference and it’s a matter of give and take. You’re trying to balance control and maneuverability,” Slater says.
All of Slater’s years under Merrick’s wing will have more than prepared him for this new calling. Crowds would form now for a Channel Islands model shaped by Slater himself.
I’d buy one myself. After all, it’s the closest I’ll likely get to free surfing with Kelly Slater!
Read more tomorrow on Kelly Slater’s thoughts on the ASP World Tour, and next week for a book review of For the Love, which is a great portrait of Kelly Slater, the regular surfer, penned by Slater and Phil Jarratt. Photo By Steven Burton for DailyStoke.com.
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