Read: Kelly Slater in GQ
Ostensibly it's an interview about diet, the title of the story is The Real-Life Diet of Kelly Slater, Who Thinks Everyone Should Be in Therapy, and what Slater eats may interest some people, yet it's his retirement plans...or lack of, that makes for the most enlightening passage.
GQ: Why do you keep coming back? Are you ever gonna leave?
Kelly Slater: Why do I still do this and how long will I do this? I'm definitely getting to the end of the line here.
I won Pipeline this year. I've said for years that if I won Pipeline again, I'm gonna retire right then and actually on the last wave I won. I did it and said “I'm fucking done.” But I had already committed to the year, so I said I'm gonna do the year and go see the fans and friends around the world and kinda do a send-off. I don't know if I did the tour this year for the right reasons. I don't know if I did it for me or for other people in a way. I don't know that my heart's really been in the competitive aspect of it so much. As you grow and get older, different things become important. Beating this guy or winning that heat is not the same as it was to me in my 20s or even my 30s—or even in my 40s! If I can really put everything into surfing next year and make the Olympics then the Olympics will be the end for me, but if not, I might finish before then.
So there you have it: Kelly Slater was gonna retire in February but didn't, and he may retire next year, but may not, in which case he might retire the year after.
The whole interview can be read here.
Comments
Giant ego. Nothing more nothing less.
Yeah if I surfed that good for that long and still won pipe in my 50s my ego wouldn’t be big at all.
Excellent answer, exactly what i was thinking
He’s getting annoying sure, but that’s a pretty sketchy call.
Swany. What’s so sketchy ? NickT and I share the same opinion, you’ve got yours we’ve got ours. Isn’t that how it works ? Nobody is personally attacking Slater, they are just individual views. But if you dare to explain why he doesn’t have a big ego, the floor is yours.
All good, no stress intended mate, maybe crossed wires. I think you said ‘Big ego, nothing more (nothing less)’. I definitely agree he’s got a big ego, was just pointing out it’s hardly how he’s defined. Which no doubt isn’t what you meant either.
One last tour surfing Merricks only, arriving 3 days before the contest starts.
Classic Slater sand-bagging.
Just seems like he doesn’t know what he wants and yet he keeps getting asked the question by others. Similar to older friends and family haranguing you about “What do you want to do when you leave school?” , most crew are happy to just exist and have no idea what the future holds or how they will react to their unfolding lives. This whole concept of preordained life planning is dogshit for the non surfing fucktards who map their lives cause the reality is unfulfilling.
Let Slater make it up as he goes as he’s done for our shared inspiration and enjoyment over the past four decades.
As long as he’s surfing and remaining true to himself I’m down with whatever follows.
+1 Blowin
+2 PD
"...most crew are happy to just exist and have no idea what the future holds or how they will react to their unfolding lives."
But it's not as if he does that, or anything remotely close to it. Remember years ago when he had the 'letting go' phase. Seemed he was getting somewhere then; accepting randomness and chaos in his life, the "just existing" you write about.
All this later stuff comes across as an overzealous desire to map human concerns to further an already bulging career. Ergo, it's transactional and, if happiness is the goal, it's doomed to fail.
Reckon Sprout has said it best in this thread.
I agree with that too. Slater will be afforded all the respect and recognition he can handle as he ages but it’s the lack of relevancy that’ll hurt.
We are all headed in that direction anyway, though I guess the higher you fly, the further to fall.
You ever talked to an ageing hot girl describing how she feels to have become invisible after a certain point? It’s sad.
I think Kelly is in danger of turning into a Bond Villain style power hungry corpo dude as he ages. Fall into the great American path of domination through economic coercion.
Fingers crossed he does the old sail into the sunset routine but it’s hard to imagine him not turning every unexploited great break he sails past into an opportunity to embiggen the Slater name and bank balance.
Meh !
oxygen thief .
Time for a forced redundancy payout to free up a spot on tour
I had to read the whole article because of course its Kelly Slater and from it my theory is that he paid well for a Dr to tick off that he had the jab to travel (he isn't questioned on this at all because hes made it clear that its nobody else's business) because he is not one to put something experimental medically speaking into what has given him a life so fully enjoyed.
Its weird how its almost become cool to hate on Kelly.
We get articles on Kelly about anything and everything, because that's what people want, because he is the greatest surfer to ever live, but he is still human he still has flaws both as a surfer and a person.
When he retires is up to him and he is entitled to change his mind or plans just like all of us.
BTW. I havent finished the lost tapes series yet, but gee's its crazy to watch how much passion he still has for surfing and how he is still trying to improve, he is quite literally a frothing grommet in a 50 year olds body. (a well looked after one at that)
Indo. Noboby is hating Slater here. We commented on the story about him and his retiring v not retiring.
There’s no denying he has been the worlds best competitive surfer, if you are into that, no argument here. He’s just not everyone’s cuppa tea.
Please don’t start a hatred thread about Slater, it’ll end up as long as the Religious God v Brazilians thing argument
And that last one is a doosy imagine if there was a Islamic religious fundamentalist sect in surfing!
I agree indo-dreaming ,
I am reading a lot of uneducated opinionated comments about KS .
I just returned from the Mentawai's , KS turned up at Macas when I was there his surfing speaks for its self still amazing to watch .He was genuinely interesting to talk to , educated intelligent and I felt no massive ego that I read about here .
He was pretty chilled out and far from walking around with an attitude , he was engaging with the staff and guests . No one really bothered him much which must of been refreshing considering his world wide fame . He still seemed surfed stoked and far from potentially a depressed athlete on his last walk of fame .His partner Kalani is not what I expected , she is really engaging , genuine and friendly . They are a good team she is like his pit crew and ready to change plans at a moments notice as his life is so dominated by he next swell forecast .........just like a lot of us .Don't be too quick to judge what you don't really know .
I am not a pro surfing fan boy , and as an older surfer am fortified with his ability at his age and his level of fitness and froth .
He did give an insight into what he will do when he retires
just two words
surf pipe .
i’m drawing a bit of a long bow here but my youth was largely huge love for U2 and Kelly…to me they have both stood the test of time and absolutely stayed true to the core- but in the conundrum of progresion, they have become shit canned for everything they were once championed for - just look at how many ct event winners there have been this year- how can you write kelly off when he’s done what the majority haven’t
speaking of the 'lost tapes' anyone else notice slaters knees.....lumpy as
Actually I think he has retired he is just enjoying it traveling the world, surfing uncrowded perfection, meeting interesting people....sounds like my ideal retirement too and we're about the same age :)
To quote Dr Seuss (allegedly):
Do what you want to do, say what you want to say, because those who matter don’t mind, and those who do mind don’t matter.
He comes across pretty lost in life. Without winning at competitive surfing he's got no idea who he is because that's all he's ever done. He gets down pretty easily. As family, you'd want to keep a close eye on him in retirement, bit of a black dog risk.
I didn't like him at first. I was more the Barton fan and he was an upstart with attitude, not that that bothers me, see it time and again in champions and he won me over with sheer talent, competitive grit and progressive surfing. GOAT no doubt, 11 world championships will last but he's made some dodgy decisions in the back end that's put me back in the slater hater camp. Now he wants to take another spot on the Olympic team? C'mon Kelly, you had a crack, that's just being greedy.
Do something for someone else, Coach?
You know you'd fit right in in Bali
I've never really bought into the 'give someone else the spot' argument. There's been generations of surfers that have had their spots, squandered it, and disappeared into the pro surfing scrap heap, never to be heard of again, yet here is Master Slater, still at the apex of the sport. Might not be surfing to his best this year on tour, but i don't think it's his actual surfing. I think he's making poor decisions. Ego. Yes. Watching the Slater tapes, all is see around him (barring Belly and his wife) are yes people. Everyone agreeing with him, telling him how good he is and telling him what he wants to hear. Its his choice to have this as his support crew. It must be hard though to separate yourself inwardly from the outside noise. You're an 11 x world champion, the greatest surfer that ever lived, every surfer on the planet knows and loves you (mostly). how do you not believe all that noise, block it out and just go back to surfing your best. Personally, i'd love to see him just endure as long as he earns his spot. He's a living legend, and we're privileged to see him still on the world stage. you don't know what you've got until it's gone. If you're that good an up and comer, you'll get your spot on the world tour eventually regardless of Slater having his well earned spot.
Fair point well made mate but even his surfing has been hard to understand lately. Sure he'll lay down a 10 or two at Chopes to prove the haters wrong.
Maybe it's just me, I find the journey so much more entertaining, Ethan and even Rio fighting their way to the top I find so much more engaging than the clinging to my glorious career parade.
Maybe he'll go to school on the Shark, buddy up to some Saudi money and start a rebel tour
ESPN or whoever through all the money in the world at him back in the day to breakaway from then ASP but he stood by the tour and it's surfers hes invested so much into this tour reckon he'll just tinker away and keep adjusting till she's back to the glory days
Not quite sure the proposed Rebel Tour shenanigans went down like that.
https://www.surfer.com/features/kelly-slater-breakaway-tour-trouble-asp/
And here's a Swellnet article from almost ten years ago, that throws a little more light on his thought process:
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2013/06/14/kelly-slater-pro-su...
"Might not be surfing to his best this year on tour, but i don't think it's his actual surfing."
Um, yes it is Paul.
But I very much agree with the rest of your post. Especially this: "Personally, i'd love to see him just endure as long as he earns his spot. He's a living legend, and we're privileged to see him still on the world stage. you don't know what you've got until it's gone".
His surfing is not there because he is just not committed and he seems to make ridiculous decisions again and again. Case in point - the constant late arrival to events (can’t be assed getting there early to get ready and in tune with the wave, Sometimes he can’t be assed going at all). Then there is the really dumb board choices.
Gday FR and SL.
I'll just relay something from the other day. I watched some raw footage of Jbay that came up randomly on my youtube feed cos it said Slater was on it. So the first couple of waves i saw someone that looked like Slats, ripping, by anyones standards, but taking a second too long on his turns, recoveries and looking a little stiff through the whole motions. I was thinking, well, that's it Slats. You look OLD!! But then the real Mr Slater appeared on a board nearly half the volume, surfing like a fucking grommet, full of energy, full of electricity, completely looking like someone at the apex of the best surfers in the world, and i realised, we're judging him against himself. With all due respect FR76 cos i really enjoy your writing, i do feel like you're on a vendetta against Slater in all your post comp musings. And i get why but i think you're missing the subtleties. He is surfing so good....but sooooo good. But i reckon he's allowing himself to be a legend and let the rest take care of itself. Turn up late, miss a warm up, just surf this board, rely on past formulas. He's not there in the now. The desire to be a fierce competitor and turn up early, do the work, cross the t's and dot the i's and do the training...it's lacking. And if that means he's not worthy of his spot on tour, maybe fair point. But it's not his surfing. He's still in the top 5 surfers in the world, if not top 3.....amongst JJf and Medina in my opinion. I'm still blown away by his surfing. How's that shit he was doing at Snapper on a twinny. Just showed to me how flawed the pro surfing system is. And one more thing. Why the focus on the next up and comer grom? Why do we focus on youth so much? It's been the flaw of professional surfing since it became professional surfing. That's not what surfing is ffs. Cheers legends.
Hi Paul,
Thats amusing that you think I am on a vendetta against Slater- usually I get accused of being a Slater-lover and giving the old boy too much attention.
If you weighed up my words over the length of his career, the vast majority would be on the side of praise, adulation and sheer bewilderment at what he has managed to achieve for so long.
He's still the most interesting guy on Tour for mine.
But the facts are also clear this year- he can't surf at a high enough standard in heats to consistently beat other CT surfers.
He has his moments, and lets hope that Chopes is one of them, but for the most part his preternatural skills have become too unreliable to deliver the goods in any given 30 minute heat (Outside Pipeline).
One thing that was clear to me (after watching Lost Tapes) and was both surprising and not surprising at all was how head-fcuked and confused he was about his surfboard choices for heats.
Even at Surf Ranch which should have been his easiest decision he had no idea about what to ride.
You can see that equipment confusion clearly manifest in heats.
I personally think that has been his biggest weakness now, and for a few years.
He clearly wants to ride loosey-goosey Twin Fins but those boards won't deliver the big turns in critical sections that judges score at CT level.
So he's trying to adapt back to thrusters which just don't look right under his feet.
Anyhow, no disrespect to the GOAT, but it's also true he is completely taking the piss out of the rules.
And why wouldn't he, except he's making a bit of a mockery out of the Sport he claims to love- he should realise no one individual is bigger than the sport, if he want to leave it in better shape than when he found it.
Is he mocking the rules? He has missed events, but I’m sure at his age and surfing history he does have significant physical damage he has to manage. He’s had surgeries. Dodgy back. That foot injury was a shocker. But he keeps legitimately qualifying. Last season, he only contested 3 out of 7 events and still came 18th. His skill set is still definitely WSL level.
If he only rode the right boards, he would still be a person fellow competitors would be very nervous about at most venues.
Claiming to be too injured to surf Brazil while you are filmed getting shacked in Bali is mocking the rules.
Fine.
It's just the BS they put out there about it which irks.
I wouldn’t doubt there is some convenience in his continued unavailability for Brazil.
But that being said, he would say that he is actually cruise surfing in Bali. That being very different, from an injury maintenance perspective, to having to bang big turns on a 3 foot hard breaking lefthand Brazil beachie with a half hour time limit.
"But that being said, he would say that he is actually cruise surfing in Bali."
hahahaha.
If they actually said that, I would be cool.
At least something other than total BS.
It’s basically what Slater said a few years ago when filmed getting some nice barrels at Burleigh while not attending Brazil due to his foot injury. It seemed credible to me.
WLS mock there own rules & pro's to please sponsors & themselves.
underscoring KS when he openly criticised the judging criteria.
underscoring some pro's to create drama; over-scoring to favour the flavour of the month/year pro.
Many love the underdog & at 50, he is the under-goat; riding quirky boards... pushing pro surfing forward.
IF ...he made that carve 360 at 8' Jefferies Bay, there would be more to say....& maybe less 'spray'
K.S at 3min
J.R on fire
I wonder who is really responsible. I could imagine:
Kelly: "Guys, I'm not coming to Brazil."
WSL: "Why not?"
Kelly: "It sucks. And Ulus is pumping."
WSL: "What are we supposed to tell the punters?"
Kelly: "Tell 'em whatever you like. I'm going to Indo."
WSL: "I guess...we will say you are injured?"
Kelly: "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
WSL: "Try and stay away from cameras would ya?"
Kelly: "Good one."
If Kelly is the entitled villain, Woz is surely the enabler.
Well said mate. He expects to be still winning just because he always has. The turn up late, not train, not warm up, random shitty old boards, bad strategy thing really shits me. As does the not turn at places I don’t like and pretend I’m injured. He’s his own worst enemy - staying on tour but not making the smart decisions to surf the best he can.
Well if Kelly is in form at Chopes he'll be happy to give the tour a lesson in critical tube riding unless they surf insane, he sets a high bar especially in backhand barrels, that skill is keeping him on tour
hehe. Fair point SL. With JJF out, Chianco not qualified.. Medina out.....he's gotta be a clear favourite. With the current forecast i can see an Italo makng it all the way through. I reckon Italo is the sleeper of the year. His fitness and new muscle will serve him very well in Tahiti. Watch out!
I'm kind of with the rest of those who say all power to Slater to stay on tour if he can still qualify. Let's not forget, getting and holding a place on tour is extremely hard. Just ask any of those exceptional surfers slogging it out through the QS.
What pisses me off is the is the slack arse approach, the injury claims and general sense he can play the thing like his own private fiefdom.
If the rules were fair and fairly applied across the WSL platform I'd have no problem. It doesn't really feel like they are, and the recent wildcards into the Tahiti pro exacerbate this feeling. It seems more like marketing and manipulation than professional sport.
Kelly's antics also undermine how seriously we can take the whole kaboodle
'his own private fiefdom.' Well put. Pisses me off too, and he seems to see the world wide mainstream Olympics as be part of his 'ALL Hail the GOAT' fantasy.
What I really enjoyed about that event was the team aspect, hard to imagine being on a team with KS, not so with Griffin for example, put him at the helm and suddenly team USA looks a lot more fun
Spot on yender. Let’s remember without some very generous injury wildcards a while back he would in fact be off tour now as I don’t believe he had any chance of winning back on via the QS and challenger series. So he has already been gifted places and this year with out starting at Pipe he would not have made the cut.
If he hadn't been so sanctimonious about how he wanted surfing to be regarded as a "real sport" early in his career it wouldn't grate so much.
He's now one of the architects of making it a mockery.
Still what's he's achieved, how he still surfs, fricken awesome! His analysis and insight into pro surfing are amazing.
Pretty much everyone in a position of extreme influence, respect and power has a huge blind spot, almost impossible to avoid it. We all need the guy whispering in our ear "this too will pass".
A great inspiration for healthy eating / lifestyle into middle age. Just keep surfing and enjoying life. Plenty of similar things to explore and keep things fresh as you get older, foiling, kitesurfing, wingsurfing even if you can venture out of the box. Firewire foamies?!
Would you stop surfing uncrowned surf and get paid the big bucks..
And when he is done.
Tell me you wont be doing the whole, remember when thing about him.
Yeah we should be critical of him, because our lives, skills, businesses are sooooo much better than his.
Dont know why he has tickets on himself?
I see a bit of the Tall Poppy syndrome in these comments, Anybody at 50 plus that can excel at their sport of choice has to be respected. As an old fart, I love seeing other old-farts excel at their sport. Definitely inspires this old-fart to keep surfing.
Ah, the old tall poppy syndrome comment. Rolled out regularly with no evidence, analysis, thought. The bog standard post to everything from an Australian of a certain age.
Don’t even know why you bothered Gav.
https://music.
&feature=shareNot many peeps share his problem,
Lou Reed has thought deeply about it, though I can't see Kelly lying in bed watching talk shows like a proper legend. Haha
I see a lot of the KON in Kelly. I taught him well.
Whoever mentioned the yes men Kelly surrounds himself with is spot on. We all need someone like Belly on our team to give us a quick word when we are acting like a Bell-end. I certainly wouldn’t be hanging round with a quack like that Charlie Goldsmith cnt let alone letting him drive my therapy. Dude has been laughed off his Tottie as a hoax several times most comprehensively by Andrew Denton.
I’m a massive slater fan buoy and still love watching him read waves and choose lines but agree with FRs analysis of his heat scoring. I’m also on the lengthy and voluminous PU thruster side for his board choices!
If Hedge can get a wild card ffs! Slater without a shadow of a doubt deserves his spot
K.S..... “Right now I have this sense that I’m soaking it up and enjoying it as much as I can, because I know that, pretty soon, it’s going to change.”
http://surfboardline.com/kelly-slater/
We all talk about the tour when the waves are great and lets be honest when pipe, Gland, jbay or chopes is firing Slater will be in the mix, so why not continue on the tour. If I had the chance year on year to surf these places with only one other person in the water for a heat or whatever long i'd take it too - wouldn't you
I linked to an old Swellnet article above, but just had another read. There was an interesting quote at the end:
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2013/06/14/kelly-slater-pro-su...
Does Kelly need to actually compete to continue helping the sport? Surely there are alternatives? Whilst it's a cliche transition, he's one of my favourite commentators... but he could also provide the Woz way more marketability and exposure in some kind of on-site ambassadorial role (at events), compared to the token enviro-projects that happen at many other events.
Yeah Ben, we all spent the weekend on it, round table discussion took every view on KS, seemed like deja vu then saw your message (5:50 am!) and realised he already retired once, 20 years ago! How many pages of media has the man filled?
Should've listened to this sage advice right from the start
PCS PeterPan
SATURDAY, 13 AUG 2022 at 10:05AM
Meh !
oxygen thief .
+1
The bite of the drug is too strong now though.
'But what if I turn up and win at Chopes! That'll show the bastards! That could be a way to go out. Maybe that'll be enough...'
We've all told ourselves we'll catch just one more wave only to find ourselves paddling back out again. Either it was too good to go in, or not good enough.
GQ Interview, December 2023.
"I won Teahupoo this year. I've said for years that if I won Teahupoo again, I'm gonna retire right then and actually on the last wave I won. I did it and said “I'm fucking done.” But I had already committed to the Olympics, so I said I'm gonna do the year...etc etc etc"
Standingleft , thanks for remembering my comment .
Perhaps Slater polarizes the surfing community , I'm not sure . I too was once a fan and admired his obvious ability . However , too many times since he started chasing that 12th title his actions started
to make me question his motives.
I'm of the opinion that when he walked into the Billabong house before that memorable Pipe final with Andy , dog act to say the least . Surely he knew AI was gonna be rattled by that .
When Adriano won the 2015 title , instead of letting his victory settle into the surf world "ether" , Kelly drops a sneak peak of his Pool to the world , same day ! WTF !!!
When Joel Parko wins his title , Kelly annouces he will "possibly/maybe" quit the tour ...same day . He knows the media will give Parko's title about 10 seconds of airtime and then go on and on about the "god of all things" and how freaking amazing he is , how his dream of a 12th title may be over .
Dude's got issues . APPROVAL ADDICTION . Sorry Kelly .
I never read the GQ article . Wouldn't waste another minute of my time on the Slats saga . He reminds me of a persian rug shop ,one minute its closing down , two weeks later business is booming .
Look, I don’t love Sunset,” he said in his post-heat interview. “I don’t like the wave. I don’t like the crowd out here. Everyone’s on a 10-foot board. I don’t respect the wave and it doesn’t respect me back. Unless I change, it’s not going to change.”
I still can't believe a pro surfer who makes his living in the ocean would say this. I'm actually starting to feel nervous for Kelly. The steep late backhand drop into thick pitching waves, it's a critical test of your fast twitch reflexes. The consequences of getting it wrong look hectic and seems it won't be clean either.
So long as Kelly is competing he will always be afforded the “lookout if he turns it’s on” sentiment & deservedly so. He’s a champion & a legend of the sport. Terms that are far too easily dispensed these days.
That said, the talk from some suggesting that he’s a clear favorite for Chopes based on his current form, seems all to nostalgic for mine. From a pure sporting perspective I’d love to see him win it in pumping Chopes. It would truly be an epic moment in sporting history.
With all due respect to Kelly, but if I was a betting man & it’s scary solid Chopes, I’d be putting my money on the 24yr old in-form, hungry charger in Jack Robbo before the 50yr old fading legend.
We shall see.
The future for KS.
With mystery legends grow. Time to say less, show less, surprise more ....oooops is it too late for that?
Yep.
that window passed 5 years ago.
I love this from Martin Potter : The first couple of times I surfed against Kelly I smothered him, I fucked with him, I didn’t let him catch a wave and he looked at me and said, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Cause I’m fucking teaching you a lesson!”
That’s hilarious Udo.