In the surfing world, the names don’t get any bigger than Kelly Slater, and just like the mountainous waves that arrive on Oahu’s North Shore every winter, so too does Slater.
The 11-time world champion is here to take a swing at the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, the World Surf League’s season-ending series now underway.
“That would be a nice way to end the year,” said Slater, the 44-year-old still surfing like he’s 20. “The last two years competitively have been a little bit slow for me. I started this year off nicely and won the Volcom at Pipe, then I won my first contest on the world tour (Billabong Pro Tahiti) in two years, which was kind of nice. I got myself back in the world title talk for a minute and so it would be really nice to finish the year with the Triple Crown or at least a win in one of the (three) contests.
“More than anything, I want to win Pipeline (the third Triple Crown event). The Triple Crown is second to that. To me Pipeline is the one you want to win out of every contest in the world. That or the Eddie (Aikau Big Wave Invitational). So, that’s going to be where my focus is, but if I can do well in these first two events and then have a shot at Pipe … if you win any of these contests, the Triple Crown is in the conversation.”
On Tuesday at 2016’s first Triple Crown contest, the Hawaiian Pro in Haleiwa, Slater updated the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on how he handles everything on his plate. Aside from traveling the world, he is trying to perfect what many in the surfing world say is already perfect — the inland California wave pool that he created and owns.
“It gets a little busy, so you just do it as it comes up, you just deal with it,” he said. “Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by it. John John (Florence) just won the world title and obviously he’s the busiest guy in the world right now. He’s constantly filming TV shows and movies and trying to win contests and the whole community is celebrating him here. It’s like one big John Florence advertisement. It’s rad. Everyone’s got signs up. It’s such a cool thing. At the same time, that stuff can distract from how you got to where you are. It’s about trying to keep that focus and fun in what you’re doing and appreciate and handle all those things.”
Slater gave his thoughts on the future of his wave pool (take a look at this highly recommended video: bit.ly/2fDyiGc), which could change surfing culture drastically in time and is something he calls “a freak of technology” and “the best man-made wave without a doubt.”
“In the pool, when we’re surfing the wave we made, I’m not usually trying to work on anything with my surfing,” Slater said. “We’re either filming something or we’re working on design. John (Florence) came recently and surfed with me. The first day, he had a little trouble with it. The second day, he was on fire; came out with all guns blazing and did some of the best turns I’ve ever seen anyone do in there.
“For me, I’m sort of riding the wave not thinking about that. I’m thinking about how to evolve it. How do I work the foil technology, how do I change the wave? So for me it’s design. How do I alter the reef, the speed and the peeling of the wave and make the wall longer. All these things are going through my head. I’m constantly in the design phase when I’m in there, so it’s not really for my surfing.”
And even though it’s not open to the public and only a small amount of people have surfed it, Slater’s real goal is a humanitarian one: surf pleasure for the masses.
“I’d love to get them all over the world, for sure,” he said. “It’s so fun. There was a lot of argument in the beginning, people saying it’s not real surfing and that it’s taking the soul from surfing. I’ve never seen so many happy people, percentage-wise, there. There haven’t been millions of people surfing it. But for the couple hundred who have, the stoke factor, the happiness meter is off the charts. I literally want to put a video out of just people smiling and not even surfing. Because everyone is just so stoked every day that they’re there. We have the footage. We just need to edit it.”
