Kelly Slater - Lonely at the Top.

Kelly Slater Retires
Interview, winter '99
Kelly in Turmoil
Interview, winter '98

SLATER RETIRES FROM COMPETITION

The real challenge for Slater, though, lies in big waves. How he approaches the coming years will determine whether he's known mostly as a tour competitor (Barton Lynch, Mark Occhiluppo, Damien Hardman) or a full-fledged warrior (Laird Hamilton, Darrick Doerner, Ken Bradshaw, Shane Dorian).

I'd lean towards the latter, especially from what I remember about Slater a few years back.

It's kind of dangerous to hang out with Malloy and Watson. They are gracious and humble on land, but when the surf comes up, they tend to know no limits. Todd Chesser was that way, too, as well as Brock Little, Noah Johnson and a few other North Shore mainstays of that generation. It can be a little alarming to wake up at 5 a.m., look out the window, see nothing but whitewater, and watch somebody like Watson hurriedly preparing for a morning go-out.

You can't show any fear with these guys; it's just not appropriate. When they go bodysurfing, in something like double-overhead Pipeline or Pupukea, they don't even wear fins. Nor do they accept the tow-in movement when it comes to big waves. They'll be paddling out on their own power, no matter what. They love the purity and the tradition of it, the challenge of catching a wave with self-generated speed. They hate the noise and the fumes and the built-in advantages of jet-skis. They'll be grabbing their guns, not their strapped-in 7-4s, and they'll be heading out from the sand. Even as they lost their dear friend Chesser, who died exactly that way on an outer-reef mission a few years back, these guys know only one way. The way they've done it all their lives.

Watson brought Malloy and Slater by my rented Sunset Point house one night, in the winter of 1994-95, to watch some Maverick's footage I'd brought over. It was fresh and exciting at the time, a look at the epic swell that remains the standard for excellence from Santa Cruz to Ocean Beach. And they were genuinely excited, including Slater. Not awestruck or fearful, but putting themselves at Maverick's in their minds, imagining themselves in that position.

Since then, Watson and Malloy have both surfed Maverick's, with considerable success. Being non-tour surfers, they had that luxury. Now that Slater has a bit more freedom, I'd expect him to show up -- if not this spring, then in the early days of next season. Not because he's expected to, or because he's fearful of being called gutless, but because he wants it.

Slater has already proven himself at Waimea Bay, under the intense scrutiny of the Eddie Aikau contest. During the ill-fated "half-Eddie" in December 1995, Slater was surfing as well as anyone in the morning, when the waves were a solid 18-20 feet, and Little was raving about his performance afterward. Slater came back with another solid performance this year, on a New Year's Day swell that brought waves from 20 to 25 feet throughout the day. His 9th-place finish put him ahead of such names as Keone Downing, Brian Keaulana, Little and Bradshaw.

Slater seems interested in the tow-in scene as well. He paid a visit to Jaws, on Maui, last winter and had only a mildly good session. It seems that the local standouts, like Hamilton, weren't quite ready to accept him. But talent always wins out in surfing. If somebody shows up at your local break with an idiot haircut, a too-loud wetsuit, a lame surfboard or an attitude, he suddenly gets respect if he drops into the biggest wave and pulls into the barrel.

I don't know Slater that well, and I couldn't begin to read his mind. Maybe he feels he has nothing left to prove and just wants to ride clean, 8-foot surf for the rest of his life. Nothing wrong with that. But I'd bet on a little something more. Slater has shown a true, deep-seated desire to get out there in big waves. A vast arena awaits him.

At the ASP awards banquet after the Pipe Masters, you announced that you're only going to compete in five events in 1999 (Kirra, Tahiti, Tavarua, Jeffreys Bay and Pipe), which means that you won't be seeking a seventh world title this year. Will the Aussies now dominate with the elimination of the Slater factor, or do you have faith in your fellow countrymen to pick up where you left off?
I have faith, for sure. I think it's a good thing that I'm taking a year off 'cause it's going to put more pressure on guys like Rob, Shane [Dorian] and Kalani [Robb] to pick up the slack. I really hope Rob steps up his game. Everyone knows his surfing is there, and if he gets his focus and his mental act together, he'll be tough to beat. Shane and Kalani ate it up toward the end of this year. During the Pipe Masters, they were telling me, "F--- those guys. You gotta win this thing!" They're fired up and they're both surfing well. You also can't count out Sunny. I'd say we have a pretty good shot at keeping the title in America.

And what will you be doing while you're on leave?
I want some time to go home and check out my daughter and my family. There are also a couple of projects within surfing that I want to work on. I want to work with my friends, guys like Jack Johnson and Taylor Steele, and put together a book on surfing technique and maybe a video or two. The book is something that's been brewing for a while. I'll also be able to do the odd surf trip, go to places that I've always wanted to check out. It'll be a fresh beginning for me--I'm looking forward to it.

Would you say that last event at Pipe was the peak of your career?
As far as pure enjoyment of heat surfing goes, the semifinal in '95 was...I don't know, the whole high-five thing does a lot for me. It was like somebody wrote the script to that heat. As far as this year's Pipe Masters, coming out of the water after the quarterfinal with Rob was probably the most glory that I've had in my career. I think of it this way: every title I've earned has been with a goal in mind. The first one was for obvious reasons, the next one was to show I could do it again, the third was to show I was in control and could put two good years together since I had such a bad year after my first title, the fourth was to tie Mark Richards' four, the fifth was for Todd Chesser and to tie M.R.'s four in a row, and the sixth was to break that record. I'm not sure what kind of goal I'd set for myself if I try for number seven. That's why this time off will help.

We haven't seen any big headlines in the tabloids lately, so we're assuming that your personal affairs, i.e., your relationship with Pam Anderson, are also steady on.
Oh, yeah. Rock solid. All aspects of my life couldn't be better: family, relationships, career, support from my sponsor. I wish I could freeze-frame this time and live like this the rest of my life.

Does your daughter Taylor know that you're the six-time world champion?
I don't think so. She sees Daddy in magazines and she hears my CD and stuff and just takes it as normality. That's just how she knows me. When she gets older, maybe she'll look back and go, "Wow, Dad did something pretty cool."

It seemed liked she helped ease the pressure between heats at Pipeline.
One of the best things about this world title was that she was a part of it. It was great having her there. None of my family could be there but my daughter showed up. It showed me a whole different side to things. She just knows me as Daddy, not as some surfer guy. She didn't have any idea that something special was going on, that she was at some contest that I had to do good in. So I won the title and came out of the water, everybody's freaking out, and my daughter's playing in the sand, minding her own business. She's not even aware...everyone's screaming for me, yelling, and she's sitting there, telling people to be quiet. She's like, "Shhhhh, be quiet!" She's pissed off at everyone 'cause they wouldn't shut up. It was like a dose of reality splashed into this moment of glory--a little window into the future.

Robert Kelly Slater is the undisputed heavyweight surfing champion of the world. Three events before the conclusion of the 1997 ASP season he clinched his fifth title from seven years in wave riding's centre ring, crowned world champ for the fourth consecutive year, having equalled the great holy record of Newcastle's Mark 'MR' Richards. As the latter day Mike Tyson rivalled Muhammed Ali for the matle of 'the greatest', so looms Slater as he prepares for an unprecented fifth consecutive - and sixth overall - title attempt in '98. Unlike his notorious boxing counterpart, Kelly is not about to have his career guillotined by a prison term, or by a suspension for munching his opponent's ears, but he has not been without problems. It hasn't all been victory wreathes and roses.

Kelly Slater hit the wall in '97, although few realised the fact. Such a remarkable fighting machine is this man that it made little difference to his surfing, actually hardening and quickening his laft jabs, right uppercuts, and miscellaneous haymakers. He started the season with a clean knockout at the Coke Classic at Narrabeen, before denting the aspirations of even his most steely opponents by stealing a back to back combo with his devastating Billabong Pro win.

Restoring some faith to the pack and striking one back for the Aussie cause, Matt Hoy won Bells, but then Slater hammered home his brilliance with a back to back double in Japan. The events at both Tokushima and Torami carried Grade 2 ranking with excess points and dollars. By the time the tour arrived in G-Land at the end of May for the Quiksilver Pro, Florida's liquid dynamo had already earned more points and dolars than most earn in a year. While the bank balance, ratings, and fifth title aspirations were all flourishing, Kelly was far from as healthy and stable on the inside. He was living proof that its lonely at the top. For the most part, his top 44 peers were oblivious to his dilemma and internal distress. If they knew, most wouldn't have cared anyway, for they had enough to do just trying to catch the freak. They'd merely observed him as oerhaps more rocky and aloof than he'd previously been. It was almost undestandable. Anyone who reaps so much hype, publicity and acclaim could be expected to eventually be in need of some sort of head adjustment.

There was more to it though. Kelly Slater had reached the menopause stage of his career. It affects anybody and everybody rich, famous and accomplished at some stage of their development. It is a painful and lonely crisis, but, like a broken heart, a barrier that can only be crossed the hard way. Mark Occhilupo hit the same wall at the age of 18, Tom carroll in his early 20's, and now it was Slater's turn.

The dilemma is one of identity crisis. A successful and publicised person in any realm is never short of company. Everybody wants a piece of you, to be seen with you, to hang with you.The question is whether those people are your friends, your acquaintances or your users. Sooner or laterany high-profile person has to ask himself: are they there because of who you are or what you are?

As kelly's instinctive emotional defenceagainst the lonliness of fame rose over the past few tears and grommet genius matured into an increasingly hardened and distant professional, so to rose the resentment of his dominance by his peers. Last year at Figueira da Foz in Portugal, when he lost his second round heat to local Bruno Charneca, the competitors area nearly came down with the applause and foot-stamping delight of his peers. Their unrestrained joy at his uncharacteristically early demise was understandable but one couldn't miss the sense of scorn and spite involved as well. Such is human nature.

Slater has thoroughly dominated and has sometimes rendered his adverseries frustrated and almost powerless. Pro-surfing has become the phenomenon of Slater-ism. Whilst his ability is respected and acknowledged, the stigma of dominance has had a negative effect. He has felt the resentment, and been hurt by it. Sitting alone on the bow of the Billabong Challeng boat in Lombok back in June, ovbiously distressed, he acknowledged the situation.

"Yeah its difficult, its really hard..." he said quietly before regaining his composure to continue. "At times I think that when I finally sit back from this tour - to just cruise and go surfing every day and do a little travelling, then I'll really know who my friends are. Its fun and everything right now but sometimes I just feel like I'm completely alone and confined on this tour. Its got me to the point where on one hand I want to quit, while on the other hand I want to beat everyone worse. You know, I just want to win heats twice as badly. It frustrates me that people can't distinguish between friendship and competition."

Part of the alienation has previously been Kelly's desire to win anything and everything on tour. One former world champ used to regularly refer to him as "that competitive fuck!" It was true enough. Whether it was a game of cards, the best board spray, a rack of billiards, or having the last shot in a witty exchange, Kelly Slater has to win. He maintains that things are different for him now having recognised the fact that a lot of people don't like it if you're competitive all the time, especially if you're winning. These days he's trying to keep his winning compulsions to when he's wet.

In '96 Kelly won seven WCT events. He's now wrapped up his fifth WCT win of the year in Brazil, to add to his two 'speciality' victories (at the Miyazaki wave pool event and the Backdoor Shootout which kicked the season off). Whilst freely admitting to being addicted to winning, Kelly went on to philosophise that perhaps many of the top 44 don't really push themselves to their true potential. He sees only Occy and Taylor Knox, plus Luke Egan at G-Land in '97, as the only individuals who continualy strive for the ultimate. With respect, it sounds like kally is beckoning challengers and urging his competitive compatriots to aim higher more consistently.

"A lot of the top guys surf incredibly, but I also feel they could surf better. I've seen the way guys ride waves when their really on, and I know some of them could surf better more consistantly. To me. taylor Knox is the most driven guy. I see it when he stands up on a wave. I can see it in his face that he wants to surf that wave better than the one he surfed before. I think that's the mindset we all need to get in."

Kelly is ovbiously accomplished at producing a winning mindset. He is skilled is self-awareness and motivation, and in chanelling his moods. Usually when he does well in an event he has 'known' before the event actually started that it was all together for him. Even if he falls in his first few waves he will refuse to panic or be negative, so sure is he that things will come together for him. His winning average speaks volumes, but being human, there lies a danger of taking winning for granted. He's done it, and paid, but then there's lots taken for granted in the realm of professional surfing.

"We all take a lot for granted in this lifestyle. We've been spoilt. People throw themselves around to things for us and then we don't respect it. This lifestyle, this "job" is a dream to most of us. We're being paid to go surfing, but we have to realise that when companies sponsor us they're making an investment. Its not that I'm doing them a favour, they're doing me a favour, they allow me to go surf waves and compete, and the least I can do is try my best to fulfill the worth of the money they're giving me. It's our obligation as professional sports people, no matter what sport it is.

Nobody can deny that Slater has fulfilled his professional obligations to his sponsors and the sport of surfing. Being the biggest draw card in pro surfing history has also deservedly earned him the biggest pay packet in pro surfing history. Though the figures are confidential, Quiksilver make no secret of the fact that eventuallt Kelly Slater will become the first surfer to earn a million dollar annual salary. They also confide that they'll happily sign the cheque when the day arrives.

Even at this stage, if he retired tomorrow, with careful investments Kelly would probably not have to work for the rest of his life and no-one could argue that he doesn't deserve that privilege. Besides the investments, and a few commercial ventures like his 'K-Grip', he has the material trimmings of condominiums at home in Florida, plus at Avalon in Sydney. He has earned it all though, and more. The level of intrusion into his life by the media and public alike must make the financial renumeration almost insignificant. He admits enjoying the financial trimmings, especially not having grown up in riches, but doesn't hesitate to add that it has its minuses.

So too with the fame that comes with his profile. He loves stoking out grommets, and accomadating genuine people that have respect, but continues to be amazed, and even shocked, at some of the mob scenes that go down in places like France and Japan, where he literally needs a surrounding barage of bodyguards to get from the water's edge to the contest superstructure. He relates it to how people get awestruck when they see someone famous in the flesh. He still gets awestruck when he sees Tom Curren. He's stoked when Tom talks to him. he's normal, and understands normal people.

Kelly was looking and sounding anything but normal, sitting on that boat before the re-grouped Billabong Challenge outfit left Lombok in June. Ovbiously run-down, he confided that he was considering having a year off the tour, a suggestion that Quiksilver had no problem with. Five relaxing days later he got of the boat seemingly more at ease. Two months later as the tour re-grouped in Lacanau, France, he returned to the public foray looking the best he had in years. Bright-eyed, clear-skinned, friendly and calm, he seemed at peace. He spent the two month break golfing and relaxing with his girlfriend Jenny, and presumably he'd crossed some mental barriers and come to grips with what had previously been unsettling him.

He somehow seemed back to being more one of the boys. Once again he ripped throught he draw but when he controversially defeated Kalani Robb in the semis, he was the first to question the judges' decision. When Shane Powell comboed him in the final, he was genuinly stoked for his Aussie mate.

It's a difficult task for Kelly to balance "being one of the boys" with the objective of winning. "You can either push yourself to do as well as you possibly can, or you can sit around with everyone else watching the contest," declares Kelly. "When MR was winning world titles, he had that idea. He said in interviews, 'when I'm in a contest, I'm there to compete, I'm not there to go and have a good time.' Sometimes you have to sacrafice having a good time to do well in a contest."

We all have good intentions, and all too often having a good time gets in the way of aspirations and the most admirable ideals. The night before Round Three began at the Buondi Sintra Pro in Portugal, full of flu and on a course of anti-biotics like many of the top 44, Kelly dutifully travelled into Lisbon for a press conference. Swamped with hospitality as always, he obliged by having some wine with dinner. Now some people just can't mix anti-biotics and alcahol, especially those unaccustomed to drinking at all. As Kelly Slater found out the hard way, he is one such specimen.

The following day, after a restless night's sleep beset with a raging temperature and sickness from the flu, he slept until almost midday and awoke feeling like he'd been hit by the proverbial Mack truck. He had to stop several times en route to the event site to throw up, so violently ill was he. After running 77 steps downthe cliff face, and then a further 200m around the rocks, he arrived at the contest almost ten minutes afterhis heat had started. Straight out int the chilly line-up in boardshorts, without even a contest vest, he sat shaking uncontrollably, almost delirious. Portugese grommet Ruben Gonsalves had the world champ for lunch.

Somehow the humiliating mis-adventure drew Slater back into the fold, closer to the crew. He was human after all. A week later he was dealt the third 17th of his career when he was out-surfed and out-pointed by Australia's Danny Wills in Figueira Da Foz. Again he was good-natured in defeat, jokingly challenging Willsy to a game of pinball after the heat to avenge the loss. Some traits die hard, but he was smiling.

Three days later he watched as the in-form Occhilupo was ousted in the semis by Shane Powell, who eventually went on to take his second victory of the '97 season. Powell's victory meant Occy could not catch the Floridian in the points race, and Slater had thereby sealed the 1997 world crown.

Humble and gracious in acknowledging his matching of MR's four consecutive world titles record, Kelly repeatedly went out of his way in media interviews to stress that he could never hope to match the respect and adulation that Mark Richards will forever and deservedly be afforded. He showed respect, and he deserves all and more of the reciprocal respect that is due to him. Kelly Slater is very possibly the best surfer that this world has ever seen. He has survived his mid-career crisis, and he'll be back for more.

KELLY SLATER INTERVIEW - at Hawaii's North Shore, Winter '98.

You've kept a pretty low profile here this winter...

Yeah, well I guess there haven't been too many good days here so far.

How did the end of the '97 season go for you?

Brazil was good for me, I won the contest there. But I didn't do too good in Portugal, or here. I dunno, I think I got a little comfortable with where I was at, and the last few contests just didn't go great for me. Fortunately, I did enough early in the year to seal it.

Already, just a couple of months after clinching your fifth world title, the surf media is saying "We need a new world champ!" and suggesting that some of the younger guys could bring you down this season.

Well, I don't think they're saying that, but a lot of people probably hope someone will beat me! (Laughs) When one person wins a lot of events, it's natural for people to want someone else to win.

You mentioned in an interview last year that you were thinking of bailing the tour for a while, so you could focus on other ambitions and goals.

Well, I'd love to have some time off, but I think if you take time off that you fall behind competitively. If you just focus on enjoying life, you can't fine tune your surfing and competitiveness to the level that's needed.

If you had a dream about going surfing, what would it involve and where would you be?

Um, it'd be a year where I could just do anything I want every day. But actually I guess I kinda have that already. (Laughs)

After five world titles, what motivates you to go on, to win more?

Just the goal to keep winning, and try to win a sixth one.