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| Kelly Slater slays a wave at Pipeline |
"Everyone who retires from surfing just goes surfing more."
-- Kelly Slater
We seem to be a culture of competition and rankings. I thereby submit that Kelly Slater is the best professional athlete on the planet. His recent performance at Banzai Pipeline proves it.
Less than a week before his 50th birthday, Slater slew a field of world-class surfers half his age and came out on top, the winner of the World Surf League Championships, shooting out of a Pipeline barrel that would have most normal humans running from terror.
The renowned Pipe tube was reeling overhead, just inches above the reef below, when he, and a spray of water that looked like it had been shot from a canon, emerged from the fury like an apparition standing on his surfboard, David having slain Goliath.
The act boggles the mind, involving acrobatic athletic ability, mental calm in the face of tumult, knowledge, experience and good luck. Further boggling the mind is the fact that 30 years ago he won the same competition as the youngest World Surf League champion at 20 years old.
Slater is expected to retire with those bookend victories -- the youngest and the oldest to win the WSL title at Bonsai Pipeline -- adorning his professional career as the world's best surfer.
With most sports fans focussing on the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the upcoming Super Bowl football game, Slater's accomplishment is somewhat second or third fiddle in the bigger world of sports. Yet make no mistake, surfing at that level requires full body and mind control and a superb athlete, which Slater is. He's also a scratch golfer and a martial artist. He could probably play quarterback for the L.A. Rams.
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| Just out of the water today with my 10-ft noserider |
As a leisure surfer myself, I sat on the beach and witnessed the onetime Bay Watch actor surf the Pipe during the 2000 World Championships. Because surfing involves luck as well as athletic skill -- you've got to have the right waves during your heat -- he didn't win. But there was no doubt in my mind that he was the best surfer in the water. That's when I became a believer.
I am one of an estimated 35 million surfers in the world, most of whom, including myself, would never go out during a winter swell at Banzai Pipeline on Hawaii's notorious North Shore. Granted, many would.
That said, there is a surfing bond among all the boys and girls, the men and women, some grandpas and grandmas, who surf on a regular basis. It's a way of life, a ritual that goes back thousands of years, of people entering water... for a ride, for a spiritual boost, for fun -- call it a stoke -- to float on liquid, ride the current, inhale the salty air and be dazzled by the thrill of it all.
We cannot do what Kelly can do but we have tasted the same delicious ingredients of riding a wave.
Through my 50s and 60s I surfed nearly every day, before work in springtime and summer, after work in fall and winter, mostly at my local break called Cowell's. In the greater world of surfing, Cowell's might be considered a bunny-slope wave. But never underestimate the power of the ocean where conditions are continually changing and experience is as important as athletic ability.
A couple of years ago, a surfer almost died at Cowell's when his board hit him in the head and he fell unconscious into the water. With the added number of inexperienced COVID surfers, it's a wonder there aren't more serious accidents.
"You don't get worse as you get older you get more experienced," said Slater following his recent victory. "I'm able to draw on experience I've had out here before."
I marvel at many of my fellow surfers, especially those who go out no matter what. It would be pouring rain -- when it used to rain -- and I would see Greg, a high school teacher, walking with his board toward the surf, while the wind would be blowing him sideways. We cross paths every Sunday morning before dawn when I'm walking my dog, Frida, and he's heading out to catch waves on his morning off.
If I don't go out, I feel assured that somebody I know is out there filling the void.
When I do go, I am likely to see friends and neighbors that I would otherwise never see. The camaraderie is a big part of the deal. There's Dave, 76, Joni, 57, Rob, 74, Don, 73, Tony, 69, Ann, Juan, Sarah. The list goes on but as time goes by, far fewer of the old crowd are in the water. They included Talking Todd, Doorshop Dave, Fitness Todd and Rail-Ding Bob (RIP), Kim, Randy, Jane, Leigh and Jen. And of course our king and queen, Johnny and Rosemary. Rest in Surf Heaven, Johnny.
I've watched kids grow up surfing, become adults, go off to school and sometimes return to the water now adults with careers. I've seen young surfers suffer from drug addiction, some survive and some don't, the beauty of success and the sadness of failure.
I'm pretty much a minimalist. One hybrid car is fine. One pedal bike. One wife. I prefer a single-fin longboard, old school. I typically don't wear a leash. I learned early to stay with your board, your life raft.
I'm an old guy and I still must earn respect in the water because most of these kids see me as an old fart, period.
I'm sure Kelly Slater will continue to surf challenging waves, perhaps for the next 25 years! Then he can say what I can say:
"I'm still surfing at 75."
