Kelly Slater

mark ricketts · Post by **mark ricketts** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:53 am

its a spectacular achievement by any yardstick. and in a sport with a relatively wide global coverage and now a huge financial payback which sucks a huge number of wannabe's into the gene pool of potential challengers.

just think through the incredible list of top surfers that he has seen off during that decade and a half.

add into the mix that competitive surfing at that level is a younger person's sport requiring both amazing skills but fearsome focus over an entire year. then multiply that by ten....

the only thing going for pro surfing is that the injury toll and the physical commitment isn't at a level of some sports....

and the other thing going for it is that it is more fun than any other sport so maybe we should discount his achievement a tad.

hats off to the bloke..

JohnS · Post by **JohnS** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:55 am

Here's a link to a Monterey Bay local surfer's (Wayne Kelly) website. Some shots when Kelly visited last Febuary:

http://surferwaynekelly.com/2010_JAN_SLATER.htm

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:09 pm

another typical pro surfer...another typical $22 million richer.

Scotty, I was just trying to be ironic. Obviously, no surfer comes close to touching the kind of purse that Kelly's made. That's because he's such a peerless talent in competition; he is the absolute opposite of "typical." This year I've been setting my alarm for sometimes 3 a.m. to get up and watch him surf his heats overseas. There's no other surfer I'll do that for.

And you're quite right, Scotty--he's been the best thing that's ever happened to Quiksilver, and I'm glad he's being rewarded for his loyalty to and success for that organization. That $22 mil oughta buy him a lot of Indo boat trips in the future...