Kelly's agonising form, Leo's ascent and "massive
generational change."
The fifty-something Stephen “Belly” Bell, best
friend to Kelly, step-daddy to Leo, also owns a piece of my
heart. For the two years I lived in Hossegor, through the grey
cloak of the long winters and the saturated golds of the too-short
summers, he was kinder than he ever needed to be.
Maybe it was our mutual love of titties, short trips to Spain
and whistling sand-bottom tubes that clapped like thunder across
the town’s sandbanks, but it felt real.
Belly moved from Victoria to France in the mid-nineteen eighties
and set up a glassing shop called Euroglass. He had the contract to
build all the Quiksilver boards for Europe which, in the honey surf
industry days at the turn of the century, meant everyone was coming
to Belly for boards, Kelly Slater and the sixties icon Miki Dora
included.
Because he was Australian, and more Australian than anyone I’d
ever met (although fluent in French), Belly was the hub around
which that country’s surfers revolved during the European leg of
the tour.
Once Belly asked me to affix a tail-pad onto a board that was
bound for Quicksilver’s flagship store in Paris. It was,
ostensibly, an ex-Slater board, but it wasn’t. I put the K-Grip
pad on a crooked angle and while it would’ve been justified
for him to be agitated and cruel, a hard kidney punch at
least, he gave me a fatherly smile and said, “you fucking
idiot.”
“Loved by all” is a hoary old phrase to throw around, but it
really is true.
Stephen Bell, a little man with a bald head and baggy pants, is
all heart, no ego.
Did you know he also rips?
This morning, the World Surf League posted an interview with
Belly on their website, covering such topics as Kelly’s agonising
form, Leo’s sparkle, and how he came to be the boo of Leo’s
mama.
Highlights:
On his pro surfers losing:
Kelly’s in a bit of that situation at the moment. And we’ve
spent long periods of time talking about it. We were at the same
house in Margaret River when Kelly lost, and he spent the next day
with Leo giving him his wisdom. And that was one way of dealing
with his own frustrations. I wouldn’t go past frustration, period,
to describe it.
He won the Pipe contest at the start of the year, and came
in fifth at the Eddie Aikau. I said, ‘Hang on a minute. Just
because you’ve had three tough events, you’re the greatest surfer
on the planet.’ I think he realizes, it’s a frustration point, he
didn’t get good waves, versus ‘Oh my god, it’s the end of the
world.’
But for the kids, it can be like that. And the QS is worse —
to get to those stages, and come so close to qualifying. It’s like
having my surfboard business two week away from
bankruptcy.
On what separates winners from losers:
That’s a matter of how badly you want something. I will not
be beaten and I’m going to do whatever morally correct thing it
takes to get me there, and I’ll be smart about it. That goes with
every facet of life. With my staff at the surfboard factory, I say
if you want something, go and do it.
I say the same thing to
the younger team riders. There’s a rider I invited to Hawaii. He
said, ‘I don’t have the money.’ I said, ‘I’ll give you a free house
and food, all you have to do is get a ticket. Go out, work two jobs
— you get what you want in life.’ Talent comes in many forms, and
I’ve seen much less talented surfers make it further competitively
than more talented surfers who don’t have that drive or
resourcefulness.
On generational change:
We’re right in the
crisis now of a massive generation change. From 2004 to 2011, you
had your quarterfinals with Andy Irons, Kelly Slater, Joel
Parkinson, Mick Fanning, Taj Burrow. You’d have — pardon my French
— kids shitting themselves, scared shitless of being there. And the
other guys would eat them alive.
And then those five guys have pretty much retired, or just
about on the edge. And with the Matt Wilkinson and others, they’re
not afraid to win anymore.
Read more here!
