Gab and John look over their shoulders!
Do you remember that hot, yet fringe, rumor from just months ago wherein Kelly Slater was going to surf in the Portugal contest? Even though he broke his foot just months prior in multiple places? A fine one to be sure and basically correct because yesterday it was revealed that Cocoa Beach’s first son is going to be surfing in the Pipeline Masters! Florida Today first reported:
Less than five months after breaking five bones in his right foot, surfing legend Kelly Slater is in the official lineup for this coming week’s Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons contest, on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
Slater, who sustained the multiple fractures while free-surfing between heats at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, in mid-July, and required plates and screws in a surgery later that month, has tested his skills at least three times, most recently in his hometown of Cocoa Beach, at the beach behind Coconuts during the National Kidney Foundation Team Challenge two weeks ago.
“Anytime he can get out on the water, he is willing to test it,” said Phil Salick, originator of the NKF Labor Day Surf Festival, along with his late brother, Rich. “He absolutely, definitely wants to surf Pipeline. Of course, there’s a big difference on the pressure of the water on his foot at Pipeline (perhaps 10- to 20-foot waves) and 4-foot offshore” here.
Are you going to quickly reshuffle your fantasy team or do you not believe that the 11 x world champ has any gas left in the tank?