The day before his epic quarter-final at Keramas with Filipe Toledo, the 11-timer shows his tonsils are in fine form…
Tomorrow morning, afternoon, depending on your geo-tag, Kelly Slater and Filipe Toledo are going to tee off in the first quarter-final at Keramas.
Waves? Two foot, maybe three.
Don’t tell me this is a heat you’re going to miss.
With nobody in his corner, nearing fifty and in zig-zagging form, Kelly Slater is going to see if strategy and experience can beat the man who has so far seemed unbeatable in Keramas’ little righthanders.
In an interview yesterday, Kelly was in fighting form.
Salty, challenging, philosophical… loose.
“Well, its obvious, like, I’m not going to go out and let him win. I’m going to go out and do my best to smash him. And if I lose who cares? On the Gold Coast at Duranbah, I surfed like crap. Everyone wrote me off, I probably killed my own confidence.
“People forget that’s it’s a marathon not a spring and there can be days where somebody looks totally unbeatable, uncatchable, going to win everything and then they lose.
“Look, I love Filipe. I think he shreds. I think he’s probably the best small-wave surfer that’s ever lived. And, he’s outscored me in every round of the year so the chances of me beating him are very slim.
“I got no delusions about that but I’m going to see if I can figure out a game plan to beat him and get some high scores for myself and get the right waves and hopefully it’s six-foot and barrelling.
“Filipe is probably the gnarliest guy you could ever have in a small-wave heat, especially in rights, but basically in any small waves. But that doesn’t mean I have to sit here and praise him before we surf, you know I want to go out there and take his head off.
“But, it’s nothing personal.
You just to have to have that mindset as a competitor and leave it all in the water. And I have a little bit of confidence now and I’m going to try and use what I got to win a heat and win a contest.”
Tell me: who’s going to have tear-stained cheeks tomoz?
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Well i think he is actually a breath of fresh air ,breathing life into what was becoming a very dull WSL season.
Your flagged, whiteface is unacceptable!
Ok , but at least they both caught two waves each , over , let’s say 7.5 ,(none of which was 2 floaters to a snap ), which has been rare in the 2019 event so far ?
It’ll be tough for him to smash anyone if his surfing keeps getting scored like it was at the start of the comp. Maybe he should do another carve 360 to get make up points from the judges
Yeah/No….
When a man gets old there will be more talking and less walking.
Brazilians are ok for tiny shittie waves. They struggle when > 6’ when real surfing comes to play.
Move on to another falacy, mate. This one is old and outdated. Brazilians are winning everything from 3 to 30 ft.
Contact me when Filipe and Gabby are invited to the Eddie (if they show up)
Being invited to the Eddie means you play Hawaiian Sutf Politics well. Means you play along just right. It means you won the respect of suicidal coked out criminals quite frankly..
you know that Gabby won pipe and Teahupo last year…
I did this morning. Immediately went out and ran a 10k before work.
GO HARD OR GO HOME ? One German girl turned up in my tent just before I arrived with an old girlfriend . Not quite as embarrassing as a mate who had just knocked the head of it by himself at 4am and then at 4.01am the zip of the tent undoing and a nubile asking “ Fabio ( not his real name ) Are you there , do you want me ? “ in a voice to put the lead back into the pencil and melt butter …..
To all you surf betting people what’s slater paying to win? Almost be worth putting some money down just in case. Odds must be high
Someone un-ban Ben Marcus again so he can come on here and say I told you so. And then correct all our spelling mistakes in a fit of rage when Kelly loses.
No one should get banned
For being the most boring
Guest at the party
Brando.
As the Colonel ?
The horror…
…the horror…
Klink?
Stalag 13 is my home . No the dark hearted Colonel , who went too far , in Carry On Up The Congo ?
Ha! You do have the best references JB! Loved those movies.
Shared stories enable people to unite ….?
“Tell me: who’s going to have tear-stained cheeks tomoz?”
Jordy being out of the comp has really opened up the field on this one. looking at the draw I reckon the wet cheeked favourite would be Kolohe after a win.
If it goes onshore , with the wind blowing into the right hander , we could end up with a Rodriguez v Igarashi Final . I think I preferred the event during the Mad Huey’s QS years …
TB v Ethan Ewing?
2016 Kommune Bali Pro .
TB v Shane ‘ the concreter ‘ Holmes .
The lowest counting score in the final was an 8.5 . The other 3 were 9s .
He’s surfing like Jeremy Flores 2.0. Clean lines, good rotations. Think he (Kolohe) ends top-5 this year.
Haha, epic!
tomorrow night …
That frame grab makes him look like Heath Ledger as Joker, without the hair.
WSL: Is Kelly Slater back?
Brazilian Instagram: TRIGGERED
Would any pro actually come out and say “I’m going to smash the old bastard and wheelchair Him into the retirement home after this heat”
Jordy on a good day?
Mikey Boz said it to Strider (about Kelly), albeit in a slightly more polite way. Perhaps it was the impetus for Kelly to light up.
I want Jordy to win a world title just for what would come out of his mouth…
And yes! The Spartan fears no man!
Imagine that. It would be epic. I want to see more biff in the Wozzel. Sick of all this soft focus late 90’s love fest they are in. As MR says – in a heat you want to win so bad. So why not just say it – we know you are thinking it. Instead its always “he’s one of my fav surfers – I am so honoured to be surfing against him” What a load of bullshit. They are surfing for their livelihood, ratings and most importantly money. Why would you be happy to come third and earn $30k USD instead of first at $100k? Beats the hell out of me. Surely they can not all be idiots with no idea about the value of a dollar – especially a US dollar.
I can only think of two . Courtney Conlogue and Larry Blair ?
Two of my favourites! Larry Blair & Courtney!!
Both were unafraid to say they wanted to win and then won ! Barry Lair going back to back at Pipe in 78 and 79 is one of Australian Surfing’s most unheralded feats. Just imagine a 20 year old kid , who grew up at a Sydney beachbreak and not cotton-wooled by a pipehouse and team managers and minders.Coming up against these guys , in their prime ,Dane Kealoha, Mark Richards, Tom Carroll, Shaun Tomson and Larry Bertlemann in a 6 man final with no priority to protect him at 8-10 ft Pipe , only two years after the shit hit the fan with the Door Busters , and still coming away with the wins on a McCoy which everyone seems to want to forget as well ?
Well put Bames Jickerton.
I wish I would have made it up but sadly not . I was on the beach one day at Elouera and overheard former Bells Ringer ,Joe Engel , greet him with a “ Gday Barry Lair . “ and it stuck .
And Larry David.
He very funny man .
damnit, why did I read all that when I could have just watched a video? If I wanted to read I’d go to school.
Slater taking off the golfing shoes and bringing the mongrel back to competitive surfing!!
All hail the King!
So I got one for you, Negs, and anyone else (Longtom?). Who else could have done that turn after the barrel to beat Bourez. I’m thinking the turn itself–the location on the wave, the trajectory, the power, the board control, the recovery. In their prime going frontside on a head high wave to do that:
1. Regular footers—with minimal practice: AI, Dane; with lots of practice: Bruce, Johnny Boy, Taj, Pottz.
2. Goofy footers (so on a left)–with minimal practice: Occy; with lots of practice: Gabby (maybe), Clay Marzo, Tom Carroll.
That’s it. So Slater, at age 47, is currently doing turns in a heat that I reckon less than 10 surfers ever could pull off.
Machado
on your knees
I’ve noticed you’ve been getting a bit grumpy again lately… you ok?
They’re selling postcards of the hanging
Careful, Negs has the option;
“And someone says, “You’re in the wrong place, my friend, you’d better leave”.”
…he did it to Ben.
but really, we’re here for you Ck T;
“So when you see your neighbour carryin’ somethin’/Help him with his load”
Well good luck, leave enough rope for me.
err, he said hes only got a slim chance
mongrel toy poodle?
What a competitor!