“The truth is, I’ve had a lot of days and time on the road where I’m not enjoying. And, it’s not pro surfing it’s my own life."
A few years back, the world was introduced to “healer, inventor, businessman” Charlie Goldsmith in the Kelly Slater episode of Sound Waves, one of the better video shorts produced by the WSL.
Goldsmith, real popular with some, attacked by sceptics on the other side, was eighteen when he “first felt a strange sensation between his hands. He says he soon discovered this energy could heal people. Worried about exposing himself to a world of doubters, he wanted to keep his gift secret until science supported his claims.”
In this episode of Lost Tapes, which follows Slater’s travails on the 2019 tour, we swing over to J-Bay.
Slater, forty seven at the time, something the commentators keep reminding him of, is even more introspective than usual.
“I’ve had a lot of days and time on the road where I’m not enjoying. And, it’s not pro surfing it’s my own life, my own personal issues, family stuff, relationship … sometimes you go surfing and forget about and you don’t think about it. Surfing becomes that drug that covers it up for a while.”
Goldsmith tells Slater, “The truth is, you’ve had so much success that if you didn’t have one more bit of success you’d have had more than anyone else.”
“He gets me not-thinking,” says Slater. “I’m a heady person…even up to the minute I paddle out, I’ve had him on the phone.”
Essential.