Following disastrous semi-final and worst heat-score total ever in Tahiti, Kelly Slater arrives in Maldives for invitation-only over-fifties surf event at wildly exclusive Four Seasons Hotel!

Three divs over three days, twenty-five k to the winner. 

The greatest surfer of all time, Kelly Slater, has arrived in the Maldives to compete in the invitation-only Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy 2022, joining former tour buddies Taylor Knox, Rob Machado, Ross Willims and local wildcard Hussain “Iboo” Areef, not to be confused with a previous wildcard Abdulla “Fuku” Areef. 

While not strictly an over-fifties event, Rob Machado is forty-nine and Areef only forty-five, the contest will be a showcase of the new maxim, fifty is the new thirty. 

It is Slater’s first visit to the pretty chain of Islamic governed islands. He says he is “excited to be surfing with my best buddies that I grew up surfing with. We’ve been trying to make this trip open for years and it’s nice for everyone to be here with their partners for a relaxing week.” 

From August 22 through 29, the old gang, some showing the wear and tear of age, Ross “Daddy Body” Williams, while others looking like they’ve spent the preceding twenty-five years pushing and pulling heavy plates in a gymnasium, hello Shane Dorian, will compete on single fins, twinnies and thrusters.

Three divs over three days, twenty-five k to the winner.

And, all the while being housed in the Four Seasons’ little sugar-cube bungalows built over the sea and where the inhabitants can watch the full-moon floating over the inky sea while being attended to by men in their fine uniform of white t-shirt and sarong. 

If you were to book today for an arrival tomoz and to stay for the duration of the event, you would pay a not unreasonable $US2128 per night for your room, although this doesn’t include service charges and local taxes. 

There ain’t no livestream, but you can catch the action via Instagram below.

 

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