"I kinda wish…the Phil Perrys of the world, the Perry Danes, the Johnny Boys would come back and sort that lineup out, man."
One of the better stories of modern surfing is the relationship of Kelly Slater, a preternaturally talented kid from the little waves of Florida, with Oahu’s North Shore, the fabled seven-mile miracle.
Faced with the choice of becoming a world champion who shied away from big waves, Slater bit down on every fear he ever had to become the greatest surfer ever, a three-time Triple Crown winner, Eddie winner, a seven-time Pipe Master, if you include last December’s Pipeline Pro.
In the final episode of Slater’s 11-part Lost Tapes series, filmed over the course of the 2019 tour, we’re in Hawaii, where Slater has been spending every December since he was fourteen, and where he now keeps two houses, one of which you can rent for $US46,000 per month.
He doesn’t win Pipe in this instance, that goes to the world champ Italo Ferreira, but he does scoop up the Triple Crown.
The episode warms up when Slater talks about the crumbling of Pipeline’s infamous hierarchy.
“My biggest goal was to have a prominent spot in the lineup at Pipeline,” he says. “I never felt like I deserved a wave. There was a hierarchy out there you didn’t just break into. Nowadays you go out there and it’s four foot and there’s sixty guys. When I was a kid out there, you really had to put your time in there. Guys were getting kicked out of the water, fins broken, guys were getting slapped in the head. I kinda wish that hierarchy, the Phil Perrys of the world, the Perry Danes, the Johnny Boys would come back and sort that lineup out, man.”
Nowadays you go out there and it’s four foot and there’s sixty guys. b.s when there at least 100 takers at 4-ft.
LOL, in this case he sticking to what he truly knows. I kinda back up when he’s asked or he begins a diatribe about areas he’s really not trained in, not that he’s not intelligent, but self education without scholarly oversite is just dangerous, but in this case 100%.
Water enforcement specialists are an important inclusion for any line up.
Bring that beat back
How hard is it to have a blog that pulls up the comments from any given story?
So now he dips his toe into the reality that the rest of us have to deal with all the time.
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I know how that feels, T. I climbed to the top of the hill, saw what was happening and inched my way back down…coined it: My Fine Elitist Hour.
I would rather watch Benji’s lost tapes presented by Bud Light.
Drive Thru Lunada…
Ok I understand Kelly had a paved road, but only because he was a freakish talent. He didn’t back down from any heavy barrels or Waimea. When people say Kelly didn’t have to earn his place in the lineup he did earn his spot by charging and doing better than anyone else until Andy came along. I understand Kelly’s frustration growing up in California in same era as Kelly, I had to deal with older locals always putting me in my place. II learned etiquette on how to wait your turn and where I Can paddle out depending on who was in the lineup and what level of surfing I was at. Now days inexperienced guys and girls feel they can paddle out anywhere and drop in on anyone. It’s completely ridiculous.
Oh I see what they did. Maybe 20-30 minutes of compelling content streeeeeeeeetched out to 10 lame, cringey episodes and one fairly good watch.
You know Kelly also did a cooking series about Spanish finger foods:
The Lost Tapas.
The best part about surfing with Perry Dane was he always went right…soo just sit next to him and go left.
SOoooo, i can knock his fns out if he boldly sits inside me at my local?
i don’t actually want to knock them out, i need to carefully remove them as i have a couple of missing ones i can’t afford to replace.
FCS1 please Kelli
You won’t get near old baldy . He never surfs without at least one security surfer by his side in any lineup open to the public.
( can’t blame him for that either, plenty crazy people in the surf who hate him let alone the sane ones!)
Maybe 15 years ago at rincon I realized I was sitting next to him in the water….. I asked him”what are YOU doing HERE?” Except I meant it more like…”why are you here when you can surf ANYWHERE in the world?’ Why here?
He said he had a house here and then disappeared down the line….I kinda wanted to say..”hey welcome”. Yup me the old grumpy local.
Negs, time to mail Slater some rose tinted glasses.
posted some of my older model rosies to auction off…no takers? hell, I look more like Jerry Garcia than Jonah ever will!
The reason why he wants them back is because he hasn’t the balls call ppl out himself.
Because it could lead to one less person purchasing his overpriced rags or rent his overpriced rental home.
here here