Flash back to this year's Rip Curl Pro and a completely demoralized Kelly Slater pours out his soul to the press after his second consecutive early round loss.
“I hate losing heats … but I used to really thrive on the challenges and was excited every morning to wake up and have that challenge and it would push me all the time and I’d obsessively think about it when I was freesurfing and stuff, but I don’t feel that way now…”
As Slater delivers what sounds like his own pro surfing eulogy he resembles and sounds every bit like a super hero whose powers have deserted him, “So for me personally I’m kind of in a long-term slump right now.”
Since then there have been flashes of brilliance and a steady rise in performance levels but it seemed that the career of the greatest surfer in history was in serious danger of slowly fizzing out, bereft of another glorious high point to fix in our memories.
All that changed today at Teahupoo. On finals day at the Billabong Pro, Tahiti Kelly was imperious – 10 point rides, free-fall drops, no-hands backside barrels, dry-reef floaters??, Andy Irons awards, comical self-deprecating post-heat interviews and heart-felt professions of pure stoke. The performance had it all.
If Kelly never wins again it won’t matter because this day will still be remembered as the perfect final note in an extraordinary career.
Kelly doesn’t normally like to surf early but his indifference to morning heats mattered little when he locked in two perfect tens against Keanu Asing in round five. Slater artfully emphasized the degree of difficulty by exiting both barrels without a mit on the rail. Was this Kelly peaking too early with another singular virtuoso act we wondered?
To emphasize the degree of difficulty Kelly frequently avoided grabbing a rail. WSL Cestari
In the quarters Kelly took on 2008 Teahupoo champion, Bruno Santos, who is arguably the most dangerous wildcard in surfing. When Santos opened with an early 9.63 it would have been easy for Kelly to swallow the kryptonite, but he responded with another ten and was dropping nines by heat’s end.
After a commanding victory over Ace Buchan in the semis Kelly joked about himself with post-heat interviewer, Kaipo Guerrero, “I’m finally figuring out how to surf heats.” It’s the sort of self-aware quip you can make when you have the best contest record of all time and indicated Kelly was determined to be a showman and a winner.
When accepting the Andy Irons award, Kelly didn’t disguise his elation. The perpetually articulate Kelly often searches his internal thesaurus for different ways to describe his experiences, but when Kieren Perrow presented him with the award he was happy to let roll with surfing’s most oft-uttered phrase, “I’m so stoked…” he exclaimed, before continuing, “Andy would be equally happy and mad that I won this thing.”
The final match up against John John at Teahupoo was an ideal scenario for Kelly. As John John dueled with Medina in their semi, Kelly set up his own big stakes clash by spouting, “He’s (John John) the most talented guy on a surfboard in the world at the moment.”
It’s impossible to overstate how much Slater thrives on surfing against John John. Nothing fuels his sense of self worth more than defeating the guy who is considered the hottest thing in surfing right now. Any demons of self-doubt doing laps of Kelly’s brain are extinguished when he topples the Hawaiian chosen one. And this wasn’t nonchalant John, just doing his thing, it was a fully focused, title-hunting Florence who stated before the final,“I want to get him back after that heat a couple of years ago,” in reference to the monumental 2014 tied semi with Kelly that Slater ultimately won on a countback.
In the final Kelly’s impenetrable confidence was made evident when he almost pulled a suicide, dry-reef floater after exiting a barrel. Later, his free-fall to guillotine-dodging, under the lip snap only further emphasized that he was operating in that rare zone where other-worldy antics become possible. After surfing four times on the final the day the 44-year-old averaged an incredible 19.34 heat total.
Talking to Pete Mel post-heat, with that famous dome of his framed by Teahupoo’s sky-stabbing peaks, Kelly was openly emotional. These were the almost tears of one who hadn’t been sure he’d ever reach such heights again. Skills once taken for granted seemed perhaps much more valuable after they’d been temporarily lost. “That will be one of the best wins I’ve ever had,” Kelly gushed with sincerity.
There was of course an intriguing sub-plot to all the Slater mania. John John Florence, despite losing the final and possibly incurring an injury, has seized the yellow jersey. For once it was Strider who summed it up best. “He’s stopped being a Labrador and turned into Cujo.” Florence was obviously hungry for victory – claiming waves, making appeals for priority and throwing down challenges in post heat interviews. Matt Wilkinson could only watch on with a drooping lip as Florence claimed the jersey that has been Wilko’s security blanket for much of the year. Wilko remains just in front of Medina on the ratings and will need to rediscover some of his early season form if he is going to revive his title chances.
It will however be remembered as the day Kelly returned to the zenith of his powers. Throughout the last three decades his popularity has see-sawed but today it’s likely fans were almost universal in their support of Slater. No one wanted to see Kelly fade out unceremoniously. Now that we have been given another dramatic demonstration of his mastery it seems everyone, including Kelly, can relax.
