Surfer Kelly Slater Talks Getting Shacked

Kelly Slater : What It's All About

Ever wondered what the greatest competitive surfer of all time has to say about surfing? With 11 ASP World championships under his belt, we think Kelly Slater has a little insight!  I remember watching Kelly at the Gunston 500 (Now the Mr. Price Pro) in Durban when I was 16 in I think it was '93.  He did this reverse air, who knows what, off of a mushy two-foot nothing wave.  Bear in mind, this was before guys where even contemplating aerial bombardment, so this was pretty special to watch. 

In any event, that was at the very beginning of his surfing reign, and he has been a favorite ever since, and for good reason.  So, we thought we would share this bit of insight to those who know and those who want to. Below is the  short video, followed by the transcription. Enjoy!

Kelly Slater Interview transcription

Kelly Slater: 

My favorite thing to do every day is go surfing. So, if I go to the beach, even when I was a little kid, I was at the beach. I

was surfing every day.

Bryant Gumbal:

This is what you love?

Kelly Slater:

Yeah.

Bryant Gumbal:

You'd do it even if you didn't get paid?

Kelly Slater

 Oh, yeah. Getting paid. Just, I got lucky, you know.

Bryant Gumbal:

Take me into the barrel. What's it like to be in there?

Kelly Slater:

I don't know. It's like you're just in this little room. And it seems like time slows down, because you're so focused. Because you're so, in that moment, that you're aware of everything, all the water particles, and all the movement of the wave, what it's doing, and the shape of the tube, and the speed. You know, all those things. So, there's the visual, it's like, you know, the sound. You can tell everything's closer to you. You know, because the walls of the wave are just here.

Bryant Gumbal:

Is there a moment of joy where you say, "I caught this one. I am in this"?

Kelly Slater:

If it's an unbelievable wave, it'll blow you out like a fire hydrant. You know, where it'll like, sting your body. That's kind of the ultimate. You get a nice, big, long tube and at the end, it just spits you out.