Surfing Legend Kelly Slater

Some of you may be wondering who is that guy that's been seen splashing around the Hawaiian surf with newly single Cameron Diaz? He is no ordinary beach bum. He is the legendary surfer Kelly Slater.

He has been called the greatest surfer of all time. He is to surfing what Lance Armstrong was to road race cycling. In his ten years on the Association of Surfing Professional (ASP) tour, Slater has been world champion an unprecedented six times.

Kelly Slater is the most successful professional surfer in the history of the sport. His competition prize money earnings are near a million dollars and he has amassed four times that through sponsorships, endorsements and bonuses.

In the 2005 Billabong Tahiti Pro contest at Teahupoo, Tahiti, Slater was the first to score two perfect 10 rides, 20 out of 20 under the ASP two wave scoring system.

He has 36 career victories, 27 World Champion Tour victories and 8 world titles in competitions around the globe including the coasts of Tahiti, Fiji, Hawaii, Indonesia, Spain, Australia, Brazil, France, Japan and South Africa.

But all the titles and the accomplishments don't do Slater justice. He is an incredible surfer and an extraordinary person who emulates the spirit of the sport.

His surfing style is an almost eerie combination of technical ability and intuitive understanding of the ocean. Both have been refined over his 22 year love affair with wave riding. His unique talent and athletic ability is matched only by his creativity on the water.

On terra firma, Slater's passions are still drawn from the ocean. He is outspoken about coral reef preservation and has had an ongoing relationship with the California-based organization Reef Check. He is also a supporter of the Borgen Project - "poverty reduction through political accountability" - in Seattle, WA.

Surfing has catapulted his public persona but equally soul-satisfying to the surfer is his music. He is an accomplished guitarist and has found outlet for this talent through his band The Surfers which released Songs From the Pipe under a major music label. He has also shared the stage with Ben Harper and Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam's frontman Eddie Vedder is one of Slater's biggest fans and the surfer is unashamed of his hero worship of the musician. Long before they became buddies, Slater recognized the ocean influence in Vedder's music. Over the years the two have developed a strong bond based on their shared passions for surfing and music.

Of their surf adventures together Vedder says "He's gotten me in some pretty hectic wave situations. They've also happened to be some of the greatest moments of my life."

Vedder adds that even when he's sitting down, Slater doesn't ever really sit still. "It's a tremendous force to be around," says the musician.

Even though Slater has eased up on his competitive surfing schedule he is in no way idle. He competed in the 2003 and 2004 X-Games and released an autobiography in between called Pipe Dreams: A Surfer's Journey.

He also has acting credits that include Shirley Manson's video You Look So Fine and the American TV series Baywatch. His likeness has been featured in the videogames Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

On February 11 this year, Slater will celebrate birthday #35, as to where it's hard to say. A native of Cocoa Beach, Florida, Slater's daughter lives there with her mother. The surfer has roots on Oahu, Hawaii, but is a citizen of the world with friends on all coasts. Perhaps he'll be riding his favorite waves like the "Pipe" in Hawaii or the "Kirra" in Australia.

One thing's for sure, he won't be sitting still. His friend Eddie Vedder tells him that "the nice thing when you do settle down is that you'll be able to sit on the porch and have no regrets about things you could have done and places you could have gone. You've done it."

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Slater

http://www.surfhistory.com/html/profiles/slater.html

The Buddy System: Even Flow by Anthony Cerretani, Outside Magazine, October 2006.