King Kelly
Heart-throb surfer Kelly Slater waxes philosophic on role models, his bid for another mind-bending world championship, and being an ordinary guy.
Photography by Greg Nagel and Branden AroyanSuperlatives ripple in the man’s wake: Best surfer on Earth. Top competitor in the history of the sport. At age 20, the youngest surfer to bag the championship title. Last year, the oldest to land it—his ninth win. Now 37, he’s presently hot on the trail of a tenth coronation. Known for squiring some of the planet’s most glamorous women (from Pamela Anderson to Gisele Bündchen), this super-star is also the author of two books, including his latest, Kelly Slater: For the Love (Chronicle), a deeply personal, scrapbook-style narrative in which he shares his singular world. Traveling the globe on the competitive circuit, Slater also puddle jumps between domiciles in Australia, Florida (home to his teenage daughter, Taylor), Hawaii, and Santa Barbara—where he favors Sandspit barrels; hangs with sometime Roxy team rider and UCSB senior Kalani Miller, his surfer-girl sweetheart; and shuttles between Rincon swells and Channel Islands Surfboards. Slater collaborated with friend and editor Phil Jarratt on the book, a 192-page volume that includes some 300 photos plus commentary from the motley cast of characters in his life—mentor Al Merrick, local surf buddies Jack Johnson and Shaun Tomson, four-time world champion Lisa Andersen, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, and others. Between contests, he takes time out to reflect on the journey to the top, his adventures along the way, the challenges of fame, and the notion of home.
The common thread of your book’s themes seems to be “don’t control me, I want ultimate freedom.”
Absolutely. That’s my theory on life for everyone—for work, for society. I think everyone should have ultimate freedom of choice. Yet, the flip side of your freedom is that you have to adhere to an incredibly rigorous schedule when you’re competing…. When I get into contest mode, it’s pretty intense. It’s emotionally taxing. At the end of the year, I need to recharge my batteries—and I don’t think I’ve done that since the last year. But I’m moving away from the whole idea of being goal oriented. I think goals take you out of the moment.
In pursuing a 10th title then, you’re thinking no further than, say, each contest?
Each wave. Each paddle. It’s weird because I’m competing, but I don’t have nearly the excitement about it that I used to have. And I think that’s a good thing. I don’t approach it in a way that rules my life.
You once wanted the championship above all else—back when you landed your first one. What do you want now?
Peace and calm.
Why do you feel compelled to keep going?
Because I have the ability. I’m still winning. It’s really hard to walk away when you’re winning. Last year I arguably had the best year of my life competitively. But I don’t want to be forced out either. You have to pick your time.
You’re on the road as often as not. Can Santa Barbara claim you as its own?
More so than anywhere probably. When you’re in one place for two weeks, then a week or two here and there, it’s hard to say where home is. But Santa Barbara has pretty much been my home for the last year and a half, and my home away from home for two decades. I’ve had my boards made at Channel Islands for 20 years.
When you’re here in town, what do you do to relax?
I like to be quiet and stay home, actually. Play guitar or maybe some golf. I go to Lazy Acres a lot—I cook a bit. Santa Barbara is a calm place for me. For the most part, people live a leisurely life here, a healthy one.
I hear you enjoy surfing all night on the computer.…
I’m reading things that interest me. The other night I was reading about a UFO abduction—about this guy Travis Walton’s experience. It was pretty funny.
Do you believe in extraterrestrials?
If I saw one, I would. I’m one of those people who believes in the possibility of almost anything.
“It’s hard to walk away when you’re winning. Last year, I had arguably the best year of my life. But I don’t want to be forced out. You have to pick your time.”
Speaking of curiosities, what’s it like—the adoring fans, the adulation?
In some ways, it’s exciting and fun. But the overwhelming feeling is embarrassment. When I was about 20, I went into this mall and there were a couple thousand people there and three-quarters or more were girls screaming. It was probably the most embarrassed I’ve been in my entire life. I remember cringing and wanting to disappear.
A lot of young people look up to you.
It can be a little frustrating. I’m just like the next person. This kid paddled up to me in the water the other day and said, “Can I touch you?” I said, “Well, I will shake your hand, but I don’t want you to touch me like I’m an animal at the zoo.”
These days, some kids call themselves “soul surfers.” In the next breath, it’s about company sponsors. What’s that about?
If anybody describes themselves as a “soul surfer,” they’re probably full of sh—. Just saying, that has no soul!
Does your daughter surf?
I took her once, when she was really young, like 2 years old. The waves weren’t even knee-high. I‘d love to go surfing with her soon. She has mentioned that she wants to try it again. She does karate and soccer.
How are you two alike?
We’re both a little bit shy when we meet people and then open up a lot.
What does the Kelly Slater Foundation do?
It gives money to things I support: a school in Florida for kids with disabilities, a program in Los Angeles called the L.A. Surf Bus that takes inner-city kids surfing. And we put on a musical benefit in San Clemente. Eddie Vedder played at it.
That reminds me…I googled you and got a million hits. But then I googled your pal Eddie and got two million.
Well, yeah! Music is always going to top surfing, for sure!
You also support Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Waterkeeper Alliance, Reef Check—and Kiehl’s cosmetics?
I’m promoting a Kiehl’s product. All the money from it is going to charity.
And you’re a fan of Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society—
I just was hanging out with Paul the other day! I was in Queensland, talking with him about this interview of him I’d heard on the radio. I was flipping channels and heard this lady shout, “We have Captain Paul Watson on today and he’s advocating killing five billion people!” She basically roasted him on her show. She said, “So why are you advocating five billion people be killed?” He said, “I’m not. What I’m saying is that the earth would probably be at its healthiest if we had about a billion people.” She had this whole angle to try to blow him out of the water, to make him look like an idiot.
It obviously didn’t work.
Well, not for me. I’m involved with Sea Shepherd on the fringes. I’ve done interviews for them, and I’d like to go out on [the society’s ship] the Steve Irwin. I met Paul a couple of years ago at a surfing event in Australia. He was doing some press and potentially waiting to get arrested because he had stopped four whaling ships in the Antarctic.
Is Watson one of your idols?
I can respect anyone who stands up for and lives what they believe in, but because I have a lot of the same feelings he does, I’d consider him that.
Among your other green efforts, what do those carbon offsets you buy cost you?
About 55 hundred bucks. I go through an online site—that’s $5,500 for all my travel for my whole career. I’m going to be honest with you, though—I don’t even know if it works. You can scientifically prove that there’s a certain amount of carbon captured in a tree. Is that taken out of the air? I’m not sure. Is CO2 really the cause of global warming? Is global warming happening? I do know we have way too much pollution in the air and the oceans and on land. The end result of humans being here is definitely a more polluted, less healthy environment.
Well, there are those five million people we need to get rid of—
Five billion!
Some people devote their life’s efforts to themselves. Others focus on another person, their family, a group, or maybe the world. What about you?
Probably the last one. I like the idea of thinking big. When you have an idea, if it’s small, it can be fun for you personally, but it’s not going to benefit society.
What pitfalls have come with your success?
People having certain ideas about me, thinking they know things about me.
Like “ladies man”?
There are worse things you can be called.
Do you blush?
Oh, yeah! •
Santa Barbara Magazine
By Trish Reynales. All rights reserved.
