SURFER MAG INTERVIEW: Inside Kelly Slater's Head

Slater, with Ross Williams during the "Eddie." Bass

SURFER MAG: You sound a little confused about tour life. Would you say you’re more impatient and picky with things like the tour as you get older?
KELLY SLATER: I actually feel like I’ve become more tolerant since I turned 30. So much has happened in my life the past few years I feel like I’ve really changed. I’m much more patient, more accepting of people, and things, and understanding of things around me. That’s really helped change my life. My family has had a lot of challenges but—I have a pretty good life.

SURFER MAG: Did the loss of your father pull your family together?
KELLY SLATER: Oh, yeah, 100%. If that doesn’t change you nothing will. When you’re sitting in your house watching your dad die…it was easily the most radical thing that’s ever happened to me. My dad. I was thinking him last night—maybe I was actually dreaming it—but I was watching him walk, and he was too weak to get up and go to the bathroom. If that doesn’t slow you down it’s going to make you kill yourself.

SURFER MAG: Did the episode give you a fresh look at your own life?
KELLY SLATER: It started with me wanting to understand my dad more, but I obviously left with a lot more than that. Somebody told me once that when one person in your family is really hurting, your whole family is sick. I always felt like my dad had all these things that he wanted to tell us but he never had the chance to say, or never took the chance. The throat cancer sort of symbolized that to me, because he couldn’t talk. On the one hand that’s his fault, but there’s two sides to every story…but the thing was, our family really was hurting.

SURFER MAG: How’d you deal with it?
KELLY SLATER: Well, what really struck me during that time was how easily people who care about each other cannot see eye to eye. When I think about that time I think about the last two months, because that’s when it became an emergency, like, “OK, get home. He’s almost gone.” But the thing is, I hadn’t really given up hope. I thought he was going to live. I kept thinking if we do the right thing, if he eats the right thing, if we get his body in the right situation he can fight this thing and maybe he can live. I didn’t give up hope in that way. But I think my brothers saw things differently than I did. They were of the mind that we should just spend some time with him and let it go. End his pain.

SURFER MAG: That’s tough.
KELLY SLATER: Yeah, it was hard for them to understand me, and hard for me to understand them. In the end, that’s what really made me want to understand them better too, because there were times when we were really pissed off at each other. It was a real volatile situation for us, and that comes from not being patient with people, and not listening to them without really hearing what they have to say. When you think about it, the only purpose for words is to express our feelings. That’s the only reason they were ever created. But I think sometimes we’d be better off without them…y’know, instead we’d just get a feel for where people were. With words you can say something really rude to someone and try to hurt them. With feelings, you can’t; if we could just express our feelings that wouldn’t happen as much.

SURFER MAG: Have you guys remained close now that a couple years have passed?
KELLY SLATER: We speak a lot more now. It opened us up. It really changed my mom’s life, too, because somewhere deep inside—this wasn’t a really conscious thing for me or my mom or dad, but deep inside you always yearn for your parents to get back together, and I think even they did too, in some sort of way. So once he was gone, there was…well, there’s the finality of it. But that was a good thing because that’s what allowed things to change and move forward for my mom. It had been that way for nearly 20 years while they were apart. It was time for something else. Now my mom has this really nice boyfriend and they love each other a lot. She’s never really had a real comfort in her life with someone. She never had it with my dad. She’s struggled with it for a long time. But she’s finally found some now. This guy is a really good human being. And as weird as this sounds, that probably couldn’t have happened if my dad was still around. Those things might not have changed.

The ever-so-slight rail adjustments of a world champion. Bass

SURFER MAG: What about you? And comfort? Obviously you’re very successful in so many ways in your life. But is there some kind of comfort you’re still seeking?
KELLY SLATER: You mean in terms of a relationship?

SURFER MAG: I guess. I mean, you obviously have friends all over the world, but do you feel like you have roots planted anywhere?
KELLY SLATER: It’s funny. Maybe I’ll have to settle down and build my dream house and plant my roots to have a stable enough life where that part of my life can happen. Being on this tour, sometimes I don’t know if it’s good for your spirit. Because you go somewhere and you’re there for only 10 days. For the most part we’re really spoiled and we get everything our way, and there’s a lot, if you want to be indulgent, there’s a lot to be had. But on the other hand, if you can be aware of that situation and steer clear of it, then you’ve done well.

SURFER MAG: Most people would envy you guys because you do have some priceless experiences.
KELLY SLATER: Yeah, but y’know that song, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”? [Laughs.] It still pertains to me. I think I need to talk to Bono or something. Within this one life I have a whole lot of different pieces, and I’m sort of wanting to bring them all together. I’m sitting here looking at a map right now, looking at all these places I go and thinking about all the people I know in those places…how I wish…my ex Lisa Ann and I, we used to wish we each had 10 of us. We used to make up lives for each one of them. I’d want to send one of them to Tahiti to live full time. I’d have another in Australia, and maybe two in Hawaii [laughs]. I’d leave one of me back in Florida too.

Going left in the Waimea shorebreak. Warning: Do not try this at home or in the swimming pool. Bass

SURFER MAG: So is your blessing also your curse? After all, you have so many options. I’m guessing the hardest part is because you’ve experienced all these things first-hand you’re more painfully aware of what you’re missing once the choice gets made.
KELLY SLATER: It’s funny, about three nights ago I stayed in Momi, the village where a lot of people from Tavarua work. They threw us a dinner and did this little song and dance, and we were dancing, and we toured the village and saw the new buildings they’d made, the fish they’d speared. On the one hand, that’s all you really need. But then there’re so many things to go out and experience, but it’s really hard for me to focus sometimes. Like Monday, I have to go to France for a shop opening when what I was really looking forward to was spending the next two weeks here in Australia. I wanted to see my friends and sort of wrap up my trip, get my boards in order. But now I can’t. I’ve got work obligations. Like you said, the blessing is the curse. By doing this one thing in France I’m sort of locking them all away for the year, so it’s a good business choice for me, and it’s good for Quiksilver, but on the other hand I know I’m not going to be able to spend a day with my friend Colin and goof around playing guitar. Not for another year at least. I won’t be able to spend a day or two with my buddy Trevor on the Gold Coast who really helps me sort things out in my life. There’re these really important personal things I wanted to do here, but then again, once the business decision was made, I started mapping out my week over there. You know, now I’m actually looking forward to meeting up with my friends Gabe and Lauren, playing some golf, and going to dinner with my close friends there. So there’s something great lying ahead, but there’s something great left behind too, and that’s sort of the story of my life right now. I keep picturing myself as this meteorite, and I feel like I’m going to burn myself out soon.

SURFER MAG: How do you reconcile that?
KELLY SLATER: Um…I’m so used to it I guess, the calm and chaos side by side. But right now I have this sense that I’m soaking it up and enjoying it as much as I can because I know that pretty soon I’m going to—it’s going to change. I can’t say I’ll stop traveling, because that’s just impossible, I love too many places that I go, but I really do want to build a house in Hawaii and I really do want to focus on a couple key things, work things, like my invitational, and when I was off tour I was able to follow swells, make movies like The September Sessions, but I’m going to let this one burn out and get out when it feels right.