Quiksilver Pro 2012 The Outsider: When the Music is Over (part two of an interview with Kelly Slater)

In: Quiksilver Pro 2012 by Steve Shearer 16 Comments Mon 12th Mar '12

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With the clock ticking down on the Quiksilver Pro Final and possibly his illustrious career Kelly riffs freely about wavepools, Andy, drug testing and the meaning of Pro Surfing.

Steve Shearer: How close are you to a working wavepool?
Kelly Slater: At this point it's just money holding us back. We're self funded and it's a struggle. It's hard to create something that technologically you want to be the best and not go broke doing it (laughs). If somebody was there right now with the money to build the thing we'd be there. The technology exists.

S: Is it your vision to put it out there as a contest venue?
KS: Yeah, if we had the wave it'd be a no-brainer. I think it'd be really fun because it'd create a truly fair environment. You could compare apples to apples then, as opposed to who catches the better wave.

S: Would it'd lose the romance of being in the ocean? Isn't that what surfing is all about?
KS: Well...ahhhh...I don't think so. It would just be a one-off thing. You wouldn't have a tour of the things. It'd just be a performance event, a one-off and I think for most of the surfers it'd probably be a welcome thing to have once a year. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it - if we get to it.

S: So nothing's happening next week or next month?
KS: No, I wish there was. When we created this business, this start-up, we haven't made one penny. We're totally in debt creating this.

S: Must suck a lot of money out.
KS: Yeah, it sucks a lot of money but it's a fun thing and if it ever happens it'll be super fun. But we started right into the worst economic marketplace in 70 or 80 years, so the fact that we're even still going on right now is pretty exciting. But we're chugging along. We're confident in our science and our technology. At this point we can sit back until that opportunity presents itself and maybe make one.

S: You wrote an article in The Inertia about Andy and you mentioned he approached you about helping out with a doco he wanted to do about his struggle as a means of helping other people. Do you know whatever happened to that doco?
KS: Ahhh...it didn't happen.

S: Do you think that would be a good way of honouring Andy if someone picked that ball up and ran with it?
KS: Yeah. Yeah, I do. And, ah, maybe I'm the person to do that. Maybe not do the whole thing, but do my part in it. Andy's a subject I probably won't dive too far into.

S: OK. Just the fact that he wanted to take his struggle and by sharing that with other people maybe help them, a lot of people feel that the fact it didn't come out that way was not the best way of honouring his legacy.
KS: I felt that personally. I've struggled with a lot of anger about that myself to be honest with you. I understand that. The real greatness would have been if Andy could have done that and actually seen the fruits of it and seen peoples lives change: To have a kid come up and say, "Hey cause I heard you, I changed my life and I'm alive today because of it".
Andy made a huge impression on a lot of peoples lives and he could continue to do that. I think we may be pleasantly surprised what the future holds in relation to that.

S: Obviously the way Andy passed had a big bearing in bringing forwards the drug testing regime in the ASP. Do you think it might help prevent that kind of tragedy from occurring again? Maybe get someone into counselling early?
KS: I can't say because I don't know what they're gunna do in terms of recreational drugs.

S: OK, but in theory.
KS: In theory it could, because you're under the microscope then. I have two ways of thinking about it. I think honesty and transparency with personal struggle helps people and helps other people to connect with that and maybe make a change for themselves. On the other hand, everyones life is their own and they're allowed to have that [privacy] and it's unfortunate when people who are well known have their lives so totally exposed. It might make it harder for them to get over the things they have to get over.

People have to feel that there's an acceptance there.

(The Final is ending and Kelly is making moves to wrap it up, there's obviously a lot more meat on that bone which needs discussion).

S: How would you assess your own performance throughout the event?
KS: (pause)...I felt alright. I didn't feel great, I didn't feel bad. I never got waves that let me fully open up, but I never was completely out of synch either. I don't know, I'd call it sort of average.

S: OK. You've mentioned that throughout your career you've felt the crowd get behind you as an entity or force that's lifted you up. Are you still feeling that? Is that any reason to keep going, just this fact that are so many people who get a charge out of watching you compete?
KS: Yeah, I ah, I do feel that. Sometimes it's hard to connect with. I just had a struggle this week. Every time I paddle out there'd be no-one in the water, then all of a sudden there's ten guys out, people on the beach with cameras everywhere, I get overwhelmed at times. Sometimes I feel closed off and I have a hard time letting myself open to that, getting connected to that. That could be why it wasn't my week. I had a big reluctance to really welcome it all in this week. I've spent the last two months pretty much by myself. To all of a sudden come to the Gold Coast and you're in the mecca of the surf world and the focus of everything.

S: That must be hard to go from solitude to becoming public property and the focus of so much attention.
KS: Yeah, it's weird. It's really strange. I'm forty years old, twenty years doing this professionally and I don't think I'll ever get totally comfortable with it.

S: You must have reached a certain peace with it otherwise you'd quit?
KS: Yeah, I understand it. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. I'm like everyone else who likes their privacy.

S: Do you still get a charge from putting on a performance that inspires the people who come to watch you?
KS: Yeah, I like that. I like the performance, being in the water and actually having it happen. But ahh...I don't know.

S: Is that more about your own personal satisfaction or do you get some feeling like a musician that your sharing something?
KS: Yeah, that's my performance. That's my way of feeling that way. My best personal satisfaction comes from getting good waves with friends. For me personally, it's my own selfish enjoyment the most.
But look at Adriano down there. He's got a thousand Brazilians around him screaming and they're all excited because they came from the other side of the world and they're connecting with something that's theirs. That's pretty special.

S: Would that be Pro Surfing at it's best? A performance that people can connect with and get inspired by?
KS: Yeah, that's it! There's a lot of cynical stuff happening on Twitter but for the most part people come here and they watch great surfing and they had a connection with it . Of course there's the business around it and there's sponsors and that stuff isn't necessarily the real stuff. The real stuff is that performance and the connection with the people. That is real.

S: Good place to end it. Thanks for your candid responses.

Read Part One here

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