Kelly Slater - Greatest Surfer of All Time!

[Laguna]

Just finished watching Kelly Slaters new film 'letting go' and it was amazing from start to finish. It shows Kelly's up's and down's in surfing after going through a loosing streak to coming back and winning a 7th world title. It shows his whole rivalry with Andy Irons and how hard it was for Kelly to come back and compete for the world title again , after Andy beating him in 2003.
The whole dvd is brilliant, its really inspirational and has some of the best surfing I have ever seen. There's a 15yr old kid in it who is so unbelivable in the water, he is going to be 10 times better than Andy and Kelly later on.

I advise everyone to buy it, its a must have! It just shows why Kelly Slater is the best surfer of all time!

[baja fresk]

nice...i was just considering going out to buy it, thats all the review i needed. ill go buy it tomorrow

[kcskimkid]

siiick. sounds like ill have to check it out. does anyone know btw how kellys injury is coming along that he got after that wipeout at teahupoo?

[GowerCharger]

he's pulled out of the fiji event cos of that injury.
Typical, i heard that news today too late to drop him from my fantasysurfer team bah

[Laguna]

Theres a fantasy surfer team comp for people?

[GowerCharger]

yeah fantasysurfer.com

theres 3 events gone already tho so your unlikely to win any of the prizes if you join now

[Laguna]

OHHH.. wish I knew about this sooner

[bgdkmetzger2003]

I saw "letting go" a little while ago and it just supported my belief that kelly slater is the greatest surfer. it also reaffirmed my feelings about Andy Irons. I think he's kind of a punk. yeah andys good but kelly is better and he doesnt have the attitude.

[Laguna]

Ye, it gets quite emotional. When you see it , you just see Kelly as the good guy really, theres one competition where Andy really goes off on one because Kelly beat him, where he thinks he got 'cheated' out of it.
They are both great surfers but I like Kelly, he is the greatest of all time

[surf patrol]

he's pulled out of the fiji event cos of that injury.

Slater Pulls out of Globe WCT Fiji
Slater was rumoured to say "Ohh, it's me ribs guv"

Looks like they have got excellent conditions to kick things off with - Globe WCT Fiji Starts Today

[fcssurf6]

kelly is good, ill admit that but i dont like him that much and its not even his fault, as stupid as that sounds. the reason hes not my fav is cuz if ya ask a poseur or anyone who their favorite surfer is, 9 times out of 10 theyll be like kelly slater...

[Laguna]

Lol , I know what you mean, but thats not a reason to dislike him. You get that in every sport (Muhamed Ali, Michael Jordan, Rhonaldinho,Brain Lara) ... they cant help being the best.

I like Taj Burrow a lot, like his style

[dougirwin13]

Haven't posted this yet because it didn't seem on topic.

And please don't take me wrong - I'm not stirring or trolling.

But does everyone on here REALLY think that KS is the greatest surfer ever? He certainly seems to be the greatest competition surfer so far. But I don't think competition surfing is all there is to it.

What about freesurfing? And big wave surfing? How about guys like Laird for sheer inventiveness? What about the Duke?

Anyway, just thinking aloud and hoping to hear some genuine thoughts...

-doug

[GowerCharger]

Thats what i admire about KS tho, the fact that he dominated competition surfing (even being a major factor in the rule changes to the scoring for progressive surfing in competiton), to the point where he had nothing left to prove and could spend his time just freesurfing and still making a fortune from it, in that time he's also proved his ability and guts to charge huge waves too. Then after all that he's managed to come back to competition and show that he's still the no1 guy to beat.

And hes had pamela anderson.

git.

[Laguna]

And hes had pamela anderson.

git.

LOL, i liked that bit at the end. Quality

[dougirwin13]

The last two lines of that got a big smile :D hehe!

And KS is certainly one of the all time greats. And, as I'd expect, he's hot at non-comp surfing. So please don't get me wrong.

I guess I am just a little concerned that "the greatest of all time" is bandied around just a little too lightly, without consideration to what is all-round a great surfer.

It's like all our pros today aren't even watermen by the original standards of surfing. Kelly might be able to handle a 120lb redwood log... And hew might not. So how can we just put a blanket label on one person without consideration of the true diversity that has been, is now and will be this greatest of sports/passions?

Hope I am coming across with the message I want. I've reread this in a sincere effort to make sure it's not easily misinterpreted.

-doug

[GowerCharger]

well you could say "most succesful surfer" without a doubt. Certainly in financial terms.

i dont know about other watersports but i remember reading somewhere that he represented the US as a kneeboarder in some world championship or something before his surfing career took off (something about he was too young to get in the proper surfing squad at the time) but obviously thats not what hes gonna be known for. If he couldnt handle that 120lb redwood log he seems like the type who'd go out every day and practise on it till he was better than everyone on that too.

still has one record to nick off Tom Curren before hes won everytihng in surfing more times than anyone else tho (most wct event wins iirc?).

As for Taj Burrow, i never liked him since i heard him slagging off Russell Winter after losing a heat to him.

[Laguna]

As for Taj Burrow, i never liked him since i heard him slagging off Russell Winter after losing a heat to him.

ohhh, you dont like Taj now is it? lol jk

I think all surfers can become bitter after loosing to someone else. As for Kelly being the greatest, what I meant was he has made his mark in surfing and will be remember in years to come as one of the great names in surfing, and I really think he deserves it. Hes a good guy and has a lot of heart which keeps him going and doing the unexpected.

GowerSurfer, have you been out lately by any chance? I know its not really the best week for surfing but Caswell today there was a few people surfing and looked like a nice 1-2ft, I was thinking of heading out sometime this week in between revision.

[bluesnowcone]

one word no, kelly is just one of these passing super surfers, they'v been around since surf comps began.

[Broosta]

If kelly is not the greatest surfer ever then who is ?
I read his biography and he started off in tiny waves, was able to rip in those first but almost had a phobia of big waves until he spent time with 'the lads' in Hawaii on the North Shore daring each other to go for stupid drops and closeouts. "You won't go" they called it.
Since then Kelly has got good in big waves too having won the Eddie once and competing in it each year.
I think he's an easy target, but he can walk the walk. Almost from the word go Kelly's surfing has been very comp based, and even when he was xxxxx scared of even merely big-ish waves he was winning important events in smaller waves - and I think in those days he did have a massive chink in his armour but not now.
I appreciate people like Laird being worthy of note, but he sucks in small waves. Ross Clark-Jones is often called the best surfer in 1-50ft waves, but I don't rate him in smaller waves, I mean obviously he is good but not anything like near the wct boys standard.
If somebody needs to have the title of Greatest Surfer Ever then I don't know why Kelly is out of the running.
Kelly is good in waves of all sizes.
He has the longevity, ok others score higher here but kelly is still up there.
He is always a standout on vids when free surfing, again others may just pip him here but he is still right up there with the best of them.