Watch: Slater Survives To Surf Another Day At Sunset Beach
In his more than 30 years on the Championship Tour, eleven-time world champ Kelly Slater has won a staggering 70 percent of the heats he's surfed. That stat drops precipitously at Sunset Beach, where he only has a winning percentage of 40 percent. But days after his 52nd birthday, there was a big question mark, Slater dug deep to advance out of the opening round of the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach.
Going into the second stop of the Championship Tour it was unclear what Slater's plan was going to be at one of the few venues to cause him trouble over the years. Still recovering from offseason hip surgery, at last week's Pipe Pro, Slater was clear that he did not feel he was where he wanted to be in his rehab process and still felt pain through his turns.
Up against Pipe Pro winner Barron Mamiya and Brazilian battler Ciao Ibelli in the opening round of the contest, in challenging, turbulent conditions, Slater managed to put two six-point rides on the board, including a well-threaded tube ride, to finish second in the heat behind an in-form Ibelli and advance into the Round of 32. And while he didn't win his heat today, dodging the elimination round feels like a victory in and of itself.
"I surfed for about 45 minutes this morning and caught one wave ... and it wasn't a good one," joked Slater after surviving the ordeal.
"I've only surfed four or five times since Pipe, and it's been about five days since the last time I surfed," he continued, noting that his physical conditioning felt okay, while his competitive confidence is lacking.
With another round of large northwest swell inbound for Sunset tomorrow, Slater will continue to have his work cut out for him if the contest is called on. With wave heights forecast to be in the 15- to 20-foot range, his hip and confidence will be put to the test.
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With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.