Kelly Slater's Perfect 10 At Pipe In 2019 Was Pure Slater Magic
Back in 2019, when the Pipe Masters meant something, 11-time world champ Kelly Slater came into Hawaii looking to rekindle some magic. The Championship Tour season had seen him slog through a mixed bag of uncharacteristic mediocre results, but Pipe has always held a special place in the man’s heart.
With the waves pumping for the Round of 32, Slater did what Slater does at Pipe. Digging into a heavy 8- to 10-footer at Backdoor, the GOAT leaned into his decades of local knowledge and muscle memory as he threaded his way through section after section. Somehow finding an exit to the barrel, Slater came flying out with hands held high over his head. The judges didn’t take much time deliberating and awarded him a perfect 10 for the effort.
“It’s the best wave I’ve had out here in a few years, I think,” Slater shared from the water after the heat.
He would go on to surf his way into the semifinals of the event, where he eventually ran out of steam against eventual world champion Italo Ferreira. Just the same, a third-place finish tied his best result of the season, but more than that, Slater came away from Pipe with his first Triple Crown title since 1998.
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“I have to let this sink in a little,” Kelly explained. “I didn’t really think about it because I haven’t focused on the Triple Crown in so long.”
At Pipe the Triple Crown race came down to a handful of surfers. Newly qualified Ethan Ewing sat in the pole position. Kelly and Michel Bourez needed to finish third or better to over take him. And Jack Freestone needed to win the comp. Kelly knocked out Freestone in a buzzer-beater in the quarter. And Bourez would go down in to Griffin Colapinto a couple heats later. When Bourez lost, the Triple Crown Title was Slater’s.
“I might have to do one more lap, we’ll see. I feel like I finally, it took me this long to where I finally feel comfortable in heats,” Kelly said of his 2020 plans. “I feel like I’ve been really calm and more comfortable in heats. Sometimes you need that year to get that going. We’ll see.”
Obviously, the 2020 season was derailed due to the pandemic. He won the Pipe Pro in 2022. And now, Slater’s back in 2024 in what seems like it will be his last lap. But who knows, the man’s made history so many times already it’ll be interesting to see how he goes into the new season ... which starts at Pipeline next month.
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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.