Sometimes passion is just ingrained in your soul. It readily happens to you when you are young and stays on with you for life. And in doing so you get to achieve heights that are reserved for geniuses and prodigies. In reality, it’s probably the passion and an innate understanding that makes the difference for these people.
Kelly Slater’s story is the embodiment of this thought. Widely considered as the Michael Jordan or Roger Federer, if you will, of surfing. With 11 world championships under his belt and probably the favorite to win the Olympic title as well on its debut addition to the games, he is, without doubt, the greatest of all time in surfing. And his genius for the sport isn’t only because of his proficiency at it, rather it is a culmination of his vision for the sport looking into the future.
His continued passion for the sport and the many contributions along the way has seen an entire generation looking up to him for inspiration.
The Passion That Saw The Birth Of A Genius
Kelly Slater started young. He was 3 years old when he first surfed in his hometown Florida. And by the time he was in his teens, he was competing in competitions and outperforming professionals with more experience than his age. Admittedly, Kelly was gifted, but it was his continued passion that kept him improving throughout his time on the waves.
“You know, sometimes people just have good timing, sometimes people have a natural talent, sometimes they get lucky. You know, there are all these sorts of things that can happen. I think,… a bunch of those parts of the formula was given to me in my life. So, you know, I think I was naturally talented. I think I was gifted with understanding the ocean and it comes naturally to me, you know.” — Kelly Slater
He, from the very start, had an almost intuitive capacity to judge the waves and a creative mind to understand what he could do with it. If you are new to surfing, this means everything for a surfer. Especially to someone who is competing. Every place in the world has different profiles of waves governed mostly by natural causes like climate and weather patterns. California for instance has these small 2 foot waves and on the other hand, Hawaii has these huge waves, sometimes called tubes. So, having an understanding and a feel for the waves goes a long way in both performances and safe surfing.
Kelly’s passion for surfing and the waves was undeniable. By the time he was competing at the age of 14 he already had a decade’s worth of experience surfing almost every day. He is still going strong to this day. In the early days, Kelly would travel between Florida, California, and Hawaii frequently to surf. This isn’t uncommon in the surfing community, but Kelly was literally “living off of a suitcase,” as he would put it. Sometimes traveling months on end to surf. For him, traveling is an inextricable part of surfing, which he has come to enjoy thoroughly over the years.
His growth to stardom had it’s share of troubles as well. With his personal life in turmoil and his constant travel, he, more often than not, missed valuable family time. Over the years, he has also had to overcome the challenges and danger the sport inherently has. One time, he almost died drowning when he got knocked out during a competition. He had to battle PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and it was his passion for the sport that brought him back to the waves.
His innate talent for the waves got him started, but to keep going as he did, it took something more. It required true passion.
The Passion That’s Creating The Future Of Surfing
Kelly’s achievements, both as a professional surfer and as a proponent of the sport has been phenomenal. He is credited with creating revolutions in the surf board’s designs and the craft throughout his career, which at age 48 is still going strong.
Apart from that, his creation of one of the world’s most advanced artificial wave facilities, the Surf Ranch in California, is a great example of how his vision for the future of surfing is changing the entire sport. Reportedly, there wasn’t much support in terms of money that he got to create the wave pool. He had to dig into his own money to make it a reality. And, in reality, he didn’t have to do it to create any more respect or credibility for himself. He was already a legend by then. It was his passion for surfing and for the future of the sport that made him do that.
“To me, there are just two things, you know. Your body holding up and your mind being open. And, you also have to be able to think ahead of the curve a little bit. You have to see where things are going (the future of sport) and be able to kind of predict that. Or, at least go in that direction. To have the inspiration and that excitement every morning like you have when you are a kid is really hard to do.” — Kelly Slater
Historically, finding the perfect wave to surf is a great battle for surfers. Often involving traveling to the remotest parts of the world to surf. Kelly wasn’t new to this either. He has homes in Florida, California, Hawaii, and Australia to facilitate his hunt for the perfect wave. Even though he loves traveling probably as much as he loves surfing, the wait for the perfect conditions was at times far too frustrating. Something every hardcore surfer would relate to. His company, Kelly Slater Wave Company, is hoping to solve this problem, once and for all.
The prototype pool can solve the problem of waiting for the correct time of the year to have surf competitions and to do surfing in general. With his patented technology surfing competition can take place at any time of the year in a relatively short duration of 3 days, compared to at least a couple of weeks it used to take earlier. More than that, this technology has the potential to bring surfing to any part of the world, removing the geographic limitation it currently has. It’s a giant leap for surfing and a strong stepping stone for surfing as a major sport.
Apart from his passion for the sport, he is pretty invested in the sustainability clothing initiative he has started. Outer Known, is a clothing line up which recycles discarded fishing nets to produce clothing. The line-up includes everything from trousers to t-shirts to jeans, all sustainably sourced from recycled materials.
Kelly’s illustrious career and his passion are far from over, and his hunger for the sport and its growth is unparalleled. And, we are bound to see a lot more of his craft before he rests the responsibility to the next generation.
The Nurture Passion Requires
Even though Kelly was gifted and was inherently passionate about the sport, he had to fight to keep it and battle to reach the top. He still nurtures his passion and is always on the move for his next perfect wave.
The quest for passion needs time and it needs the devotion to reach greatness. Being passionate about something you do is just the start and often keeping at it is the only way to go forward.
