I was telling one of my friends I interviewed Kelly Slater for the blog on the golf course at the AT&T Pro Am.
"Did you talk to him?" he asks.
"Yes, I interviewed him for the blog," I answer. I'm used to repeating myself. Remember, I have two kids.
"What?!" he says. "Really, no way! What was he like?"
"What was he like?" was the most common question asked of my interview with Kelly Slater, but not the strangest.
"What was he like already!" yells someone impatiently.
Let me see. He was gracious, and easy to talk to. He has a good sense of humor. He thinks before he speaks.
He radiates calm and peace, like someone who meditates regularly. Being around him, actually calmed me down. Yes, I was slightly nervous when I asked him, "Can I interview you for my blog when you're finished golfing."
"You can ask me some questions right now," answers Slater. "To be honest, if we wait til after, I might fall asleep."
Did I already mention, he's funny?
He had been up since 4:30 AM, driving from Santa Barbara arriving in Pebble Beach, and jumping on the green at 9:40 AM. No wonder I couldn't find him on Monday.
Wondering where he gets his deep sea of calm I ask, "Do you meditate?"
"No, not really," answers Slater. "I used to when I was younger."
He's calm as a yogi, Perhaps, that is what makes him one of the greatest competitors of all time. It's much easier to stay focused on winning by staying calm. Frazzled nerves often cause people to fall apart under pressure, and that doesn't seem to happen to him very often. Yes, calmness, and the fact that he seems to have supernatural powers when it comes to the ocean.
He's personable and warm. He answered all my questions, and I felt like I had a lot, but if he thought so, he didn't show it. He was focused on answering all of my questions even though he was golfing, and I wasn't from Time or People Magazine, or the local paper, even.
Also, for a nine time world champion of surfing, remember the next closest surfing champ only has four titles, which is a lot compared to my none, he is very humble. H-U-M-B-L-E.
He's a down to earth, genuine, caring person.
"If you could give a person only one piece of advice, what would that be?" I ask Slater.
"Don't listen to me," Slater answers. But I have a feeling he is a great counselor to his friends and family.
Even Andy Irons, Kelly Slater's greatest and most exciting competitive rival, was quoted in Surfer Magazine recently saying, "He’s (Kelly Slater) really given me some great advice."
Coming from Andy Irons, the guy who wanted to destroy Kelly Slater, that's a complete turn around and speaks miles of both of them. It ain't easy mixing friendship with competition, especially at that level, with the media hyping up the battle.
Not only is Kelly Slater helping his peers, but he's helping planet Earth, as well. Visit kellyslaterfoundation.org to see exactly how he's making life on Earth better for kids, as well as organizing an acoustic concert with Pearl Jam's front man Eddie Vedder, raising $300,000. Much of the $300,000 went to stop the toll road from being built at our beloved Trestles in San Clemente, California. Thank You!
Kellyslaterfoundation.org was created "to inform people what we've (Kelly Slater Foundation) given money to," says Slater. "In the future," he says, "the site will be updated more frequently."
People can contribute directly to the Kelly Slater foundation or indirectly by buying his new book, For The Love, all proceeds from his second book are going to charity. Wow, that's impressive, isn't it?
Besides, his supernatural freakish surfing ability, I have always admired Kelly Slater's candidness regarding his feelings related to challenges he has faced in life. Issues many of us have faced including, his parents' rocky relationship and his father's death.
"We've all got our own issues to deal with," says Slater. "People have told me they resonated with things (I've written) in both books and hearing that makes it all worth it."
I asked everyone I knew, practically, if they had any questions for Kelly Slater. My son Vinny, of course, wanted to know what Kelly Slater's favorite snack is. Kelly Slater might have thought this was an odd question, but only because he doesn't know Vinny's astrological sun sign is ruled by the planet, Food.
"Red hot chips and avocados," says Slater after pondering the snack question for a moment.
I love listening to music and I'm always looking for new artists to listen to so I asked him, "What's playing in your Ipod?"
"Brett Dennen, I have seen him play a few times," says Slater. "I've been a fan from early on."
Here's a little video of Brett Dennen. I like him. Smooth, rhythmic and mellow. Plus, I'm hoping if I listen to the same music as Kelly Slater, I'll surf like him.
Heroes are the people, in my opinion, who inspire us. Kelly Slater has always inspired me to go out and surf harder and faster, especially after watching one of his videos. I wanted to know who his heroes are.
"Most of them (heroes) are my good friends," says Slater. He goes on to talk about his friend Peff, "He's a great guy to be around. I surf and golf with him."
True......
It's easy to look up to and admire athletes and movies stars we don't know, but in reality the people we are in close relationship with, often times are the people who inspire us. The people who love and accept us for who we really are, are the real heroes in our lives.
Many people have a motto they live by. Curious, I asked Kelly Slater if he lives by any motto.
Slater says he's had several mottos over the years, but his current motto is, "if you're not enjoying it, you're doing it for the wrong reasons."
Maybe, we can assume Kelly Slater will be competing and winning titles as long as he's having fun. Sounds like someone with a big yellow aura, as well as sound words to live by.
No one wants to see Kelly Slater leave competition now. Not the fans and not the ASP. I don't even bother watching heats without Kelly Slater. It isn't that I don't try, but he is so much more exciting to watch, than the other surfers. Watching him come from behind to win heats with minutes to go,well, it doesn't get better than that.
Compared to Kelly Slater, I know very little about surfing and much less about golf. So I asked him if there are any similarities between surfing and golfing.
"Not many," says Slater. "I guess (in both surfing and golf ) there's a certain way to create a coil (in the body) to create kinetic energy."
His answer lead me to comment, "You really seem to compress and extend through your turns more than anyone else."
"That's how you get the most energy out of the wave," says Slater.
So that's how he does it! My new mantra, "Coil, coil, coil......."
One of the things Kelly Slater has talked about in interviews over the years is writing a How To Surf Like Kelly Slater book. A book of tricks so to speak. I've been waiting for this book for a long time, so I had to ask him when he was going to start writing it.
"I started writing it.........." says Slater.
I was overcome with joy and excitement. I nearly started jumping up and down, until he finished his sentence, "...........12 years ago."
I offered to help him with the book because I'm an impatient person, "I'm a very fast typer." Besides, I'm forty, what's the point if the book comes out when I'm sixty and riding a longboard?
Slater assures me he can type and the "problem is finding the time to write. It's a long term goal. Sometimes I write a paragraph, sometimes I go months without writing anything."
Two years ago when I saw Kelly Slater at the AT&T, he had recently appeared in a surfing magazine doing an air on a quad, four fin surfboard. The most popular fin set up in surfing two years ago and today, is the tri fin, aka the thruster. I had, also, taken to riding a quad most of the time, hence my interest.
Quads are so fast, I wondered why no one else was riding them. Maybe the problem is the quad needs a sexy nickname. The three fin has "thruster," right?
Needless to say, after seeing the photograph of Kelly Slater busting an air on his quad, I thought the time for the quad had arrived. Yes, I envisioned a sea of quads.
When I asked him about the quad at the AT&T two years ago, he said he might be riding it in competition. I'm sure I saw him ride the quad in, at least, one heat on the live webcast of a contest. But that was it. Of course, I didn't see every single Kelly Slater heat, but I needed an answer for all the quadlessness.
"What happened to the quad?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" he asks as if I should know. "That's all I've been riding."
Yes, that was good to know, "but what about riding them in contests?" I ask.
In order for people to take the quad seriously, professional surfers have got to start winning contests with four fins instead of three.
"I've been riding the thruster for so long I know exactly what it's going to do," Slater says. "The quad is definitely faster, but maybe not perfect (or predictable) in all conditions."
So basically he's still figuring out the quad, trying to get to a point where he always knows exactly what it's going to do, like he does with a thruster. I have to admit that would be great, and I hope when he figures it out he will share the information in his book of tricks, as well as, win his 13th world title at 40, on a quad. (Blatant hints or maybe psychic predictions?)
I knew it! The quad is faster and that's why I like it. Though compared to Kelly Slater, I know nothing about surfing. He's got everything so dialed in and fine tuned.
His surfing knowledge is genius, whereas I'm probably not going to ever get out of first grade. And that's okay because I totally LOVE surfing, therefore, I'm surfing for all the right reasons. I'm surfing for the Fun of it.
And I suppose I don't have to say how much fun I had interviewing Kelly Slater for this blog.
"Aye que fabulosa!"
It doesn't get much better for a surfer, to interview the greatest surfer in the world, past, present and future combined. Yes, he's that good. Many thanks to Kelly for taking the time to answer my questions.
