Kelly Slater and Jeffreys Bay, South Africa have plenty of shared memories. The first that should come to most minds would be any one of his four wins in the J-Bay Open starting in 1996. Kelly came back from retirement (the first time) in 2003 and won his first event back in competition at J-Bay. Then he had that classic 2005 showdown with Andy Irons in 2005 — one of the defining moments of what became a historic rivalry.
It’s tough to set aside the fact that J-Bay may have stolen some glory from Slater towards the end of his career though. If you remember, Slater’s foot was folded in half during a 2017 freesurf there and he was done for the rest of that CT season and most of the next year. Recovery seemed like a roller coaster ride — a really long one — and the 11-time world champ had just one more top 10 finish in the season rankings for the remainder of his career. We all know Father Time is undefeated, and Kelly Slater may have put up the best fight against him ever. But there’s reason to say J-Bay delivered the deciding blow.
All that depressing stuff aside, here’s Kelly with a twin fin at Supertubes recently. All of that history left in the past, just enjoying some really long rides. The first one, in fact, he cruises through several sections for a full minute. Sometimes it’s just fun to fly as fast as possible down the face of a wave. Even for Kelly Slater.
