Kelly Slater at the 2008 Boost Mobile Pro Trestles. Photo: World Surf League//Kirstin Scholtz
The 11-time world champ Kelly Slater will don the competition lycra once again in the 2025 season after the World Surf League (WSL) announced it’s giving him wildcard entry into the Trestles Pro (presented by Outerknown).
With a comp window running June 9-17, the eighth stop on the tour will be the first after the mid-season cut axes 12 men and eight women. It will be Slater’s second appearance on the 2025 tour after he also received a wildcard at the Pipe Pro where he reached the quarterfinals.
“I’m excited to surf Lowers after having a few months of downtime with family and watching the events online,” the 53-year-old Slater said in the WSL’s press release. “Surfing this event obviously makes good sense with Outerknown sponsoring the event and celebrating our 10th anniversary. Trestles has been an ongoing great memory for the past 35 years since I won my first event as a professional there, had a number of great wins there while on Tour, and is my girlfriend’s hometown and a second home to me. So I’m looking forward to competing as a wildcard and surf against a top seed or two straight away.”
“At Outerknown we do things a bit differently and this is a different twist for me being the underdog,” he concluded. “I’m honored and excited to compete next month.”
As the co-founder of Outerknown, Slater will see some immediate return on investment from his company’s presenting sponsorship fee through the prize money he earns. Last year, Outerknown announced it was joining forces with Firewire and Slater Designs, uniting Slater’s business holdings under one roof. Slater is a majority shareholder in both Firewire and Slater Designs.
Between Trestles becoming the championship event during the “Final 5” era, several years that the spot was replaced on tour by Slater’s Central California wave pool, and injuries, Slater hasn’t competed at Trestles since 2016, when he placed fifth. He’s won the event six times – 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011.
