“I think when a surfer becomes a surfer, it’s almost like an obligation to be an environmentalist at the same time.”

– Kelly Slater

Professional surfer, environmental activist, sustainable living advocate–these are just a few ways to describe Kelly Slater.  You can add 11-time World Surf League men’s champion, author, actor, model, innovator, and entrepreneur to the list. In his interview with Dr. Greg Stone on “The Sea Has Many Voices” podcast, he touches on most of those subjects while discussing his environmental activism and advocacy for sustainable living. But to understand Kelly Slater’s success,  you have to understand his first love: surfing.

Surfing the Pipeline Across History:

Surfing is one of the oldest sports in the world. While the sport’s origins are unknown, we do know that the sport is at least 2,000 years old. People from Tahiti to Peru were surfing long before westerners arrived. They were probably surfing at Pipeline in Hawaii or Jeffreys Bay in Australia when the Vikings were sailing to Greenland. When westerners were introduced to surfing, they were immediately fascinated by it. By the mid-1800s surfing re-emerged in Hawaii and stories of the sport soon spread beyond the Pacific.

In his book Roughing It, Mark Twain described how a Hawaiian surfer would “fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell!” Twain was not so successful himself though. “I tried surf-bathing once… but made a failure of it. The board struck the shore in three-quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time…” Twain admired Hawaiian surfers a great deal. “None but natives ever master the art of surf-bathing thoroughly,” he wrote. Fortunately, as today’s professional surfers show, on this last point he was wrong.

Professional Surfer and More:

Florida native Kelly Slater has been the World Surf League champion 11 times, including 5 consecutive titles in the mid ‘90s. He is both the youngest and the oldest surfer to win a men’s world title. Slater has surfed all the great surf spots of the world. He’s surfed the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii, Mondos in California, and Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. Slater has surfed on every continent except Antarctica.

For most people, these are a lifetime’s worth of achievements. But surfing titles are just one aspect of his life. While surfing, he began modeling and eventually acting. He’s been in over 30 feature films and 27 episodes of Baywatch. He also formed a band with other pro surfers called The Surfers. They recorded one album and toured Australia in the late ‘90s. The band isn’t together anymore, but Slater is still playing guitar. He’s even been invited on stage to play with Shirley Manson and Pearl Jam. Somehow, he’s also found the time to write two books.

Sustainable Living in Kelly Slater Surfer Style:

In the 21st Century, Kelly Slater is still surfing and winning titles, but he’s also turned his attention to other areas. Slater is first and foremost a surfer though, and surfing influences everything he does. Slater’s business deals are environmentally and socially conscious. His surf clothing line, Outerknown, is committed to a completely sustainable supply chain. The surfboards and surf gear he designs with Firewire make the most use of sustainable materials possible.

His latest entrepreneurial endeavor is the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch, a decades-long effort to create perfect artificial waves. He recently sold controlling interest in the Kelly Slater Wave Company to the World Surf League. This development may revolutionize professional surfing, since a wave pool for surfing would create identical waves. With professional surfers each getting the same wave, the sport will not have as many random factors. Wave pools for surfing were under consideration for surfing’s Olympics debut in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. This will mark the sport’s first appearance at the games. And while wave pools for surfing will not be in use in those games, many do see them as the “wave” of the future.

Surfers as Environmental Activists:

Kelly Slater is a professional surfer and World Surf League champion. But surfing is not just a sport to him. “How many volleyball players hang around after staring at the volleyball court?” he asks. “Surfing gives us a sense of living in a natural rhythm and in the moment.” As a professional surfer, Slater has a special relationship with the ocean, and it is that relationship which has turned him into an environmental activist.

It was while surfing in France that Slater first started really thinking about pollution. There were so many plastic bags in the water that “I remember at one point thinking that if I fall and get a mouthful of water, I might choke on a plastic bag,” he tells Dr. Stone. “Once you have an awareness around something, (you) change immediately.” Slater is a member of the Ocean Advocacy Advisory Board of the Sea Shepherd Society.  He is also highly involved with Reef Check, an organization dedicated to using crowdsourcing to monitor and protect the world’s coral reefs. Slater also has his own foundation, The Kelly Slater Foundation, which does fundraising for social and environmentally conscious charities.

Using Surfing to Speak Out: 

In his interview with Dr. Stone on “The Sea Has Many Voices” podcast, it is clear that as a professional surfer, entrepreneur, and environmental activist, Kelly Slater wants to make the world a better place. He doesn’t talk about it too much though. He simply says, “I feel like I have an obligation to pass on positivity, whether that’s about the environment, how you act towards people, the choices you make… how you spend your money.”

By the way, Kelly Slater is also a golfer. He has a 4 handicap.

— Luis L.