Kelly Slater’s Tired Of Margaret River’s Main Break

Desperation spans the horizon. The Drug Aware Pro is on the WSL’s cutting board, and we can agree that surfers are a difficult bunch to please. After all the waiting periods, debates over locations, and yearly campaigns, each season there are only a handful of events that (almost) guarantee to thrill: Fiji, Tahiti, occasionally Pipeline (in the barrel category), Trestles and J-Bay (in the high-performance sector). Which leaves us in the gracious position to criticise, speculate and say things like, “hey at least it’s not Rio!”

When the Drug Aware Pro hits its calendar date, discussion transfixes on the Box and North Point. Main Break, well, we just settle for – there’s nothing exciting about watching a roundhouse competition on a tapered avalanche at a 45-degree incline. The Box is the Drug Aware Pro’s saviour and executioner. When it breaks, we’re buzzing. When it doesn’t, we echo in distaste. That’s the crux; the level of expectancy is set to steep drops, square tunnels and foam ball theatrics. It’s like planning your PTO trip a month in advance, being granted your days off, heading to Central America and getting skunked – when presumption exceeds reality satisfaction’s at a loss. Unfortunately for the event, both North Point and the Box are flirtatious and only seem to break before and after the waiting period of the Drug Aware Pro.

A sensory arousal. Yesterday at the Box. Photo: Peter King / WSL

Kelly Slater shares the same sentiment as probably all of us. Yesterday, he told The West that the Margaret River Pro “shot straight to the the top of the ladder” when held at the Box or North Point. Let’s read:

“I will say that the actual wave (at Main Break), as far as performance goes, being stuck for 90 percent of the time there is tough because it’s very repetitive, not a great wave.

“It’s not a super exciting wave, surf-wise. But, you know, if we get the Box or if we get North Point, very quickly this contest shoots right to the top of the ladder.

“As far as excitement goes, I think the Box is one of the great spectacles for competition because it’s so quick and dangerous and exciting visually. There’s a lot of support from the Government for this event, which factors in, too.

“It’s a little bit sad, me being here thinking that, maybe, we’re not coming back.”

Wait…does that imply Kelly’s coming back next year?