Gallery: And on the third day at the Volcom Pipe Pro…

Brian Bielmann and Ben Reed

“I left the beach for a couple hours and I was baffled by how much smaller it was now, it’s really died off,” said Kelly Slater after his last heat today at the Volcom Pipe Pro. “But I think there’s some sort of new pulse coming in this afternoon or tomorrow, so… we should have something to deal with.”

‘Something to deal with’ sounds very exciting. Let us do what all contest directors do, and keep those vibes positive. Because, the Volcom Pipe Pro has so far been wildly good viewing. And nobody wants to stop the music – especially now that gents like John John Florence and Kelly are in the game.

After his last heat for the day, Kelly put on the headpiece and dialled in with the booth to deliver some colour about where he’s at right now. And because most everything Kelly says is of such interest, we’ve included in full his words. Dig on them, and then go watch his scoring rides from today in Heats On Demand. And, keep those eyes on the horizon.

Kelly: “I switched to a little smaller board, this is my Todd Chesser tribute board. It felt really nice, I’ve actually never ridden the board until just now. It’s a little smaller version of what I rode out here last year, I rode a 6’3” bat tail last year and this is a 5’11” bat tail.

“(On why he’d ever retire): Umm… just not having the motivation, I guess would be the thing. Or, wanting to do something else. I had a guy, about a 75-year-old gentleman, come up to me and ask me ‘when are you going to stop?’ I said, ‘when I fall over.’

“With anything in life you have to think of better days ahead and better potential, and if not, put your energy on something that’s going to be that. But people are so focused on age, or what people have done at certain ages or whatever, but you can stay healthy and… I’ve seen people at 60 years old, stronger than they are at 20, and in better shape. If you keep your mental side of things alive, and stimulated and evolving, there’s no reason that you can’t be better as you age. I think it’s just a thing in people’s heads, the idea of when you stop doing something. So many people are used to it being a certain thing. But some people do it longer, and some people do it shorter.

“I didn’t feel like overall I had a great year. I don’t feel like I surfed great throughout the year. Not for excuses, but I had my head in other things and I was a bit distracted, I wasn’t very inspired or getting and really designing my boards and stuff like that. It was just a year where I felt like I wan’t completely there. I had some moments – I wouldn’t give back Tahiti for anything. It was such a spectacular week of waves and surfing, and just being there and watching everyone else, and how good the waves were. To have the chance to be there and be involved in that… a lot of people told me years ago to stop, but I wouldn’t be having fun still.”