Some Lunatic Did A “Kelly Slater Pro Surfer” Pier Jump IRL

You’re 12 years old. It’s Saturday morning. Your sibling is eating Frosted Flakes next to you.

Your parents are asleep. You’re sitting cross-legged, Buddha-like with pajamas on and a GameCube controller sweatily in hand. Your Holy War consists of jumping the Sebastian Inlet pier in “Kelly Slater Pro Surfer”.

Nico Baines, a kite surfer from North Carolina, set a goal four years ago to jump the Avon Pier. Yesterday, as the local winds were stirred up by Hurricane Nicole, Baines finally achieved his dream with a jump higher than any cheat code offered on the 2002 video game (though a kite was never in the equation).

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If you want a dopamine-enhancing shot of nostalgia, here’s the original video you saw when you first unwrapped the plastic around your “Kelly Slater Pro Surfer” box and popped it in the glowing happy machine:

We’re due for a new game. There have been honorable mentions over the years: TransWorld Surf (remember the Reef Girls on jet skis?), the WSL’s True Surf, and my personal favorite (and most realistic), The Journey by YouRiding. Barton Lynch reportedly has something new on the way as well.

While we await the next iteration of KSPS, we appreciate those brazen few who take matters in their own hands and turn their childhood dreams into reality. Onya Nico.