Kelly Slater, Nose-up double-grip, Lower Trestles, CA

Kelly Slater is one of the few… well, actually, he’s the only person in the world who can make a double-grab wheelie air look awesome. Kelly’s an anomaly in surfing and we all know it. But it’s not just the world titles and ground-break and celebrity and intensity and penetrating eyes and so on. Kell’s so iconic that no one dare question his style, which at times, can be questionable (fingers splayed, arms reaching for the heavens, hanging on for dear life). But he goes big, he hangs in there, and he does land and, for that, we love him. Everyone got their faults, even the king, but often it’s those faults that make someone’s surfing more endearing. During one of the recent (and well-publicised) ‘super’ sessions at Lowers, Kell threw this double-clutch hurl, tail down to cover distance. Maybe he’s reached a point where he doesn’t feel the need to make each manoeuvre a work of art  – now it’s just all about trajectory. Who knows what really goes through that brilliant, bald head.