For The Next 50 Days, We’re Going To Celebrate The Greatest Surfer Of All Time

On February 11, 2022, Robert Kelly Slater will turn 50 years old. 

On January 29, 2022 — or perhaps a few days later, depending on the swell — he will paddle out at the deadliest wave in the world and compete against a field of surfers ranging in age from 21 (Sammy Pupo and Joao Chianca) to 33 (Jordy Smith). 

Pretty fucking incredible, when you think about it. 

Kelly’s an anomaly. We’re lucky to have him in our sport. His evolution has been remarkable over the years — he went from child superstar, to young adult superstar, to Baywatch superstar, to an icon of performing at a high level at an age previously not considered possible. 

We think the most powerful way to tell this story is through imagery. 

So, over the next 50 days, we’re going to publish 50 vignettes of the greatest surfer of all time. We reached out to a range of photographers from the surf world and beyond — people who’ve spent time with Kelly, up close and personal. We let them choose the photos, and they wrote the words. 

It’s retrospective, sure, and Stab isn’t overly fond of getting lost in the rearview mirror. But there’s no other way to go about this one. And it still poses the big question of what’s next: 

I suppose we’ll see when Kelly paddles out at Pipe.