Kelly Slater confirms broken toes but still in Pipe

Two days ago, Stab reported that Kelly Slater had injured his foot while surfing eight-to-10-foot Cloudbreak. He’d been staying on Tavarua in Jon Roseman’s house, surfing with a camera mount on his board for Taylor Steele when he came unstuck from a shockwave in a barrel.

On Surfing World‘s Instagram post, which suggested Kelly’s title hopes may be over, the Floridian wrote: “I heard that’s a rumor. #NotTrue on the title race but foot is hurt.” And today, he’s released a statement via Instagram, as he does, explaining the actual diagnosis and reiterating that he is definitely not out of Pipe yet:

#FootPrognosis…I broke my second and third toes and also sprained three or four toes on left foot surfing Cloudbreak a couple days ago. Three weeks or so of healing in a walking boot and a couple more weeks of some rehab but should be ready to go by the #PipeMasters waiting period. The foamball from the lip landing inside the barrel bounced back up and flipped the board into my foot, hyper-extending the toes backwards. My second toe was sitting kind of across my third one so I knew something was a little off. The worst thing about it was how good the surf was and having to watch from the sidelines afterwards. At least the boys scored a few before the wind went bad and swell backed off. The day before that I went over the falls and broke my fin off with my knee so I’m actually probably lucky to not have gotten hurt worse. Good time to reflect and cleanse the body after two weeks of bacon and barrels on @tavaruaislandresort! Thanks for all the messages from friends and strangers the last couple of days. #ExcusesExcuses

See you at Pipe, Kelly.