Kelly Slater Responds To An Upset Online Surf Community Regarding The 2018 Season

The internet reacts. Online comment sections get hot. And, Kelly Slater does not hesitate to throw his keys into the punch bowl.

Yesterday, the 2018 CT season was released. Two stops were added: Lemoore, Keramas. Two have been subtracted: Lowers and Cloudbreak.

The online community stopped. Lowers and Cloudbreak!? They asked why not Rio. And, for some reason, in our Instagram comments went on to blame Kelly Slater personally for the changes of the 2018 schedule in a social media debate currently exceeding 1,000.

Kelly chimed in stating, “Stab, it would go far to do a story about how event and sponsorships for them is determined.” And we replied, “Agreed.”

To run a men’s CT event costs an estimated $2-5 Million. Outerknown took over the title sponsorship for the Fiji Pro last year, which ran without sponsor. The Fiji pro, up until last year, had not had a backing sponsor since Volcom in 2013. “Fiji has been on and off tour over the years so people may have short memories in that regard,” continued Kelly before responding to the lowest dangling cherry: Why not get rid of Rio?

“Brasil stays most likely because it has good sponsorship and govt backing and a third of the tour is from Brasil,” continued Kelly, typing Braz(s)il as a citizen of the world. “Not having Brasil doesn’t automatically mean it is replaced with another event necessarily.”

According to WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, the removal of Cloudbreak from 2018 came down to “a lack of support and investment of the Fijian Government.” Fiji, due to what it costs to run an event at Cloudbreak has come and gone. Also, with the removal of Lowers and Cloudbreak, they’ve removed a high performance left for 2018. This, according to Miss Goldschmidt will be sorted by the 2019 season.

“And it’s a logical choice to fill a missing event spot with a wave that’s better than most waves most days of the year and guaranteed,” stated Kelly. If Hurley has pulled their backing for Lowers, why wouldn’t the WSL just sub it out with a contest at the Surf Ranch. Which, after purchasing the rights to Kelly’s specimen of technology, it makes sense to utilize in during the waiting period in Lowers absence.

It takes a sponsor(s) to present a tour to make an, umm, title.