2% Lays Seige To WSL Awards, Kelly Slater Chugs Beer From World Junior Champ’s Trophy

“I’m not really trying to get any crazy waves,” Griffin Colapino says to coach Tommy Whitaker on the sand at Pipeline, his 6’8 Mayhem in hand. 

Griffin then proceeds to bag numerous gems (though not all from the same session) at Pipeline and Backdoor. He’s clearly making sure his fellow 2 Percenters and CT rookies remember who they’re dealing with should they face each other at the Pipe Pro this week.  

Very impressive for a guy who underwent surgery for a torn labrum in his hip four months ago. Peep his Backdoor disappearing act at 2:40. 

It looks like Cole Houshmand, Crosby Colapinto, Kade Matson and Eli Hanneman all got bombs in the lead-up to the contest, and all are opting for the helmets this year. 

This clip gifted us a view into the WSL awards night, where Crosby rubbed Kelly’s dome for good luck. “I’ve never touched any bald heads in my life,” Crosby told Kelly.

That might have been the best GOAT moment of the clip, except Jett Shilling somehow corralled Kelly to tilt his head back and slam beer from his newly minted 2023 World Junior Title trophy, Stanley Cup style. 

“I did water the flowers a little bit,” said the lei-clad Kelly. 

During a heartfelt acceptance speech, Jett also recalled the ups and downs of a year on the CS, then gave RVCA co-founder Pat Tenore a shoutout for staying aligned with him during a tumultuous time to keep stickers on boards. 

“I lost a lot of sponsors this year, and I want to thank Pat Tenore,” Jett said. “He gave me so much confidence. I was in his office and was like ‘I’ll do whatever it takes.’ I was grinding packing boxes, putting up pictures, doing construction, doing anything I could to stay on the team.”

Not sure who was the best dressed on the outing — Jett looked like a movie star and Eli looked like a rapper from the 90s.