If you haven't already guessed it from my profile, I'm wild about surfing and so for the weekend challenge, I'm going to share with you some photos and info about my surfing hero Kelly Slater. In fact he's pretty much every surfer's surfing hero. He's a legend on the surf scene having won the ASP World Championship a record 11 TIMES.





He is the youngest (at age 20) and the oldest (at age 39) to win the title. When he scored his 5th world title in 1997, Slater surpassed Australian surfing legend Mark Richards to become the most successful champion in the history of surfing. In 2007 he also became the all-time leader in career event wins by winning the Boost Mobile Pro event at Lower Trestles. Slater has also competed in the X-Games (in 2003 and 2004).

Slater's top surf spots are Sandspit in California, Pipeline in Hawaii, Kirra in Australia, Jeffreys Bay in South Africa, Minis in Ireland, Taghazout in Morocco, Soup Bowls in Barbados, Sebastian Inlet near his home in Florida and Bilgola beach in the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia. His three favourite surfing buddys from Bilgola are Ian Morrison, James Burfitt and Jose Viera.

Did you know that in the late '90s Slater was in a band appropriately named "The Surfers" with fellow pro surfers Rob Machado and Peter King The band released an album in 1998 titled Songs From the Pipe, a reference to the famous surf spot Pipeline on Oahu, Hawaii.


link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk2TWm0fkgg

Not only does he like to surf, he's made big commitment to the preservation of the world's oceans

Here are some Kelly Slater quotes to inspire you:

quote:

Well I'm always working on constantly everything. I never take the approach that I'm doing as well as I possibly can... I always think there's more and I think if you don't have that, you are not driven to be better.



quote:

Your surfing can get better on every turn, on every wave you catch. Learn to read the ocean better. A big part of my success has been wave knowledge.



quote:

Not to sound too deep or weird, but I think that the times when you really appreciate surfing are the times you're really sort of becoming one with nature. Surfing's as raw of a sport as it gets.









And I'll leave you with a video of my hero in action.


link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbKVhbRupus