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Bells: A Moment in Time with Kelly Slater

Fashionably late, fan tactics and frank admissions from the world number two. It really might be the last chance to get up close to Kelly in Aus.

Round one heats in CT events may not offer much in the way of sudden death consequence, but they do provide rare access to the best surfers in the world. 

Just after midday yesterday, world number two, Kelly Slater (he is tied in second with Barron Mamiya), jogged down the fabled bitumen road that connects the Bells carpark to the grandstand citadel. His distinctive features were obscured beneath a tightly pulled black hood, but the two KS emblazoned boards clattering under his arm as a he ran were a dead give away. No security. No coaches. No entourage. Just Kelly, doing his fashionably late thing.  Girlfriend, Kalanni was a few minutes behind, smiling broadly in the Autumn sun. Enjoying the neutrality of the preheat moment before a result might tip the mood of her beau either way.

Kelly had arrived the day before, via sunny Florida. Later he told us he’d only recently overcome a case of COVID and his energy levels were rallying but sub-optimal. A frank admission from one who may have wished to avoid the kind of raging controversy that had surrounded his earlier comments on the pandemic. Views that had at one point inspired the Federal minister for sport, Richard Colbeck to state, “I don’t like the chances of him (Kelly) competing in Victoria, and I’d hate to think of what the chances were of him competing in Western Australia.”

But here he was at Bells, lining up against a couple of backside sluggers in Nat Young and Owen Wright. Young, a former Bells runner-up on the comeback trail, after several seasons in the QS wilderness and Wright, who back in 2011 had jousted with Kelly for the number one slot in three memorable finals, but was now sitting dead last on the rankings and desperately in need of a result.          

As the trio paddled out for their heat a Red Bull stunt plane did its best to upstage them, climbing high and then diving in a smoke-shrouded death spiral, a move which seemed to mimic the soaring and plummeting caffeine and sugar levels synonymous with the tinny beverage. As the show pony in the plane sent the Bells crowds into a frenzy of phone-clutching, Kelly caught an inside wave right on the buzzer. The first couple of turns were a little disjointed but by the time he scythed through the final turn, the board and body looked to be working as one.  

Although he’d never ridden that exact board before he was riding the same, 5’10” rounded pin, Dan Man model that had served him so well. For Bells he’d reduced the rocker to deliver a little more base speed and glide through the notoriously flatter Bells faces. Kelly prefers a steeper gradient than Bells offers but it hasn’t stopped him winning four times.

Channeling desperation into action Owen Wright uncoiled his lanky rig through a couple of pendulum hacks and secured an early grip on the lead with a well-deserved 7.17. Kelly’s defining moment came shortly after when a bigger set slow-marched into the Bowl. Kelly fizzed off the bottom and went looking for the steepest part of the crumbling four-footer. Finding a section with suitable curvature and a clean face, he jammed the back foot and whipped the tail through a high-velocity arc. After adding the extras on the inside he collected a 7.07 that would see him comfortably into second. It was the kind of single, blitzing turn that dispels any doubt the surfer may be carrying and assures anyone watching that he has form.           

Owen held his position and claimed a necessary win, but post heat the beach belonged to Kelly where he happily signed autographs for well over half an hour. The official media team had to descend the stairs to find him. He admitted it may well be his last lap of the circuit that has been his reason for being over the last 30 years.

Earlier in their career those who become champions learn to create a bubble around them; an invisible barrier against the bullshit and distractions. Later in their careers they realise they must draw energy in from all around if they want to continue to thrive. Kelly was drinking it in. When one fan asked if he could do a birthday shout out to his dad who is known as ‘Party Dave’, Kelly happily obliged, tossing in a few quips to make it a meaningful gesture. As Mick Fanning jogged past Kelly shouted encouragement, then commented frankly, “I’m going to call Mick’s probably got a few more nerves because he hasn’t been in a heat for a while.” As though put under a spell by Kelly, Mick floundered.  

It’s tempting to draw comparisons between Mick and Kelly as they are the two oldest surfers in the field (Mick is 40 and Kelly is 50) but they are on completely different trajectories.

Kelly spoke to Tracks once he’d handled the fans. Quizzed about his method for preparation when it came to Bells he wasn’t afraid to toss a few pearls of wisdom. “I think a good approach is to watch some videos from the water, from the jet-ski angle because it really shows how flat the wave is…”

Expanding on his strategy for surfing Bells he offered insightful explanations on technique and wave selection. 

“You can’t really dig off the bottom, you’ve got to do a two-thirds down the face bottom turn, a little more laterally, on most of the sections. A day like today you gotta really time it and pick waves that aren’t too bumpy, that first or second wave of the set is pretty bad – the first one’s terrible. You really gotta wait for that one that has a little white water on the face but it’s cleaner. You’ve really gotta pick the right waves. I learnt that surfing against a few guys that are real patient out here. ”

When Asked about his thoughts on potentially wearing the yellowing jersey again after Bells, Kelly was both realistic and honest.  “That’d be good but you know Kanoa’s got a good few thousand point lead on us (2640 to be exact. A win is worth 10000.) and small bumpy waves suit him pretty good, he’s so small and flashy. He’s got a good chance to hold on to it into Margarets.” (As Kelly predicted Kanoa flared)

However, Kelly didn’t deny he’d like to have a surf locker filled with yellow.

“That thing doesn’t really matter right now. Throughout the year it’d be nice to grab it again.”

Pressed if he would be happy to lead from the front, Kelly was confident, but threw in a joke at his own expense. “Oh, yeah that’d be fine, although it didn’t work that well for me at Sunset.” Safely through to round three, Kelly’s services likely won’t be required at the contest today. It’s a fairly safe bet you’ll find him swinging a one wood on a fairway, doing his darndest to shoot the best round his life.  

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