Kelly Slater Wins Pipe Pro Just Before 50th Birthday

Kelly Slater is one of the best professional surfers of our generation and now has eleven World Championship Titles under his belt. He kicked off the World Championship tour this year with what he says was “The greatest victory of my life.” Kelly (Age 50) walked away with the win at this year’s Billabong Pro Pipe just a week before turning 50. This is considered the gnarliest and most dangerous surf competition since Pipeline. Pipeline is actually the most dangerous wave in the world. It has claimed the lives of seven surfers from hitting the bottom and critically injured countless others, according to Stab Magazine. To even consider competing here takes courage, but to win it, at age 49 is unheard of. 

Kelly’s competition in the finals was a surfer by the name of Seth Moniz. Who is only twenty-one years  old. Throughout the heat they traded off really similar scores, and it seemed as though the forty minute heat was lasting forever. Each surfer overtook the other’s score on almost every other wave. It seemed as though Seth might take the lead after pulling into the deepest barrel of the heat, but after a messy exit the judges only awarded him a 3.10. At the end, they both had consecutive 9-Point waves to finish off the heat. Kelly’s combined score ended up being an 18.77 beating Seth Moniz by roughly 6 points after his combined score ended up being a 12.53(Scores provided by WSL). Right now no one is even close to catching up to Kelly title-wise. The closest second in recent history is Mick Fanning with three World Champ titles. Winning this competition really proved that Kelly Slater is the G.O.A.T. of  professional surfing and still plans on getting his 12th WSL World Championship title this year.