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Kelly's decline(?) on Slater Designs. And his usage of odd surfboards.

casa_mugrienta

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
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Heard a few interesting points on a podcast.

- Slater's surfing was better on traditional boards and his transition to Slaten Designs has seen his surfing decline. The Simon Anderson incident at Bell's a short while ago was referenced. Thoughts?

- Slater seems to be on only one deviating from a standard HPSB in a contest. I would contend it's because he's the only surfer on tour who will get scored with them simply because he's Slaten. Thoughts?
 
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PRCD

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Well, he's getting older which leads to performance declines. He's almost 50 for crying out loud. Prune juice and gentle laps in the ppool rather than high performance competition with 20 year-old Brazzos is his future (and all of ours). His boards are shorter which looks less dramatic. Won't less rail line result in less spray?

Slaten designs is kind of a passive income stream for him. Put "SLaten" on somethign and people will think they'll surf like Slaten.
 
Duffy LaCoronilla

Duffy LaCoronilla

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casa_mugrienta said:
Heard a few interesting points on a podcast.

- Slater's surfing was better on traditional boards and his transition to Slaten Designs has seen his surfing decline. The Simon Anderson incident at Bell's a short while ago was referenced. Thoughts?

- Slater seems to be on only one deviating from a standard HPSB in a contest. I would contend it's because he's the only surfer on tour who will get scored with them simply because he's Slaten. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
After he won his 11th title I felt he was under scored quite a bit.

But his surfing definitely has declined since leaving CI.

Probably at least as much age related as it is board related.

what’s the Simon Anderson incident?
 
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R

rgruber

Miki Dora status
May 30, 2004
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I think Slater peaked around 2011 when he was riding those round tail merricks (and I'm no fan of merricks). His surfing was flowy yet radical.

Since then he just hasn't looked great. Some of it is age obviously. He's competing against guys literally half his age. But he still rips and the boards are clearly hurting his performance, though perhaps not his enjoyment

I've got nothing against him experimenting with boards but if I were him, I'd just do it outside of the context of the tour.

I'm sure people would follow him around with a camera and he could easily be one of those alt surfers who releases clips and videos periodically.

He would still sell a ton of boards and could coordinate board releases with video releases showcasing the board.

I think even from a purely business point of view his experimentation and bad tour results are counter productive. He's diluting his brand.

I agree that riding the same boards as everyone else on the tour is boring but really the tour is boring.

I don't know what the Simon incident you are referring to is.
 
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oeste858

oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
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As pointed out, he’s also 50. Comparing his surfing now to his own surfing at 20-30 yr old is silly. C’mon. Father Time comes for every elite athlete. KS longevity is incredible considering guys like Pottz, Curren, Carroll retired at what... 30?
Surely we can agree he’s got to be the best in his age group!
If he was the retired pro at your local break, he probably wouldn’t be on the same kind of boards he was on 20 years ago. These days, maybe a twin pin or god forbid... midlength. So hot RN!
 
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ChaseTMP

ChaseTMP

Michael Peterson status
Apr 6, 2014
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Don't age the poor guy! He'll be 49 this February, about seven months younger than me. I'm actually looking forward to hitting the big 5-O, so I can start competing in my local boardriders in the "legend" division!

Back on topic; agreed he surfed better on his CI's, but as noted, some of that can be attributed to his age. He can obviously hang in any type of barreling wave on almost anything (I think Tokoro's are his go-to), but he hasn't looked as solid on his other boards at the performance venues. I did think he looked really good on a few waves at Keramas on the Akila Aipa's.
 
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rgruber

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I guess the point is not is he as good as he used to be or is he the best in his age group but has his choice of surfboards hindered his performance given those factors.

I think it's more than age that he hasn't surfed as well since splitting from CI. He's an agile, powerful surfer and a little more rail line would help. The cutbacks he was doing on his 5'9 rounded pins were just beautiful, fully committed turns. The smaller, skatier boards he's been riding just look a little quick and skittish.

I love some of the alt twin designs he's been riding, I'd just go a bit longer with a more drawn out tails to let give him something to push against and hold his power.
 
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casa_mugrienta

casa_mugrienta

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griffinsurfboard said:
He rips on some Very difficult to ride boards
Click to expand...
And that's what I'm getting at.

I think regardless of age the ability is still there based on what he's doing on the boards he's riding.

Some of his surfing has been amazing on some of these weird boards - and the degree of difficulty is much higher when compared to traditional boards.
 
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casa_mugrienta

casa_mugrienta

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BTW watch Pottz surf these days

Then compare him to Gerlach surfing these days.

Both those guys are the same age.

Gerlach IMO looks better than he did in the 90s - not as radical but greatly improved quality.

It's a real "WTF happened there?" moment.
 
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PRCD

PRCD

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casa_mugrienta said:
And that's what I'm getting at.

I think regardless of age the ability is still there based on what he's doing on the boards he's riding.

Some of his surfing has been amazing on some of these weird boards - and the degree of difficulty is much higher when compared to traditional boards.
Click to expand...
A longer board such as a more traditional thruster is going to swing through a longer arc than these shorter boards like Tomos. The judges like the turns the longer boards make. Other pros have said this. I like it better too. I think the turns on the thrusters probably draw out longer which throws more spray and looks better.
 
PRCD

PRCD

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casa_mugrienta said:
BTW the incident I'm referring to at Bells was when he bombed on Tomos then borrowed a Simon and got the job done.
Click to expand...
THe other trade-off in a shorter board is the amount of room the shaper has to add rocker. Not enough rocker, and the board will catch rail or look choppy because you have to step on the tail so much to turn.
 
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