Putting Slater's Sunset Record Under the Microscope
“I don’t know how many more of these are going to happen," said Kelly Slater after last week's fabulous Pipeline win. "This honestly might be it, I might not show up to Sunset.”
The statement about not turning up was classic Slater mind games: keep the opposition guessing. However, it's true that Sunset has long been a thorn in Slater's side. When, in the early-nineties, he applied himself to knowing the Pipeline reef, it was at the expense of understanding Sunset.
From the sixties to the eighties, generations of big wave surfers devoted themselves to Sunset; to decoding the immense puzzle of Pau Malu. As it happened, Slater didn't have to know Sunset; the first year he surfed it in competition - 1991 - was the last time the contest was a top-tier event until after the turn of the century.
For the world title at least, Pipe is what mattered. He didn't have to show up at Sunset - and on many occasions he didn't.
Still, Slater has always considered himself a well-rounded surfer, able to compete in waves big and small, yet despite success at every other stop on the tour, he's never been chaired up the beach at Sunset.
So, riding a wave of goodwill and confidence, could this be Slater's year?
To get a bit closer to that answer we turned to the statistics.
Slater first surfed a contest at Sunset in 1991, The Hard Rock World Cup. This was prior to the CT/QS split and, as he was outside the Top 16, Slater had to surf through the trials. He got through two heats before coming last in the third, beaten by Mark Sainsbury, Mike Latronic, and Eraldo Neto from Brazil.
1991 - 57th place
Also in 1991, Slater surfed the Xcel Pro, a lower ranked contest generally considered a locals event. It was Slater's first and only showing at the Xcel, and he made it to the Semis.
1991 - 5th place
From 1992 till 2001, the Sunset event was QS rated, though it remained a part of the Triple Crown. While we have Slater's results we don't have the names of people he surfed against.
1992 - 17th place
1993 - 49th place
1994 - 9th place
1995 - 49th place
1996 - DNS
1997 - 33rd place
1998 - 3rd place
1999 - 33rd place
2000 - DNS
2001 - 55th place
In 2002, the Rip Curl Cup at Sunset was elevated to CT status. Slater was bumped in Round 3, beaten by Kalani Robb, Shane Dorian, and Luke Hitchings.
2002 - 25th place
2003 was a repeat, he made Round 3 of the Rip Curl Cup, beaten by eventual winner Jake Paterson, and Kalani Robb (again), with Manoa Drollet coming fourth.
2003 - 17th place
In 2004, Sunset again dropped to the QS and Slater only sporadically entered the contest.
2004 - 13th place
2005 - DNS
2006 - 13th place
2007 - 2011 DNS
In 2012 he again made Round 3, and was again knocked out by the eventual winner, Ace Buchan, plus Jesse Mendes.
2012 - 17th place
Attempting to replicate Pipeline success at Sunset - Round of 64 theatrics in 2013
In 2013 he only made it to Round 2, once more knocked out by the winner, this time Alejo Muniz, plus Ezekiel Lau, and Torrey Meister.
2013 - 25th place
2014 - 2015 DNS
In 2016 Slater got past the Quarters for only the sixth time (of eighteen starts). He was knocked out in the Semis by eventual winner Jordy Smith - that's the fourth time that happened too - with Torrey Meister coming second.
2016 - 5th place
The last time Slater competed at Sunset was in 2019, making it to Round 4, where you won't be the least suprised to learn he drew eventual winner Cody Young. Also getting past him were Gatien Delahaye, and Jadson Andre.
2019 - 25th place
From eighteen starts at Sunset, Slater's average finish is 25th place. In comparison, from thirty starts in the Pipeline Masters his average finish is just beyond 4th place (4.23).
Despite saying he may not turn up at Sunset, Slater has since said that he'll be there. Will it be a case of nineteenth time the charm, or will the statistics tell the story?
PS: Slater has redrawn Barron Mamiya in his Round 1 heat.
Comments
Every time i hear Kelly and Sunset mentioned i think of the first footage i ever saw of Kelly and all i can remember is a wave or two of him surfing Sunset.
It was before Black.and white or Sarges scrapbook just a little section in either Wave warriors 3 or 4, talking about this new kid that should have a big future.
Anyone else remember it?...
the commentary said something about his size 10? feet being planted firmly on the ground.
Argh found the segment i was tripping few of Tom Curren maybe at Sunset at about 19:10 but what i thought was Kelly at about 20:00 is most likely Haleiwa not half as big as i remember it, surfing not that great either.
21:00 Christian Fletcher way ahead of his time though.
Video starts on the Kelly bit and it was size 13 feet.
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long live Wave Warriors !
"The thrill is back!"
There was a Chris Bystrom flick/ video back in the day (could have been “wave of the future”) and featured a section on Jason Buttonshaw as the next big thing. In the segment, the announcer (Chris) said that whilst “Butto” ripped, he better look out as there is a young guy from Florida coming to challenge his right to the crown. The accompanying footage showed young Kelly riding a small unrecognisable right (anyone remember that?) . I’ll never forget thinking that this Kelly Slater bloke won’t make a dent on the surf world…. How wrong I was, he’ll be doing his best at Sunset for sure..
Lived with Butto for a bit. Classic character!! Absolutely ripped.
Well he hasn't really made a dent on surfing the sunset event in his career compared to the rest of it so you wouldn't be wrong about there anyway.
It'd be remiss of me not to include this footy of Slater and the Sunset shorebreak.
Mistress Pipeline never did anything of the sort.
Classic
Bahahaha. Wow I've never seen this. What a slam. Gold.
That is brilliant.
i really want Jack Robbo to live up to his potential????
his boards have never looked right out there.
wonder if he will change it up?
clickbaited
Classic. I contacted Randy to help with the above stats and he wrote:
"I’ve often told him, that he won’t be a complete surfer, until he wins at Sunset! He hates it when I bring that up!"
Brutal.
Thank you, Udo. Really enjoyed that,
Love the look of Sunset. It's so much like a pumped up version of a lot reefs that Spuddups and I have surfed for many years. Imperfect, but intriguing, and worth years of study.
Doesn't really need to prove himself there by winning this (or previous Sunset connests) IMO.
A bit like starting Black Caviar in a 4000m jumps race.
Maybe he's tempted to paddle out on the Lopez single he won last week?
6'8" quad is the board he should ride.
sit outside or 4th house over from beach and line that house up with the sat tower.
Having never surfed or even seen Sunset in real life, I’m tempted to believe it’s reminiscent of Nusa Dua. Swell magnet which doesn’t look perfect but can be perfect. Shifty, changeable and lurching. Thick lips and powerful tubes which don’t happen every wave.
Obviously Nusa Dua isn’t Sunset but can anyone who’s surfed both spots chime in if they think the comparison is fair enough or completely wrong.
Cheers. It’s something I’ve often considered.
I think a more fitting comparison is a reef about 3.5hrs south of Sydney if you've ever surfed that. A magnet and focusses in any southerly swell it can find into big bowly peaks. Sometimes not too much of a shoulder, other times walled up and hollow but always powerful and with a rip taking you inside as wide sets line you up for a pounding.
I only know one place like that but it's a left. Sucks you into the impact zone. Yikes. Gotta paddle at almost 2 o'clock to stay straight.
I think that reef and sunset are similar Craig. For me though sunset is more……vast.
I've surfed both, neither at size, but for me they were comparable in the way that a regular crossword and a cryptic crossword might match up. And I'm shit at crosswords anyway. I dunno, memories of Nusa Dua are of those luminous bits of blue on the reef sliding by under sheet glass, all-time Currumbin Alley-esque leg burners. Memories of Sunset are of puzzled bewilderment, of Darrick Doerner saying 'Get out of the water, buddy.' (and me silently answering 'But I'm too terrified to catch a wave') etc
Ha ha, me too, Gra. Paddled out at Sunset with PT on a medium-small day back when we both could. He showed me where to sit and I sat there shitting myself. Eventually caught something between sets and came straight in over the reef. I think that was the day I realised that for some the pen is mightier than the board.
Phil may i pick your brains on a mid 70s Tracks story by Witzig- you may remember it
was quite comical how he paddled out Sunset on a solid day got out the main peak and Ken Bradshaw ? said what the fuck are you doing out here...can any one else recall it?
Was a great read at the time..funny as fuck.
Always seemed to me that Slats tried to oversurf Sunset, a little like at Bells. Seemed to place turns in the wrong spot. Always looked like he just needed to slow down a little and match the pace of the wave. I reckon he would be better suited on a smaller board like JJF out there and just blast huge turns in the super steep sections(like that huge closeout grabrail at Bells), and when he's on the dead sections just bide his time. But i'm an average punter and he's Slater so what would i know!!
Nah Slats will do alright this time. I recall a lot of recent footage of goat on a tiny little goat sled, probably enough room for his size ten feet and that's about it.
The point is he was absolutely taking it to the next level. Not just in the shorey either, radical top to bottom surfing -unless you have surfed powerful waves you probably think ah its not that impressive. but it is/was impressive. I'll dig it up.
Still wont be as good as the kook slam/ claim. Different kind of peak Slater.
O.kay not footage I was thinking of, riding larger goat sleigh in this footage.
Slats will make the quarters.
Ripping it a new pooper!
Good little clip.
Looks to me like he was doing some board testing.
Anyone know what the music is?
Great little video - almost hypnotic.
Lacks that full tilt dawn carve that jjf does so well.
I reckon a PU with 4x4x6 glassing would help Slats at Sunset. Never been there but doesnt look like much of an eps wave..
Id love to see some CT hit it with longer boards too..
Without being there and actually holding his boards... he is a sneaker fucker with his Board construction so you would never know if it was Eps or Pu
using fake carbon strips etc.
ahhh.. sneaky indeed..
I guess he gets a great many boards from a great many shapers - and connects with renowned shapers from the area or with knowledge of certain spots.. eg his Simon board for Bells (admittedly a long time ago).
I guess I was just pondering on how committed he needs to be to the Slater designs/firewire tech... and the fact that it probably doesnt best suit Sunset. Great to see him on a quad though.
A few seasons ago at pipe........
Michel Bourez broke his board in the pipe contest. The cameras panned to the broken board to reveal that his eps firewire , was actually a stringered p/u.
Shocking.
I'd prefer to see Dusty get a wildcard. After his injury a few years ago and everything he went through. There was one year when it was big, before he qualified, he'd fade off the peak then bottom turn straight up into big re-entries. Everyone else trying to carve, he'd go straight up into the lip and Bang! Watching you'd think he's gonna get smashed but he didn't fall. Kept doing it. Still don't think I've seen anyone else take quite the same approach.
Not a fan of Billy or Kai
I remember it well.
Those turns were positively brutal!
Have looked for the footage a few time since with no luck
Sunset Beach is a complicated wave, a vast playing field in the North Pacific Ocean.
Kelly has never done particularly well there because he didn't have to - few top rated events held at Sunset Beach and the Backdoor/Pipeline area is much easier to photograph.
While visitors rarely do well at Sunset, if you want to know how to surf it and surf it well, just watch this one wave from Michael Peterson - drop in at the peak, fade a bit, pull in for the inside section into the channel. Textbook good surfing from MP.
2:15
"Kelly has never done particularly well there because he didn't have to - few top rated events held at Sunset Beach "
I was quite surprised how this piece of conventional wisdom is contradicted by the evidence.
He's had 18 starts there.
That's more than enough to establish a winning relationship.
Kelly has won at spots he’s never surfed before.
Other spots are not Sunset Beach - just saying.
If Ke12y rarely if ever freesurfs at Sunset Beach for various reasons - way out in the ocean, too windy, too many old folks like Owl Chapman, Felipe Pomar and Peter Cole on giant 9 foot boards, his friends don't surf there, etc - then 18 starts since 1991 is an incidental level of experience at a wave of such vast complexity and expanse.
Reckon it comes down to two things:
Application. He was the young grasshopper to Pipeline's Master, becoming a student of the wave, building reverence and respect for it. He never spoke that way about Sunset, and if anything he spoke disparagingly as he didn't care for the wild, open ocean peaks. And he didn't have to care about it: safely ensconced on the CT, Sunset had no bearings on his end of year ranking. He could surf it, or not surf it, as he pleased, without any care for results. So there was no motivation. The real motivator lay two kms down the road.
The vast lineup. A competitive animal, Sunset's huge playing field doesn't allow a competitor to own the lineup, as Pipe does, or pretty much any location on the CT. Surfers can sit hundreds of metres apart and still get good waves. Meaning savvy tactics - of which Kelly has a few - are nullified at Sunset.
Aussie Gary Elkerton’s hand jiving on his channel bottom had everyone including Slater covered at Sunset.
Go Jack !
Vast complexity and expanse may just align nicely for Ke12y this time around. Who knows.
But I reckon he may also have used up most of his 'alignments' at pipe. Doubt it.
Discussing whether Slater will compete at Sunset, Ross Williams said during the Pipe telecast that Kelly probably will but my friend Kelly hates Sunset.
i have no idea how you could say that?
its probably the funnest wave on the north shore.......other than......LOL
Judges will have a real stiffy over Kelly’s Pipe performance. This will help get him a couple ‘Kelly’ points here and there.
Hahaha
Hahaha
So long as the judges realise few can do what Ke12y does.
Im watching wave warriors 4 again. I haven't watched it in over 20 years since I was a grom , 14 or 15 . Even then the material was dated, my wealthy friends had Kelly Slater black and white. Leroy couldnt affoard, but was stoked to oneday find the wave warriors in the heavily reduced for sale section at video easy. I didnt know what it was but it was a single dollar and it was surfing on video. To this day its the best dollar I ever spent.
If there was nothing doing on a Friday or Saturday night Id put in the wave warriors 4 and crack some of my old mans beers Id been accumulating on the sly and stashing at various locations around the garden. Leroy didnt come from a surfing family so it felt like my very own little world. Id just go and get lost at leilanies until could no no, no can handle another beer. Then Id quickly tidy up, ditch the empty tins at the bottom of the road and piss off to bed before my folks got home.
Anyway in wave warriors 4 it states Kelly has size 13 feet. Thats a fucken huge pair of hoofs even if your da goat. Dude is only 5'10. No wonder hes a surf god.
Excellent story Leroy!
I had it in the local video store.
dont know how many times i borrowed it
An all time fave.
I dont know if you have ever noticed how freakishly he can spread his toes either!! Must help also.
He doesn’t have to win Sunset - he just to make the round of 16 and he should carry the yellow jersey forward. Make the quarters and that’s a higher start to the year for him. I hope the fuck he has actually got jabbed because I’d love to see him in Oz. Again he dose the need to win but a motivated tuned in Kelly could easily go deep into the draw at Bells and Margs
Exactly Lost.
he only needs to progress a few heats.
Same with Portugal.
A bit off point but does relate to Slater's Pipe performance... does anyone know the origin and/or meaning of "ripped the bags"? Did this originate from damage to the scrote in the surf or overexcited shopping or what? Someone must know.
Is this right?
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rip%20Bag
"he only needs to progress a few heats."
And then what?
‘A few heats’ and he makes the mid year cut. Does well at Chopes and G-Land and lands in top 5. Agree he can’t win a final but the WSL would love him to be in the mix come finals day ( as would Kelly) plus he sails into another comp at Pipe in 2023 - when he is actually 50.
"he only needs to progress a few heats."
And then what? - Stu Net
Does kelly have the gumption to win Sunset ?
He maintains leader jersey or close to it.
Gets the Novavax and competes in Aus, does OK at Bells and Margie's.
Wins G-Land, wins Chopes and does enough to win at Trestles for a 12th World Title.
Retires at 50.
Ha ha...nice and neat. I wish him well.
But he'll never, ever win Trestles again.
Against Toledo in the Final Heats.
FT falls on three air attempts, Slater wins heat 1.
FT injures back and retires hurt, Slater is World Champ.
Moon shot, yes.
Sounds like you're already writing the recap.
Can't wait to read the whole thing.
If it does happen, we'll know where Woz got the script from.
LOL
Attempted to apply myself to Sunset, many years ago.
Surfed it big 3 times;
each time I paddled up huge faces, slide off my board, hand on the tailblock & shoved that thing as hard as I could hopefully through the lip while swimming through the pyramid
each time I reckon I spent more time underwater than standing on my board.
each time was about 3 hours for 3 waves ( 3 waves is minimum for a “ surf”!)
each time when looking up at that big cobra lip, concave and shifting in orientation, seemingly hunting you down, I had to remind myself that I was only going to get hit by the bit of the wave right in front of me, not the whole width of the thing. Dam it can be an intimidating place.
But have some enduring memories of some outrageous reckless acts of machismo in heavy water
Respect to those that have achieved a degree of mastery at the place.
I never did.
Awesome stories Yippee. Cheers for sharing. Sounds terrifying!!
Slater at this early stage is in the box seat for a Top 5 World Title finish at Trestles.
Will he seriously forgo that opportunity by not competing in Australia and basically having two throw-away results to his name?
He'll be here. It's never been in doubt.
assuming he's willing to prove vaccination....
He's only ever argued on the principle of it. It's the same argument he's been indulging in for five or so years. Well before COVID came along.
My mate in Melbourne can get him a Vacc certificate....
(wink, wink)
https://www.news.com.au/sport/more-sports/kelly-slater-drops-strong-hin…
Vaxxed and ready to go- Goat wouldnt want to miss Portugal would he ?
https://www.worldsurfleague.com/posts/452495/slater-ho-and-igarashi-tal…
He would happily miss Brazil !
He's got a real chance of being number 1 at the end of the regular season. Brush the trestles grand finale, and retire the unofficial (read real) world Champ.
Cannot contain the excitement.
So when does the World Slater League (WSL) kick off ?
Oh, the tears. Please, please, no repeat of your melodramatic efforts at the conclusion of ya last,event, you’ve got nothing to cry about.
Ke12y at G-land, from back in the day -
https://society6.com/product/indonesia-east-java-alas-purwo-national-pa…
If it's Speedies he will be very hard to beat.
If Medina is back for G-Land I reckon he'd be virtually untouchable out there
I’ve surfed sunset quite big and it’s vaguely terrifying, the peaks just really get huge then the wave tapers a bit but that takeoff! Remember one day thinking I was charging then seeing layne beachly sitting miles inside of me, had a rethink. But I surfed sunset because I wasn’t good enough to surf pipe
Similar to you bd, I thought I was going ok at solid (for me) sunset and look inside and about 50 meters up the reef there is a pack of Hawaiian groms about 13 years old going for it. Pretty humbling ha ha ha
All the confidence Slater has pulled from Pipe,
Is gone.
How much fun does this look?
Like a right hand version of the peak at ulus.
Last year’s Grand Finals at Trestles was a blast. I went into it with huge reservations and despite the best possible outcome of last year, these reservations still remain.
Exactly how fucked is it that the Greatest Surfer of All Time is basically excluded from a legitimate shot at the World title by the paucity of waves on offer for the final series?
It’s an abomination that Slater, with his peerless mastery of heavy tubes, could be shunted at the final post by someone like Toledo who refuses to participate when the waves get proper challenging.
It invalidates the world title.
It was high farce finishing the tour at Manly and it’s high farce finishing the tour at Trestles.
Let’s start a movement…
#nilgheyforfinalsday
Where's Nilghey?
Near Mullaghmore..?
Closer to the equator.
North West of Perth. South East of India.
That’s only if you want to be literal. It’s more a state of mind defined by the presence of waves which will either spit you heroically into the channel or flay you across shallow reef.
Anywhere that can’t be confidently surfed by a person with less than two years of dedicated surfing experience.
Footage of sunset never shows the water movement and currents out there, when you’re in the lineup and watch guys who have it mastered it’s so impressive how they deal with the way the waves change speed and know when the sections will just appear. Pancho Sullivan, Parko and Jordy the way they all hold rail and the ferocity in which they do so is mind boggling. As good as surfing gets for mine. They all ride boards about a foot longer than Slater does.
Long Read Warning
https://www.16streets.com/MacLaren/Travel%20and%20Surfing/Hawaii/Sunset%…
Excellent!
MacLaren here. I'm the guy who wrote How Does Sunset Beach Work?
First, please accept my kindest thanks for the encouragement. It's very much appreciated.
Second, it's not finished. So there's rough spots, and gaps, and I'm sure (especially when dealing with something so monumentally complex and ramified as Sunset Beach) there's plenty of errors, too.
Third, it's going to be a while before I can return to it and devote my full and complete attention to it (and no, I've never been one to just sort of 'slap' at things, half-assedly), because I've been snatched away for the last year and a half working on my Pad B Stories piece, which is even more monumentally complex and ramified, and it's going to take some time to complete that first, for which I apologize.
Fourth, I will get back to it and finish it properly.
It's a subject that really has yet to be properly covered, and although I'm sure I'm not the one to do it right, I'm at least going to take a go at, for better or worse, pass or fail.
So again, please accept my very kindest thanks for the encouragement. Very very much appreciated.
The world needs more Pancho Sullivan.
+1 to that.
Just looks like guys/girls can be so much more aggressive with that longer rail. Some great names there. Would love to see Parko slotted in with a wild card.
Another fella, Zane Harrison. Remember the year he won on that orange/yellow sled. He looked insane out there.
Jeezus this would have been Hard Work
Small shitty end section Sunset is the reality in this clip. hardly even 'inside Occys' (which is the end section that leads into the bowl when its bigger).
Doesn,t film well (lucky for it) and is a fantastic wave, the most consistent wave on the North Shore, hard work but high reward , sorts out the wheat from the chaff and the first spot you should check to work out where you are surfing today.
Ride a bigger board (that doesnt mean a 6,6) and sit out the back with the old guys cause they actually know whats going on.
"I'll see you in Australia," Slater told Reuters from Hawaii, declining to answer whether he had been vaccinated.
"It is an important question, and there's a reason I'm not talking about it that is personal. I do believe that medical privacy is a real thing. But I think my answer that I'll see you in Australia answers that."
So it seems we might be experiencing another round of Goatness down under!
The number one ranked surfer in the world turned 50 today!!!
I bought this vid for 10 bucks from Big Surf back when i was a grommet. My first surf vid. Still love Ross Clarke Jones' prophetic words about Kelly Slater in the vid, about him being the best surfer in the world for a long time.....
Favourite part of the vids was always the Restuarants and Cloudbreak sessions and the Trestles comp.
two pivotal moments in surfing to me were the movies 'Morning of the earth ' and Kelly Slater in black and white...........
Funny there's probably 2 ways in the world that exposure's a surfers weakness that is Sunset and the Box and the Goats never had good results at both
I would have to disagree.
May the Goats best result out of Box be... pre comp snaking by a 13 year old Jack Robinson.
Pipe pretty clearly showed a few weaknesses last week
Off topic but whatever happened to Bueu Emerton?
Back in 97 he was my favorite surfer besides Terapai (cronulla local where i lived)
Still remember a 8-10 foot pit Bueu pulled into at g-land with water photog angle and it was mind blowing.
Hope his doing alright in life.
He was handing out trophies for the Boardriders Battle thingy a couple weeks ago. Looks like he's been enjoying his beer.
Remember when he won the Snapper comp that was on at Cabarita, he beat Noodles in the final. Back when nicknames were original. Beau "Naughty" Emerton vs Nathan "Noodle" Webster haha.
Also a 17 year old wildcard Parko was pissed off cos Kelly was a no-show for their heat earlier in the comp.
I think I wore out my VHS tape of Performers 2, used to watch it so much. Tom Carroll gives a pretty good description of Sunset from about 6:30 onwards. I never surfed sunset, but we have our own version over here, only its probably better. I have surfed the wave Craig talked about, on several occasions, and that is a proper deep water wave, that current starts warping the wave more and more the closer you get to shore.
Waited up for it but its a layday.
Happy 50th Slats!
Love how those bigger boards look at sunset. Would love to see a few of them on a proper step ups when it gets solid mid next wk
Sunset looks a little bit like drawn out Mainbreak Margaret river. The heavy water aspect.
You'd have to think John will be in the mix. Probably steaming after losing to Seth, an easier pipe victory missed in the absence of Gabinator 1.
Im going to watch Kelly Slater- black and white today. I cant recall seeing it now, apart from a comment about wet and dry finishing his board which may have been from this film?
Still dont know what that is, although guy at surf shop told me, "you need to wet and dry finish those chipped up fins son." They dont work past the area of damage apparently.
So these are todays goals .
Plus I want to track down the name of the video with the tracks " the ace of spades" and something about a "sandman, a rubber man." Aussie surf flick with newcastle footage.
Ah the weekend.
This article is really stacking up. Slater knocked out and a 17th place. Is Sunset Slaters's kryptomite?
Could not have been more poignantly incorrect if I tried. Cursed em both perhaps.