“Broke the Helmet and Broke the Eardrum!”: While Surfing Icon Kelly Slater Got Through, 2x World Champ Got His Board Speared Into Him Revealed in 2018

11-time World Surf League champion Kelly Slater is the greatest surfer in the world. He is well-equipped with surfing on high-rising waters, ensuring his safety. However, a risky sport like surfing can lead to several threats. There have been instances when he faced life-threatening situations while surfing.

Kelly Slater grew up near water as his father was a bait-store proprietor. He began learning surfing at the age of five. Within some years, he started participating in many age-division championships on the Atlantic Coast and the United States. Soon, he was recognized as a talented surfer.

Kelly Slater and his friend experienced a life-threatening incident

Apart from being an eye-widening sport, surfing is quite life-threatening as well. Many surfers have experienced gruesome accidents while surfing. Kelly Slater is a big-wave surfer who has reached great heights in his surfing career. However, there have been situations where he could have injured his eardrums. Recently, in an interview with Joe Rogan in 2018, Kelly shared an unbelievable incident. He explained he was surfing with his friend and two-time world champion, Tom Carroll in Tahiti.

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Many surfers around the world wear helmets, while many do not. Kelly does not wear a helmet as it blocks his peripheral vision. However, his friend Tom did. While the two were surfing, they experienced a heavy flow of water that could lead to mishaps.

Kelly was able to save himself from the water which could spear through his head, damaging his ear drums. On the other hand, Tom Carroll was very close to falling prey to the accident. He got saved because he was wearing a helmet. In the interview, Kelly explained, “Tom wiped out and his board speared him in the ear and it broke the helmet and broke his eardrum so we were just wondering like what the hell would have happened if he didn’t have his helmet on you know like probably what if it killed him?”

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Moreover, at the time of the incident, Kelly and Tom did not have a jet ski and they were 500 miles away from the beach. Luckily, the two returned safely from the spine-chilling incident.