“An Ankle-Breaking Maneuver”: Aerial Surfing Legend Couldn’t Get Over Kelly Slater’s Iconic Move in 2012

At age 50, Kelly Slater remains the oldest active surfer to date. Despite decades of his life dedicated to surfing, pushing boundaries, and contributing immensely to this adrenaline-inducing sport, Kelly Slater is still showing no signs of slowing down. After nearly 30 years of surfing, and being through all kinds of difficulties in the midst, Slater has contributed more than his fair share to the sport. Here’s an example from 2011 and 2012, where his ripping performance changed surfing forever.

Men’s Journal, the American monthly that focuses on outdoor recreation, released a list of 7 moments in the history of surfing that changed the sport forever. Needless to say, Slater featured in it, that too twice. Here, let’s focus on his exploits on the waters of Bells Beach, Australia in 2012 to better understand how it changed the sport for the better.

Kelly Slater shocked everyone with his ‘rotation’ at Bells Beach in 2012

In 2012, the Rip Curls Pro Final was contested at Bells Beach, Australia. Kelly Slater made a full rotation during a wave that left all his competitors in awe and redefined professional surfing forever. At age 40, he was doing what most 20-something-year-old competitors were struggling to do.

Legendary aerial surfer, Josh Kerr was also present that day to see Slater’s magic and couldn’t believe his own eyes. As per the Men’s Journal magazine, here’s what Kerr said about it, “That thing … was … absolutely … messed up. And really, really well executed. It was definitely one of the bigger no-grab-to-the-flat full-rotations I’ve ever seen. That one Kelly did … it’s an ankle-breaking maneuver. And I’ll tell you what—out there, it’s frigging close-to-impossible to do airs”.

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Needless to say, Kerr alongside everyone else present that day stood in awe of Slater. They were witnessing something great in front of their eyes and learning to push beyond boundaries even at age 40 and more. Although Slater didn’t win that day, he still managed to inspire more than a few young surfers, as he has done throughout his career.

By the looks of it, Kelly Slater is far from retiring!

Kelly Slater, who grew up near a waterbody in Cocoa Beach, Florida, has been surfing since he was 5 years old. 45 years later, he is still loving and enjoying the sport more than ever. He has never shown any signs of weakness and has only been excited even in his scariest moments on the water. The year 2012 was no different.

Slater’s performance at Bells Beach in 2012 wasn’t just lightning in a bottle. He has consistently performed so for more than two decades. The previous year in 2011, Slater had performed two back-to-back mind-puzzling manoeuvers that were nothing short of mesmerizing.

At the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach, California, and the Quiksilver Pro in New York, Slater’s two consecutive progressive aerials stopped the show for everyone to enjoy his glory. He was going strong in 2012 at age 40 and still going strong at age 50 as we near 2023. Let’s not jinx his marvelous stride by bringing up his retirement.

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