Fractures and Fortune Went Hand in Hand for 11x World Champ Kelly Slater

Surfing might be one of the most electrifying sports out there, but it does not come without its own perils. You might be wondering, “How do surfers get hurt? They fall in the water.” Well, things are not so easy when it is the roiling sea beneath the feet and not the calm waters of a swimming pool. The 11-time world champion Kelly Slater is a perfect testament to just how dangerous surfing can be.

The waves are powerful, and that raw power can easily break your bones. Injuries are common while surfing and the waves can be dangerous enough to be life-threatening as well. When Slater was questioned about how water could hurt, this is what he had to say.

Kelly Slater counts his gruesome injuries

According to Slater, there are a million ways one can get injured while surfing. The number of times the legendary surfer has gotten injured himself is insane. Slater recalls, “I actually have broken my feet four times on the board from the wave hitting the board back at me in a certain way. I broke all 5 metatarsals across the top of my foot. Did a Lisfranc fracture… A bunch of soft tissue damage too.”

Not only he, but many of his friends have suffered trauma due to the rowdy waves as well.  Kelly Slater revealed. “Two friends of mine the last two years have broken their pelvis. Which is life-threatening. I’ve had a number of friends become paralyzed. Breaking their neck in the shallow water and hitting the bottom. That’s just hitting the sand.”  While there might be other sports more threatening than surfing, it has done its share of damage, without a doubt.

Read more: “Will This Be a Serious Issue…”: Surfing Legend Kelly Slater Expresses Concerns Following a Horrifying Mid-Ocean Accident

Slater commented, “And I do think once you learn how to fall surfing it’s much better than being a skater. But there’s a lot of potential injuries.” In fact, according to later, an entire montage could be made out of the most horrible wipeouts in the history of surfing. He is not wrong, because there have been some pretty bad ones.

Some of the most horrendous wipeouts in surfing

Martin Potter, who suffered one of the goriest injuries while surfing, once said, “If you can’t have a spectacular ride, have a spectacular wipeout. It’s good for the sport.” This is the peak of embracing one’s sport because Potter’s injury was so bad it earned him 40 stitches and three-month bed rest. The nose of his surfboard cut him so deeply that his intestines fell out. In 2011, Keala Kennelly got 51 stitches from her forehead to her chin after being caught in a barrel wave.

Joel Parkinsons was riding a wave when he went under and felt his board hit his foot. The impact was so strong that his heel was almost entirely sliced off. It took 6 months of rehab before he could even “toe-crawl”, and forget about walking. While one might think that falling in the water is not that dangerous, these injuries make it clear that the mighty sea is not to be messed around with.

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What is the most spine-chilling surfing injury you know about?