A Decade After Surfing ‘Best Ever Wave,’ Kelly Slater Mourns The Passing Of The Person Who Immortalized The Moment

American surfing legend Kelly Slater still continues to cast a long shadow on the sport at 51 years of age. He grew up near the water in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and began surfing when he was five years old. During his long tenure in the sport, there is almost nothing that the 11x World Surf League champion hasn’t done on the surfboard. Thankfully, many of his mindblowing tricks were captured on camera by a close friend, who recently passed away.

Larry Haynes lived for surfing, and to everyone’s astonishment, he died the same way. The legendary cinematographer sadly passed away on February 9 after a stand-up paddleboarding session at Lani’s. He was a lovable member of the surfing community, and his loss has affected everyone. Kelly Slater was especially devastated and sought solace in old memories. Recently, he traveled back ten years to reveal an iconic moment from their partnership.

Kelly Slater revisiting an iconic moment to pay tribute

Kelly Slater has a saga of incredible surfing sessions to bestow upon the next generation. If he were to do so in the form of an autobiography, one barreling experience at the Pipeline would definitely make the cut. Slater still describes it as his “best ever wave at Pipe”, and considering that the iconic surfer has had a string of impressive performances at the famous Hawaiian break, that is saying something. We won’t have to imagine how that ride had been, as Larry Haynes had documented it on film. Nalu Films had a close partnership with Larry Haynes and hosted many of his films.

According to Surfer, the video streaming platform uploaded the film to remind the surfing world of the great moment. The video came with the caption, “Kelly Slater has been getting barreled at Pipeline for over 35 years. Larry Haynes has shot in the water at Pipe for over 35 years and has documented more epic pipeline from the water than anyone in the world. Huge respect for Larry and his contribution to surfing.💛🙏 We all Love and miss Larry and it will never be the same without him around. December 2013, Kelly doing his thing on the WAVE OF THE WINTER”. It gave Kelly Slater an ideal opportunity to pay tribute to his friend and partner.

Kelly Slater’s tribute to Larry Haynes

Kelly Slater was moved to watch the throwback clip and reshared it with his 3.3 million Instagram followers. He also wrote a post to commemorate his friendship with Larry Haynes and pay tribute to him. He wrote, “…Larry Haynes was in the perfect spot like he always was. He also got my best wave ever at Pipe in 1991 during my first Pipe Masters from probably the same square foot of reef he shot this one from, and then hyped me up after both rides. Miss that guy! Nobody put in the time in the water that Larry did. Legend”.

Read More: Kelly Slater Receives a Wholesome Gift From Daughter on 51st Birthday

The Fluid Combustion surf filmmaker will remain in his heart and others that he had worked with. Surf photographers like Tim Bonython, Matt Paul, and Jim Russi have expressed their grief at his untimely passing. His deep connection with the surfing world can be judged from the profile picture on his Instagram page where he was part of a selfie with Kelly Slater, Stephanie Gilmore, and Conner Coffin.

He looked stoked to be in their company and the feeling was reciprocated. However, sadly there will never be such a picture again, as his presence will be deeply missed by the surfing community.

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