Athletes are confronted with difficulties on a daily basis—some related to their training and competition, others hitting deeper. For Kelly Slater, he has had a journey made up of everything. Whether it is about winning those accolades, standing up for the environment, or even bearing through personal losses in the surfing community, he has been through it all. From dominating the Bud Pro Tour, WSL’s stepping stone to glory, to 11 WSL titles, Slater keeps on piling the wins like shells on a beach. However, trophy hunting has never been the only thing that mattered to Slater when it came to surfing.

During the journey, Kelly Slater has gained a lot of friendships, whether it was made while surfing or overall in the journey. And at present, the surf legend is confronted with a new type of wave that has nothing to do with conquering but with overcoming. Kelly Slater has lost someone who was not only a friend but a mentor to many.

On January 15, Kelly Slater turned to Instagram Stories to pay a heartfelt tribute to Vale Alan Green, the iconic founder of Quiksilver and a trailblazer in the surfwear world. Sharing a post from @surfworldgoldcoast announcing Green’s passing, Kelly poured his emotions into the caption: “Love you, Greeny. You were one of a kind and a great friend and mentor for so many. I’ll miss you forever.” Those words seem to carry the weight of a bond built on shared waves, friendship, and profound respect.

The man who revolutionized the surf world in his lifetime, Alan Green, has ridden his final wave at 77 years of age. On January 14, 2025, he gracefully bowed out after a brief but fierce battle with various forms of cancer. The original blog by Surf World Gold Coast also paid tribute to Green as a pioneer of Australian surfwear. It featured comments from Rod Brooks, the Chairman of Surf World Gold Coast, and an inductee into the Surfing Hall of Fame.

Brooks, who was associated with Quiksilver International, mentioned how Green not only defined the concept of surfwear by introducing Velcro Fly with two press studs, constructed yoke waistbands, and a scalloped leg with binding but also directed many legendary events, including the Quiksilver World Champion Tour and Quiksilver French and Japanese events, to mention a few. And cancer? Now that is one fight that nobody wants to be on the losing side. But sadly, every now and then we hear about even athletes battling the disease.

With the start of the new year, NYU’s wrestling team captain, Benny Bautista, received a brutal challenge of his own. He now has Grade 3 oligodendroglioma, which is a very aggressive form of brain cancer. For the expensive surgery, chemotherapy, travel, and time off work, he is using GoFundMe in an effort to get help from anyone who can. We hope and pray that Benny will soon overcome the illness.

Coming back to Kelly Slater and Alan Green, their bond goes far back, and after vacating a position at Quiksilver, Kelly maintained his relationship with Green for life, considering him as more than a colleague but a lifetime guide.

Lifetime of shared bond between Kelly Slater and Alan Green

In 2014, the surfing icon and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater and Quiksilver separated after 23 years of being together. In his final comments, Kelly said, as per ‘Surfer Today’, “They’ve supported me through good times and bad, personal hardships and competitive triumphs, and never wavered in backing my choices and desires in all that time.” With the help of such legends as Bob McKnight, Bruce Raymond, and Alan Green, the company developed him from a young, talented surfer to a world-famous surfer.

Alan Green was an exemplar of all that was surfing! Indeed, he helped to construct the very fabric of the global surfing scene upon which many others subsequently came to rely. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Green nurtured the spirit of dreams deep within his heart, together with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. He helped to start Rip Curl in 1968, a small wetsuit manufacturer located in Torquay. But that was not the end of his creativity at all. By 1969, with $2,500 borrowed from his dad, Green, 22, was playing around with boardshort concepts. Quiksilver began in a comfortable vacation rental in Torquay with the help of a collaboration with John Law. By 1970/71, their first iconic boardies were on the beaches.

Then, in 1990, along came an 18-year-old kid from Florida named Kelly Slater. Legend has it, he signed his game-changing Quiksilver contract on the cobblestones at Trestles. With his charm, talent, and star turn on Baywatch, Kelly, alongside Quiksilver, elevated surfing to dazzling new heights, creating a legacy that continues to inspire wave chasers everywhere. And it’s clear that none of this might have been possible without the unwavering support of Alan Green, whom Kelly now honors with a heartfelt tribute following his passing.