“You Don’t Wanna Hit Your Head”: 11X Champ Kelly Slater Once Detailed to Joe Rogan How Deep Run the Perils of the Wave

Kelly Slater is one of the most skilled surfers in the sport’s history. His performances and moves have awestruck the audience and experts several times. However, at times, even the 11-time champ had to surrender to some extreme waves.

Surfing is a tricky sport as it depends highly on water waves. Sometimes people have to wait for a long to get a high wave, but at times, the waves get much bigger than surfers expect. Wipeout is a classic term used in serving, which implies players being thrown off the board by the wave. And at times, these high waves can be fatal. Hence, every surfer must know some techniques to avoid serious injuries.

Avoiding head injuries is a top priority for Kelly Slater

Surfing Legend Kelly Slater has played in some of the toughest places to serve. He has successfully conquered almost every place he visited. But even the Legend has to respect the intense waves. There have been many instances when Kelly was trapped in wipeouts. But he has avoided serious injuries during wipeouts.

In the podcast with Joe Rogan in 2018, Kelly said that there are certain techniques to avoid direct collision with waves. He said, “there is a little bit of skill that goes with wiping out”. However, in extreme cases, Kelly also revealed his end-moment techniques to save him from serious injuries. 

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Little describes that saving his head is his top priority in cases of direct pollution with waves. If waves hit someone’s head and they get unconscious, they can drown. “You don’t want to hit your head, “, he added.

Kelly described gestures to avoid collision

Kelly described the ways to protect once head unavoidable impacts. Slater continued, “I am going to put my arms there before I take it on my head. I can break my arms or feet, but I don’t want to get knocked out.”

Slater told Rogan that inside the water, even the Snowboard can hit the Surfer and do damage. He further gave an example of his fellow surfer, who used a helmet while surfing. He said,” he used to wear a helmet. Most people don’t do that, but he used to wear it every time.“

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Kelly explained that wearing headgear makes it difficult to judge directions. That’s why he felt weird wearing helmets.