Kelly Slater is off to a rough start on the 2023 Championship Tour. In the first three events, Slater’s finished with two 17th’s and a 9th, leaving him two spots below the mid-season cut line, with only two events — Bells Beach and Margaret River — remaining before the ax falls. There’s been rampant speculation about Slater’s competitive plans. Will he show up for the comps in OZ? Will the WSL give him a wildcard if he doesn’t make the cut? Is this the end of Slater’s full time CT career?
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While he didn’t answer those questions, he did get candid about his state of mind in this recent post on Instagram.
“Portugal, done and dusted. We judge our success by results in this tour but when I look through the photos and think of the memories, the wins are judged over a lifetime. The emotions we harbor, both good and bad, about our present time run a good spectrum over the course of minutes, days, weeks, years, decades. I don’t know when these times of competition will end but I am sure that many details I miss in the present moments will reveal a much broader appreciation with time and separation.
“I don’t love competing the way I once did. But I do hold the presence of mind and intensity of the moment as the highest of highs in my lifetime. And I miss them when I let myself down in the competitive sense. I don’t post much here anymore. I spend a lot of time on social media, reading, watching, interacting. It’s an odd addiction. The all encompassing ability to enter other people’s worlds for a moment is strange and fun and terrifying. And sad. I wish for a better world but I know the good is there always. Just like in the tenth frame of this post. Thank you to the Portuguese people and crowds for making me feel at home anytime I’m with you here. It was an emotional day after losing but feeling the love from you all makes hard moments worth all the years of energy and output.”
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