Trip:
IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE WORLD, INCLUDING BRAZIL AND THE US, SURFERS STILL
HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE STEREOTYPE OF BEING STUPID AND INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED
INDIVIDUALS. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Slater: Surfers really are idiots. So are lawyers, cops and politicians.
Everyone can be an idiot, that's not the prerogative
of surfers.
Trip:
DO YOU HAVE ANY ENEMIES?
Slater: Only myself.
Trip:
SOME CARS NOW COME WITH A CD-CHANGER THAT HOLDS UP TO SIX ALBUMS. WHICH
WOULD YOU TAKE IN A CAR TRIP?
Slater: Grace, by Jeff Buckley, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,
Seal's first album, Counting Crows' fist album; Dada's Puzzle, and Mental
Jewlery, by Live.
Trip:
AT THIS TIME, BOTH IN BRAZIL AND THE USA, THE MATTER OF VIOLENCE IN
MAJOR CITIES IS BEING DISCUSSED ALONG WITH THE ISSUE OF THE RIGHT TO BEAR
ARMS. ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF ORDINARY CITIZENS BEING ALLOWED TO CARRY FIREARMS?
Slater:I'm increasingly anti-violence, anti-war. There's a good
lesson in this: if someone punches you and you punch back, You didn't
teach anything by this. But if someone punches you and you look him in
the eye and walk away, he'll learn something. In this way one can start
a losing war.
Trip: HAVE YOU BEEN IN A FIGHT?
Slater: Once, at school, a kid punched me.
Trip: DID YOU PUNCH BACK?
Slater: Yes.
Slater: I love watching Ultimate Fighting. I don't know, I think it's natural curiosity, but it doesn't mean I'm for it.
Trip: WHAT'S YOU OPINION ON THE BRAZILIAN JUJITSU SCENE?
Slater: : Iit must be good, even Johnny Boy is learning it (laughing). I think it's wrong to teach anyone Jujistsu. In Japan, sensei only pass their knowledge on to a few fighters. Now there are martial arts classes for up to 60 kids at once and obviously five or six out of these will turn out bad, there's no other way around it.
Trip: WHAT KINDS OF DRUGS HAVE YOU TRIED?
Slater: Only alcohol. I don't do drugs.
Trip:
WHAT'S YOUR DRINK? BEER?
Slater: No, I don't like to waste my time. Yesterday, here in Maresias,
I had a lot of vodka and Flashpower and it worked.
Trip:
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST LOSS EVER?
Slater: That's a tough one... (pause) My parents' divorce was the
first. But I also learned that you have to let go to enjoy life's best.
Once I also lost all my money and learned not to get too attached to material
things. I also lost some girls. But the loss of friends is what really
made me suffer.
Slater: It's funny, but I think I've lost about fifteen friends who died in various ways. Every time I go into the ocean to surf, I try to picture each one of them. It helps me understand lots of things including myself.
Slater: Tod Chesser's. When he died I didn't understand it, I simply couldn't understand it all. I couldn't get the good and bad of it (Tod Chesser was a Hawaiian surfer who drowned at 28, while surfing huge waves at Hawaii's offshore reefs).
Trip:
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
Slater: Everybody's afraid of something. Sometimes I fear nothing,
sometimes I'm scared of dying.
Trip: WERE YOU EVER SURFING SOMEWHERE DANGEROUS AND THOUGHT
YOUR LIFE WAS IN DANGER?
Slater: No.
Trip:
ARE YOU HAPPY?
Slater: I wouldn't be drinking until seven in the morning if I
were truly happy. I'm not totally fulfilled but, for the first time in
my life, I see a light at the end of the pipeline.
Slater: Sometimes I think not, when I'm in a marvelous place like this enormous Maresias house. But when I'm at a gigantic surf fair in a city like São Paulo and hundreds of maddened people are grabbing my clothes, then I think I've earned every penny of my pay.
Slater: I want to meet a nice girl, have kids, lead a normal life. Like I said, this is a dream life and can't last.
Slater: Who told you that? Well, it's true. Children don't lie, they say what they think when they think it. Not adults, adults don't want the truth. Children and dogs, that's it, children and dogs only do what they feel like doping, they don't play games. I like that.
Slater: (Laughing) I'm enjoying this. But, no, now I only do what I like doing and intend to go on like this for the rest of my life.
Slater: Carlos Burle, for sure.
Trip:DON'T YOU THINK CARLOS BURLE SHOULD BE ON THE EDDIE AIKAU GUEST LIST? (AN INVITATIONAL BIG WAVE CONTEST SPONSORED BY QUIKSILVER AND HELD IN HAWAII)
Slater: Sure. I don't know how the process occurs, I guess they ask Hawaiian lobbyists. But don't ask me, ask him. (pointing to the next couch, where sits Australian Rod Brooks, International Officer at Quiksilver who accompanied Kelly in his visit to Brazil)
Brooks: (Embarrassed) It doesn't depend on us, alone. Quiksilver holds an election among the surfers that are more often at Waimea and this leads to the 33-name list.
Slater: Never.
Brooks: The vote isn't among the best surfers, but rather among those who are often at Waimea.
Slater: In the past ten years, every time Waimea surfed I was there. What's more, Quiksilver funds the entire event and should be entitled to call whoever it wanted. Brooks: We're trying to change this. Burle will be at Quiksilver event in G-Land. But I promise to take that into consideration for next year's Eddie Aikau .
Slater:The promotion for the biggest Brazilian wave, right? Yes, I heard about it. Who won?
Trip: RODRIGO REZENDE, SURFING A WAVE IN THE MORNING OT HE EDDIE AIKAU CONTEST. WE FIGURED IT AT 27 FEET, WHAT DO YOU THINK? (SHOWING HIM THE MAGAZINE)
Slater: That it's more than a 27-footer.
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Slater: Acho que um dos grandes problemas do mundo é que as pessoas não conseguem mais ficar a sós. Não conseguem ficar sozinhas, ou sem televisão, som, Internet, etc. Gosto de viajar sozinho, me sinto bem.
Slater: Fábio Gouveia. He has the best style, he throws himself, makes good maneuvers...