Stuff you don’t know about Kelly Slater

Everyone knows something about Kelly Slater, even non-surfers.

You probably know he’s American, won the ASP World Title more times than anyone else, dated Pamela Anderson and is the face of Quiksilver.

But did you know Kelly Slater…

…posed naked for a photo shoot.

In 2010, Kelly Slater posed naked for the ESPN annual “Body Issue” along with 18 other athletes including Olympic Skier Julia Mancuso, PGA tour golfer Camilo Villegas and the USA women’s water polo team. See the whole gallery on ESPN.

…won his first surf competition on a bodyboard.

Kelly entered his first surfing competition in 1980 when he was eight years old. He won his division riding his bodyboard standing up.

… is the oldest and youngest World Surfing Champion ever.

In 1992, Kelly became the youngest world champion aged just 20. Kelly broke his own record for oldest World Champ last year with his 11th World Title aged 39.

… fought a giant octopus and won

Kelly Slater did a brief spell in Baywatch and played a surfer called Jimmy Slade. Inevitably, Jimmy got into ridiculous situations including fighting giant sea creatures. Kelly copped a lot of abuse on tour for this career deviation, and consequently ended the contract as soon as he could.

… played guitar in a band called The Surfers.

In the late 1990s Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Peter King, formed a band called The Surfers and released an album titled Songs From the Pipe. Kelly has also played on stage with Ben Harper, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson and appeared in a music video by Garbage.

… is officially perfect.

In the final heat of the 2005 Billabong Tahiti Pro contest at Teahupo’o, Slater became the first surfer ever to get two perfect scores. That’s 20 out of 20 points under the ASP two-wave scoring system.

… has secret fantasies about being a pro golfer.

Kelly has a +2 handicap and plays most days. He also enjoys Ju-jitsu and fishing.

… does a lot for charity.

The Kelly Slater Foundation was formed to help raise awareness and financial support for existing social and environmentally conscious charities. After winning his 10th world title, Kelly and Quiksilver gave 10 charities $10,000 each.

… owns a 3 percent stake in Quiksilver.

As well as giving lots of money to charity after his 10th World Title, he turned down a bonus of $10 million from his sponsor Quiksilver, in favour of a 3 percent stake in the company. At the time worth approximately $22 million.

… is actually called Robert.

Kelly’s full name is Robert Kelly Slater, and he was born in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on 11th February 1972.