Kelly Slater

Slater was born to a Syrian father and a Irish mother, and grew up in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where he still lives. He is the son of Stephen Slater and Judy Moriarity. He has two brothers, Sean and Stephen.

The son of a bait-store proprietor, Slater grew up near the water, and he began surfing at age five. By age ten, he was winning age-division events up and down the Atlantic coast, and in 1984 he won his first age-division United States championship title. Two years later he finished third in the junior division at the world amateur championships in England, and he won the Pacific Cup junior championship in Australia the following year. Slater attended Cocoa Beach High School.

Professional career

Slater turned pro in 1990 and qualified for the Bud Pro Tour (The World Surf League's qualifying tour at the time). He then immediately won his first contest on the Bud Pro Tour, The Body Glove Surf Bout in Trestles, California. At the end of the year he qualified for the World Surf League Championship Tour for the 1991 season. After qualifying for 1991, Slater struggled during his first year on the Championship Tour and was 43rd out of 44 in the world rankings. In 1992 he secured podium (top 3) finishes in three of his first five events before winning his first professional tour event, the Rip Curl Pro, in France. His win in that year's prestigious Pipeline Masters in Hawaii secured his first World Title, and at age 20, he became the youngest world surfing champion ever. Slater finished sixth in the 1993 rankings but came back to win five world titles in a row from 1994 to 1998, during which time televised surfing events had become increasingly popular. He then took a break from competitive surfing at the end of 1998, before returning to the world pro tour in 2002.

Sponsors and equipment

Slater historically and exclusively rode Channel Islands Surfboards equipped with his own signature series of FCS fins. As the media hype grew around Slater's lack of board stickers in 2015, Slater had been seen riding unlabelled Firewire surfboards, acquiring the company in 2014. In 2016 Slater released his own line of boards. As of August 2017 there are four Slater Designs models in the Firewire range: the Gamma, Cymatic, Omni and Sci-fi.

Since 1990 Slater had been sponsored primarily by surfwear industry giant Quiksilver until his departure on April 1, 2014. In an interview with Steve-O, Slater states that he has made most of his income from being sponsored by this clothing company. After leaving Quiksilver, Slater, in collaboration with Kering, established the eco-friendly and sustainable apparel company called "Outerknown".

Slater is an avid golfer and practices the sport of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His biggest surfing inspiration is 3× WSL champion Tom Curren. Curren was the first American surfer to win a World Title. Kelly got his chance to compete against him when Kelly became a full time tour competitor in 1991. Big wave surfers Todd Chesser and Brock Little were also mentors to him when he was a teenager.

Kelly dated Pamela Anderson for several years in the early 1990s, sometimes not exclusively, meeting her on the set of Baywatch. Kelly was also in a relationship with Gisele Bündchen from 2005 to 2006, and Cameron Diaz in 2007.

Slater has a daughter, Taylor (b. 1996), from a previous relationship with Tamara Mitchell.

Kelly met his long-term partner Kalani Miller, who worked for Roxy at the time, at the ASR trade show in San Diego in 2006 and the pair began a relationship in 2008.

The couple welcomed a son named Tao Druku in 2024. In February 2026 the couple announced that they were expecting their second child, a baby girl named Azumi Moon, in Spring 2026.

Environmentalism and philanthropy

Slater is an advocate of a sustainable and clean living lifestyle. In February 2017, Slater and fellow competitive surfer Jérémy Florès called for a daily cull of bull sharks by French authorities on Réunion following eight shark-related fatalities over the preceding six years. Environmentalists criticized the proposal, with Ken Collins of the University of Southampton describing it as "insane".

On May 8, 2010, the United States House of Representatives honored Slater in H. Res. 792 for his "outstanding and unprecedented achievements in the world of surfing and for being an ambassador of the sport and excellent role model". This resolution, sponsored by Florida representative Bill Posey and sponsored by 10 representatives, passed without objection by a voice vote.

Slater is on the Board of Advisors (the Ocean Advocacy Advisory Board) of ocean conservation organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.