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Latest News
We have terminated all donation collections at this site and our non-profit has been terminated. Please contact the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum to donate to this project. We have a few more upgrades to the statue site that we would like to see completed. The Cocoa Beach Surf Museum will be in charge of all future upgrades to the site. We would like to thank everyone who helped with this project. (see the Donations page) It was an adventure for us! Special thanks to the Slater family for giving us the OK to proceed. We would also like to thank the City of Cocoa Beach for helping with this process and giving us the perfect location to display the statue. Thanks again to everyone!
The Cocoa Beach Surf Museum will be more than happy to take any suggestions for upgrade to the site. Please contact them if you have any questions or concerns.
You may still order a tee shirt thru this site using the shopping cart to the right (while supply lasts...). All tee shirt sales will be a donation to the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum for maintenance and upgrade to the Kelly Slater Statue.
KELLY WINS HIS 11TH WORLD TITLE!
The below story is from Surfline.com:
To
get a full grasp on Kelly Slater's 11th world title, made official today in
Round 3 of the Rip Curl Search Pro at San Francisco's Ocean Beach, consider the
perspective of Owen Wright, the man currently ranked second behind Slater on
tour.
"I
just remember chasing him up the beach when I was like six or seven years
old," said Wright, the 21-year-old year-old Australian from New South
Wales. "I was just this tiny little grom chasing after him at a contest.
Now I'm running down the beach next to him, wanting to go out and beat him.
That's a pretty surreal experience."
There's
a clock in play for all world-class athletes, from distance runners to the
greats of the NBA, but Slater's has its own mechanism. It's more of a time
machine. As soon as that horn sounds, signaling the start of heat, Slater
magically becomes 20 years old again.
Which
is kind of cool, considering that he's 39.
How
does this happen? How does a veritable old-timer step into the radical,
ultra-progressive world of professional surfing and take everyone to school?
More seasoned observers think of Tommy Curren or Mark Occhiluppo when Slater's
name comes up, for they were among the first great surfers he had to conquer.
For him to be doing it now, against the likes of Wright, Dane Reynolds, Jordy
Smith and John John Florence, tests the boundaries of comprehension.
Ocean
Beach served up all-time conditions for Slater's heat: hot sun, clear skies,
blue-green water, mild offshores gracing 4-to-8-foot faces. "Looks like a
nice day in France," as the champ put it so well. It wouldn't be Slater
without a bit of clutch performance under pressure, and that was definitely the
case against Australian Dan Ross, who opened with a solid 7.70 score and led
the heat until the final moments.
With
less than four minutes to go, Slater needed a 6.88 to take the lead. He picked
off a fairly routine right, nothing special, but turned it into magic with a
slashing, fluid run featuring four cutbacks, two wicked slams off the top and
an elegant re-entry. There was only about a minute left when the score came
through - 7.60, disputed by no one - and Ross didn't have enough time to
produce an answer.
All
in a day's work for the man who unquestionably ranks with the greatest athletes
of all time. And if you're talking about sustained dominance for a long period
of time, he is the greatest. No matter who you'd care to name - Michael
Jordan, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky,
Roger Federer - nobody was the unquestioned king of his sport for two decades.
Slater won his first world title in 1992, and No. 11 signifies an even 20
years.
Nobody's
forgetting about Andy Irons, and that was especially evident today - the
one-year anniversary of Irons' death - as some 40 surfers gathered in a circle
outside the Ocean Beach lineup to pay tribute before the contest. Irons won
three straight world titles (2002-2004), and if you ever saw footage of him
surfing Pipeline, Cloudbreak or Teahupo'o, you know those images will stay with
you forever.
Slater
described it as a "heavy, powerful" experience when he realized his
11th world title would fall on November 2. "It's so
strange," he said. "I don't know if it means nothing, or a lot. Is it
just coincidental? It's pretty wild, I know that. I feel honored by it. The way
it got all warm and offshore today, surf just going off all up and down the
beach, it's like somebody's lookin' over us here. It's probably Andy."
Looking back on the rivalry, Slater said,
"There's been so much spoken about me and Andy - the friendship, the
hatred, all that. We had such a big impact on each other. There were times when
I just hated the guy. It was such a difficult situation, to be constantly
traveling, battling this guy, both going for the same thing. Ultimately, we got
to be pretty good friends. His wife and my girlfriend are close. It's really
nice that it got to where it did."
As
for his age, Slater offered an interesting perspective. "People always ask
me about that," he said. "I'll be 40 in a couple of months. To me,
it's literally just a number. You see people 100 years old and you can't
believe they lived that long, but to them, it's not baffling. They took care of
themselves. To me, I don't see why at 50 I can't be in better shape than right
now. I think I'm gonna be."
There
were more than a thousand people on hand today to watch Slater make history.
They watched him being carried up the beach on the shoulders of friends, then
getting a full champagne spray on the winner's podium. They shouted his name,
wishing they could get just a bit closer to history.
For those of you who
ever get the chance to meet the man, a word of advice: Don't bother to ask him
what time it is. He has no idea.
Cocoa Beach honors hometown hero Kelly Slater with statue
By Hillard Grossman Florida Today Nov. 18, 2010
Built to withstand the fury of outside elements -- just like the legend himself -- a 91/2-foot-high bronze statue of 10-time surfing world champion Kelly Slater officially was unveiled Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of people -- some bringing babies, others bringing dogs -- took a late lunch or played hooky to see the black tarp slip away, showcasing the ultimate compliment to a homegrown star. "I've never thought they'd stop traffic for me," joked Slater, who appeared with his brothers, Sean and Stephen; girlfriend, Kalani; and mom, Judy. "Lots of memories come to mind as I see this." Situated where a Christmas tree stands this time of year, the city of Cocoa Beach now has a new, year-round ornament at Triangle Park on State Road A1A, across from the "Glass Bank." Mayor Skip Beeler read a proclamation, highlighting Slater's various accomplishments, and then labeled Nov. 17 as "Kelly Slater Day," much to the delight of the crowd as car horns blared. "I think he really deserves it," said Elene Jeschke, a 26-year resident of the city, who attended with her husband, Gilbert. "It's a big deal." Former Cocoa Beach City Commissioner Tony Sasso also read a congratulatory letter sent by Gov. Charlie Crist, in which he wrote, "Well done, my friend. Florida is most proud of you." Slater's statue joins the likes of other celebrities immortalized in bronze. Some of those include likenesses of Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Bob Cousy, Magic Johnson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Dan Marino and even "Rocky." Slater said he's never seen those, but he occasionally pays homage to the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki by leaving a lei to honor "the father" of surfing. "It's pretty crazy," said Slater, signing autographs on everything from postcards to sneakers. "I don't put myself (in their class) . . . but this is a nice gesture." The statue (and accompanying plaque) was a concept created by Cocoa Beach's Sam Drazich and his sister, Tasha, an accomplished artist who graduated from Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High in Sean's class. It took nearly four years, starting with a small, clay maquette that developed into a bigger-than-life undertaking, enveloping Drazich's garage. The NASA engineer built a "Roman box" to fit the sculpture (11/2 times Slater's height) into exact dimensions, then a model was used to strike the pose for hours and, finally, the bronzing took place in Sarasota. The statue is built to withstand 140 mph winds Sam figured their out-of-pocket costs were $70,000, with labor and time pushing the project to about $150,000. Despite several fundraising efforts, only $20,000 has been raised. Still, Tasha was thankful to all the supporters. It was the first athlete she had sculpted. "I just wanted to get it right; I think it's awesome," said Tasha, 40, who had quit her server's job at an Orlando restaurant to focus on the project. "This is fun. Now, I can have an alcoholic drink."Spectators gave her a rousing applause, as well. "I'm a sculptor for hire," she laughed. The photo used as the "model" for the statue was shot by Eastern Surf Magazine publisher and co-owner Tom Dugan in 1998 at Sebastian Inlet. "I remember I probably surfed a few hours that day," Slater said. "For some reason, I borrowed Sean's board and caught two or three waves, and then you see this big photo (in "Surfing" magazine) with all of Sean's Volcom stickers on it. I'm not sure Quiksilver (his sponsor) liked that too much." Dugan's photo, showing Slater's signature cutback maneuver in a karate-like pose, became one of the "50 Greatest Surfing Photos of All-Time," by Surfing World, an Australian magazine. Slater's first true surf coach, Dick Catri, recalled the days when he put a set of fins on Kelly's Boogie board as Sean surfed on his team. "I saw (a world champion) at 12," Catri said. "Everyone else just had to wait a little while longer." Slater's past 11 days have been a whirlwind of emotions, dealing with the death of surfing buddy Andy Irons and getting carried off the beach in Puerto Rico after scoring a perfect 10 ride (on a board he inscribed with Irons' name) to put the wraps on his 10th world title. Then, it was a media trip to Manhattan, a bachelor's party for Sean in the Keys, and plans to attend the wedding on Friday. "With Andy passing, it kind of mellowed everything out," Slater said of the week. His mom was also impressed with the statue and the hard work that went along with it. "I told them if it wasn't put here, then it could be put in my front yard," she said. "We're really proud of Kelly. We're famous for astronauts and space, and he ranks almost with them," Beeler said. "What he's done, no person has ever done . . . and is not likely to happen again, just like walking on the moon. This is a great day for Cocoa Beach."
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Excerpt from Surfline:
"Kelly wins his 10th World Title
Kelly Slater claimed his record 10th ASP world title Saturday at the 2010 Rip Curl Pro Search in Puerto Rico. In clean, contestable 3- to 4-foot surf at Middles, Slater advanced out of his quarterfinal heat over Brazil's Adriano De Souza to mathematically eliminate world No. 2 Jordy Smith from the world title race. Since his previous title, in 2008, there had been a great deal of speculation as to whether Slater would go for a 10th, and after an uncharacteristic ninth-place finish at the Quiksilver Pro this year, questions about his motivation surfaced. But Slater, 38, went on to win the second event of the year, the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia. From that point, he gained momentum and went into Puerto Rico on a tear, having finished third, first, second, and first in the previous four contests. Had Slater failed to advance through the quarterfinal, Smith could have kept the title race alive by winning the event. But Slater caught his first wave within seconds of the heat's start, fading deep into a barrel and emerging with a 9.00 out of a possible 10. Minutes later, Slater caught a second wave -- this one providing two separate barrel sections that he cleared with ease. The wave earned him a 9.87 and, just like that, De Souza faced a nearly insurmountable hill to climb. It was never even close. "I'm just really relieved right now. It's not one maneuver or one wave, it's a year-long thing. I'm so tired of worrying about my boards, my food and everything. This comes as such a relief," he told ESPN after his heat today. Slater's professional career spans nearly 20 years. Hailing from Cocoa Beach, Fla., he first exploded onto the scene in 1992, when he won his first world title at age 20. By 1998, he had six world titles to his credit. "This is the closest world tour event we've ever had to where I grew up, and there are a lot of familiar faces and old friends here. It's been 25 years since I first came here, and it's nice to have so much support around me for this,".
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Project Goal
The Kelly Slater Sculpture Project has been established to execute the goal of honoring a great champion by installing a bronze sculpture at 4th St. North and A1A in Cocoa Beach, Florida. As you probably know, Kelly grew up in Cocoa Beach and has won nine world titles in the sport of surfing. The pose for this model was selected because it represents one of Kelly’s signature moves. The sculpture will highlight the importance of his contributions to our community, create interest, serve as a focal point for visitors, and enrich Brevard County with a public art project. In addition to Kelly, Brevard County has fostered many successful pro surfers. A large scale bronze sculpture would also be a tribute to all east coast surfers past and present.
When will the sculpture be completed?
The artist, Natasha Drazich, has completed a larger than life clay model for the sculpture and many others in this community have donated time and labor to get this project to this halfway point. However, we still need to raise additional funds to complete this project. With the generous support of the entire community, the sculpture could be completed as early as Summer 2010. The bronzing process will be completed in stages, proceeding as funds become available. To achieve this goal we are appealing to area businesses and individuals for support. Any contribution, great or small, is most appreciated. All contributions will be used effectively to complete our goal.
Update: Sculpture is complete!
Are donations tax deductible?
Yes, as of August 9, 2008, we are officially a 501(C) (3) non-profit and all donations are tax deductible.
Update: As of Dec 31st, 2011 The Kelly Slater Project non-profit has been terminated and is no longer accepting donations. However, The Cocoa Beach Surf Museum will continue to accept donations for maintenance and/or upgrades of the statue. In addition, donations will continue to be accepted for repayment of the project loans via the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum. Please contact the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum if you would like to help.
Thanks, Sam Drazich
What is our fundraising goal?
Our fundraising goal is $120,000. Although this is an expensive and involved process, the bronze sculpture is well worth the effort. We believe it will provide an attractive focal point for visitors that would draw business to the downtown area of Cocoa Beach. We hope you agree and hope that your company considers sponsoring this project. On the donation page, we have listed a number of promotional opportunities available to your company.
Update: As of Dec. 31st, 2011 we did not meet our fundraising goal. Due to the costs involved in mantaining a 501(c)(3) non-profit business, we are forced to terminate all fund raising.
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