Over the past year, competitive has become more inclusive of transgender athletes—a move that has placed Australian surfer ’s right to compete Ìęat the center of a global debate.

In December 2021, Surfing Australia—the national governing body for competitions and surf clubs—allowed transgender athletes to compete in the category that corresponds with their gender identity, as long as they follow a comprehensive set of rules. The move sparked a response from the two international bodies that oversee Olympic surfing qualifications: The International Surfing Association (ISA) and World Surf League (WSL). In November 2022, the ISA published its own rules for transgender inclusion, and in February, the WSL adopted similar criteria. Both rulebooks follow guidance from the International Olympic Committee, which says transgender athletes can compete in the women’s category as long as they adhere to testosterone requirements.

The new rules had a profound impact on Lowerson, who is believed to be the first and only out trans woman to compete in WSL events. Lowerson, 44, competes in longboard competitions.

“What it changed was, before I didn’t feel safe,” Lowerson told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű. “I didn’t feel like there was a support network. And then to see that there actually were influential people that were supportive and there was a network of safety being created. For me, that was, subconsciously, the thing that made me say, yes, I would compete.”

Lowerson has participated in a handful of competitive events since the ruling, most recently the WSL’s Manly Beach Classic longboard event, which will conclude on Friday, May 5.

The ISA’s rule change was spearheaded by Dr. Lee Rice, a San Diego-based family practice physician who specializes in wellness and sports science. Rice is the chairperson for the ISA’s medical commission, and told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű that he was aware of how other Olympic sports had created rules for including transgender athletes. While attending a 2022 panel discussion on the topic at the IOC headquarters, Rice decided to begin his own research into the topic, which eventually led to the new policy.

“We knew that we had to have some criteria developed because other nations now are starting to have competitions that will qualify people, theoretically, for [the 2024 summer Olympics], and they’ll want to know what our standard was,” Rice said. “We had to be fair to those countries so they were properly educated about what’s legitimate and what’s not available.”

According to the ISA, a transgender woman can compete in a women’s event by maintaining a testosterone level less than 5 nanomoles per liter of blood for 12 months, which requires . Rice said the new rule was born from conversations he had with a wide swath of scientists, sociologists, and athletes. The rules represent the ISA’s commitment to safety, fairness, and inclusion, he said. Built into the legislation is a mandate to reevaluate the decision as more data on transgender athletes becomes available.

The announcement, however, generated vocal opposition from some prominent surfers. Global surfing icon that the governing bodies should simply create a different division for transgender athletes. And surfer Bethany Hamilton, who over the past few years has competed in several elite-level WSL contests and was the subject of two films about her surviving a shark attack as a teenager, posted an saying she would boycott WSL events if the rules remained.

“I personally think that the best solution would be to create a different division so that all can have a fair opportunity to showcase their passion and talent,” Hamilton said. “But we are seeing instances of male-bodied dominance in women’s sports like running, swimming and others.”

Hamilton did not respond to °żłÜłÙČőŸ±»ć±đ’s request for comment. Her Instagram posts were picked up by dozens of media outlets, and sparked nearly 26,000 comments both in support of and against the rules from professional surfers, members of the surf industry, and fans. Her comments also came at a time when the rights of transgender citizens and their access to related medical care have increasingly become political and cultural flashpoints across the United States. And the pushback from Hamilton, Slater, and others has placed surfing within the ongoing global argument around transgender inclusion in elite sports.

In 2021 the for transgender inclusivity, but allowed various sports’ governing bodies to create the actual rules. This has led to a patchwork of legislation. World Athletics, the governing body for track and field, who underwent male pubertyÌęfrom participating. Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, to maintain a testosterone level of less than 2.5 nanomoles per liter of blood for 24 months in order to compete. Both sports have grappled with public pushback to their respective rulebooks for either being too lax or too restrictive.

Rice is well aware of the cultural and political context in which he and the ISA are working. But he’s also confident in the thoroughness of their research and discussion, which along with science experts also included athlete representatives.

“We want to be as inclusive as we can and we want to be as fair as we can,” said Rice. “Sometimes you can’t be 100 percent inclusive and also 100 percent fair. So you have to say, ‘Okay, what’s the most reasonable thing to do, all things considered?’”

For Lowerson, being thrust to the centerÌęof the debate has produced a wide range of emotions. While she said comments like Hamilton’s are disappointing, she also frequently gets messages from trans and nonbinary surfers who have been inspired by her story to continue with the sport.

“Growing up, not having an ambassador as such—a role model—that had led the way was a big reason for me not to take that first step [and transition] for so many years,” she said.

Lowerson says that she struggled with mental and physical health problems before deciding to transition at age 40. As a teenager, she began to feel that her body didn’t match her identity.

“I knew I was meant to be a girl,” she said. “‘Why is my body deceiving me?’ was the thing I used to say all the time.”

Over the years, she tried to transition a handful of times. At each juncture, she was stymied by psychologists, medical policies, and legal hurdles. Most of all, she feared losing the thing she loved most: competitive surfing. She’d started competing as a child, testing her mettle at the junior level before moving on to the WSL longboard tour, where she continued to compete as an adult.

Yet, contests also forced her to confront her struggle with identity. Of those early events, she said, “You’re going out to a heat and they’re calling the names out. I always hated my name because it reflected a male persona.”

“It would reflect in how I would compete,” she continued. “I would either go out and be mind-numb and not even catch waves. Or put really good scores on the board because I would have blocked it out. That was quite hard.”

But in 2020, she reached a breaking point, and says she tried to kill herself. “That was the catalyst for me to go, You either be you or you die. And I don’t want to die,” Lowerson said.

That year, she began a medical and social transition. In early 2021, Lowerson called Surfing Australia to inform them of her new name and offer to help teach them about trans issues. She didn’t plan to compete again, but hoped she could create a safe space for the next generation, for the type of woman that she could have been.

The organization, it turned out, was more than a few steps ahead. Months prior, officials had engaged an advocacy group called Pride in Sport to help guide them on how to be more informed about and inclusive of gender-diverse athletes. By the time Lowerson called, internal education had already begun.

“They were leaps and bounds ahead of where I thought they would have been,” Lowerson said. “To already have had training in how to use pronouns properly was really refreshing. Especially in light of how misogynistic the surf industry can be. It was amazing.”

For now, as the sole known trans competitor in professional surfing, Lowerson is a central figure in the coverage and discussion of trans inclusion in the sport. For some, like Hamilton, her presence presents a threat. For those advocating in favor of transgender rights, her presence reflects respect.

“We look at these attacks that are attempting to restrict the participation of transgender girls and women in sports as really an attack on trans girls’ and women’s humanity,” said Joanna Hoffman, the director of communications for Athlete Ally, an organization working to end homophobia and transphobia in athletics. “Everyone deserves to be who they are in all parts of their life and that should include sports.”

Hoffman thinks that testosterone levels are not the only determinant of athletic ability—a belief also held by some who oppose trans inclusion in women’s sports. But she sees training, access to coaching and gear, skill, and tactics as even more important.

“There are so many things that make someone a good athlete, and to reduce it to testosterone is also an insult to athletes who work really hard,” she said.

Lowerson, meanwhile, is savoring her unexpected return to the surf lineup. In March, she competed in the WSL’s Noosa Longboard Pro, where her run ended in the quarterfinals. șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű of competition, she’s also been enjoying her role in expanding trans inclusion in surf. In March, she joined forces with otherÌę likeminded surfers and allies to create , a collective to support trans athletes.

As for the WSL and other surf organizations’ policies, Lowerson sees good intent—and works in progress. “I believe they’ve done a good job so far. Trans athletes are here and here to stay.”

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If you’re a surfer, you’ve dreamed of riding Kelly Slater’s perfect—and private—man-made waves in Lemoore, California. A steady stream of highlight reels and competitions have been run at the protype of theÌę15-million-gallon pool since its unveiling in 2015, and, despite a seemingly constant arms race of wave-pool technology across the world, it is still widely considered the best man-made waveÌęon the planet.Ìę

The only wayÌęto ride the waves at Lemoore is by invitation through the World Surf League, the sport’s professional governing body, which bought the facility in 2016, or by rentingÌęthe entire place for a full day for $50,000, according to . To date, only a small fraction of the surf world has gotten a crack at the barreling, nearly one-minute-long waves. To say that demand is high is an understatement: most surfers would drown their best friend for a chance to tryÌęone of the ruler-straight waves.

Well, you may finally get your shot (without drowning your buddy). On February 25, plans were revealed for a $200 million development in California’s Coachella Valley called Coral Mountain. The new facilityÌęwill feature Kelly Slater Wave Company technology but will be used for a bigger, 18-million-gallon poolÌęand as the “world’s largest man-made wave.”

The new project is backed by Meriwether CompaniesÌęand Big Sky Wave Developments, the latter of which is a real estate development company started by Michael Schwab, son of Charles Schwab, who is also a surfer and who “originally invested with Kelly in 2013 for [his]Ìęown personal surfing progression,” according to the .ÌęÌę

Meriwether Companies partner Noah Hahn says the pool’s surf will be very similar to that found atÌęLemoore, and that reporting of the “largest man-made wave” has been inaccurate. The basin and ride time (2,000 feet and about 50 seconds, respectively) will be close to the same as the prototype, but there will be extended pools at the ends of the basin for secondary—and easier-to-ride—waves to form.

Hahn saysÌęthe basin will be able to handle a capacity of 25 surfers at a time. This seems like it might be a stretch. I surfed in Lemoore with four peopleÌęand wouldn’t have wanted any more than that. The capacity will largely depend on what those end pools look like and the quality of those waves. Most likely they will feature softer reform dribblers more suitable to beginners than advanced surfers.

The 400-acre site in the town of La Quinta, a two-and-a-half-hour driveÌęfrom Los Angeles, will feature a 150-room hotel and up to 600 homes for sale, ranging from $1 to $5 million dollars, according to the AP. The development will also include ponds for paddleboarding, mountain-bike trails, a climbing gym, and skateboarding runs, according to Hahn.Ìę

Access to the pool and these other facilities will be exclusive to those staying at the site’s hotels and toÌęmembers, residents, and their guests. In other words, if you’reÌęnot a member or homeowner, you’llÌęhave to rent a room in the hotel and then pay for the wave by the hour.Ìę

“The analog for this is a golf course with a hotel and private membership,” Hahn says. “We want our messaging to be inclusive as opposed to exclusive. There’s not enough capacity to open it to the public for day use, but if you stay at the hotel, you can get on the wave.”

Hahn said they’re not ready to comment on what it would cost to rent a room or surf for an hour, but if the prices of the homes are any indication, it will still be quite costly for the average surfer. And with only 25 surfers allowed in the pool at a time, I’d bet that the coveted spots will sell out faster than you can pop up on a wave.Ìę

Construction is slated to begin in 2021, with its opening planned for 2022. According to the Desert Sun, that makes Coral Mountain , two of which are backed by other well-known pro surfers like C.J. Hobgood and Kalani Robb, albeit using different technologies.Ìę

The exclusive nature of Slater’s wave technology will certainly play into the new development’s demand. HisÌęwave is created by a giant hydrofoil (imagine an underwater wing) pulled along by some 150 truck tires. As it moves forward, it pushes water ahead of it and onto shallow portions of the basin, where the wave then breaks. The waveÌęis long and nearly flawless—but the machine only makes one every four minutes. One right, then one left, then one right, and so on for a day.ÌęThat’s only 15 waves an hour, or 120 in eight.Ìę

, one of the other pools being built just up the road in Palm Desert and slated to open in 2022, will use , which already powersÌęfacilities in Europe and Australia. That tech can create up to 1,000 waves an hour, with rides of up to 16 seconds (still far longer than an average ocean wave). These pools can host far more surfers, with far more on-wave time and, as a result, will likely be less expensive. But they’re still not the best man-made waveÌęin the world.Ìę

Four wave-riding facilities moving forward in one valley is interestingÌębut not surprising. Given the proximity to the L.A. sprawl and its economy, plus Southern California’sÌęvibrant surf cultureÌęand its crowded lineups, it was only a matter of time. There’s a reason the greater Palm Springs area has over 100 golf courses: it’s sunny more than 300 days a year and there’s plenty of accumulated wealth within driving distance. Now it looks like this slice of desert will be a surf destination for those who like their waves chlorinated.

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Last week, a video of people hydrofoiling off Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, California, made the internet rounds.

Even when the hydrofoilers zoom directly over the animals, the sharks don’t seem to care.ÌęSince drones became a ubiquitous sightÌęoff beaches and piers, amatuer filmmakers have been capturing videos like these and sending them to the media, who, in the words of Chris Lowe, professor of marine biology and director of the Shark Lab at California State University atÌęLong Beach, “.” People tend to get a bit freaked out when they realize how close we can unwittingly come to some of nature’s most refined predators.ÌęÌę

TheÌęShark Lab has started to use drone footage to study why sharks, often baby or pregnant ones, tend to hang out in shallow waters as well as how they behave when they encounter humans.Ìę

“We have a lot of footage and anecdotal evidence of sharks swimming around where humans play, and as long as people aren’t harassing them, the sharks just don’t care,” says Lowe.Ìę

And often “the surfers don’t even notice,” he says. For example, pro surfer Kelly SlaterÌędidn’t seem to be aware of a shark thatÌę his GoPro footage in 2014.Ìę

Lowe hopes to have data on sharks’ attitudes toward close-proximity humans in a couple of years. For now, “when there are a lot of people and sharks in shallow water together, most of the timeÌęnothing happens,” he says. However, swimming in groups and avoiding the water at dawn and dusk can reduce your risk of encountering sharks, friendly or not.Ìę

In withdrawal after the end of ? Here’s even more drone footage:

Sharks Approach SurfersÌę

Sharks Circle Surfers in South Africa

Tiger Shark Passes by Swimmers in Miami

Sharks and Surfers Within Feet of Each Other

Surfer Falls onto a Shark

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A few months ago, , Kelly Slater’s surf-fashion-eco-concious apparel company, launched its first ever women’s line. And we, the women editors of șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű, are here to tell you that the collectionÌęreally, really rocks.

I tend to be skeptical of outdoorÌęcompanies’ forays into the world of lifestyle apparel. The end result, especially for women, tends to be too beige and too boxy.ÌęGranted, Outerknown is known for making sharp-looking, wearable men’s stuff, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the quality of the women’s clothes. But still, it’s rare for a company to nail a brand-new collection for lady shreddersÌęand that is absolutely what Outerknown appears to have done.

A few weeks ago, the company shipped a box of eight products to our Santa Fe office for our staff to test. (We did not specifically request this gear, nor did we pay for it.) We did happily wear the clothing throughout the month and found that it appears uniformly well made (durable, sturdy fabric that’s still soft and supple) and that the cuts were fun and cute.

Take my favorite piece, the . If Carhartt partnered with Lululemon to make a full-length jumpsuit, I imagine you’d get something like Outerknown’s S.E.A. It’s made from a mix of cotton and linen, which makes for fabric that looks burly, yet feels buttery. I can’t imagine I’m going to run into any wear issues with this thing, at least not for years. I’ve worn it to work, then into my garden, and it’s ideally suited to both places. Do I look like a mechanic? A little bit, yeah. But at least I feel like a sexy one when I’m in it.

Really, the only obvious flaw we’ve seen across the collection is in sizing: many pieces seem to run pretty small and I’d suggest sizing up if you’re thinking of buying. The extra-small and small seem to run fairly true to size, but the medium and large were tiny. One of our editors ended up with a large cropped sweatshirt, even though she almost exclusively wears medium in other brands. I guess that’s the skinny surf industry for you.Ìę

Here’s what the other editors had to say about the pieces they tried.

Vintage S.E.A. Tee ($48)

I’m always on the hunt for chic basics that will last. checks all the boxes: high quality, a nice cut, and thoughtfully made. The Vintage S.E.A. Tee—that stands for Social and Environmental Accountability, referring to the ethical standards behind its manufacture—is knit and dyed in Los Angeles, and sewn in Mexico in a Fair Trade Certified facility, meaning the makers have been paid a premium to produce it.Ìę—Ali Van Houten, editorial fellow

Currents Dress ($128)

is lightweight and flowy, and the fabric is semi-sheer—all things that add up to keeping you cool on warm days. Plus, it’s super cute, with big bell sleeves. The dress is made entirely of organic cotton, which uses less pesticides than conventional cotton. —AV

Solstice Hoodie ($118)

I wear everywhere from at the climbing gym to the office. At first, I was a little skeptical of how the shorter crop would look on my long torso (I'm 5’11”), but the sleeves fit perfectly and the mid-section hits just below my bellybutton—I wear a workout tank underneath for a layered look. The Solstice is fitted enough that it’s flattering but baggy enough that it hides my post-climbing burrito babies. —Abigail Wise, online managing editor

Costa Shirt ($98)

This is . Wear it with black pants and flats to dress it up or denim cut-offs to dress it down. Plus, the linen-nylon blend looks even better a little wrinkled, ideal for tossing it into the bottom of a suitcase. —AW

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Mission Workshop Anaga ($180)

When you’re charging hard, the last thing you want is to get tangled up in your shorts. These slim-fit bottoms were the stretch­iest in the test, thanks to a nylon-­elastane blend that allows you to squat and pop up on a surfboard without restriction.

Vans Surf ($100)

Like the Anaga, Vans’s latest is beautifully unobtrusive. It ditches the fly for reduced bulk and features low-profile taped seams. Most important, the waist adjustment is on the hip, so there’s nothing bumpy between you and your board when paddling.

Toad&Co Cetacean Block ($70)

UPF 50 protection and pajama-soft polyester-spandex fabric make these perfect for long days lounging in the sun. On the inside, a bumpy weave helps lift the fabric from your skin for better airflow.

Outerknown Apex by Kelly Slater ($145)

Our favorite daily driver, this sleek suit ­features bonded seams, so there are no stitches to chafe. Laser-cut holes on the sides and back pocket drain water for quick drying.

Patagonia Stretch Hydroflow ($119)

The lightest, most packable boardies we tested, the Hydroflow is ideal for warm waters. Cut from featherweight recycled polyester and spandex and given a DWR coating, they don’t hang heavy when drenched. Plus, the colorful pattern looks great around town after a day on the water.

Howler Brothers Waveform ($59)

For pure toughness, these burly trunks win big, with a cotton-poly material that holds its shape so you don’t wind up with a waistband full of sand. As a bonus, four pockets (two with button closures) hold wallet, keys, and other sundries for after-session cervezas.

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Never mind the surfing for the moment—just take in his physical presence. At 21, Kelly Slater looked as if he’d been cloned from a bead of Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock sweat. Today, at 46, he can out-handsome Jason Statham. At 70, he will be three-quarters Paul Newman and (sun damage taking its bitter toll) one-quarter Iggy Pop.Ìę

We looked at Slater a lot in 2017, as he says it will be hisÌę. And as we looked, we pondered many Slater-related stats and metrics, ranging from the wondrous to the surreal, beginning with his 11 world titles spread across a 29-year run as a professional. Then there are his 55 World Tour wins, seven Pipeline Masters victories, and 19 Surfer Poll Awards. The list goes on. Break Slater’s career into two pieces, right around the year 2000, and he’d be both the first and second winningest surfer on the tour. Or try this. When ­Slater made his pro debut in 1990, current world champ John John Florence was negative two years old. Florence today gets the kind of rave reviews Slater did in his unbeatable prime. Still,Ìę­Slater holds an eight to five advantage in head-to-head matches against his young rival. In August 2016, when the two met in a final, in coral-­grinding barrels at Tea­hupoo, Tahiti, Slater did everything but take Florence over his knee for a fatherly spanking on the way to an easy win.

Meanwhile, with theÌęÌęand itsÌęmachine-made, pool-spawned, endlessly replicable perfect surf, Slater has performed the wave rider’s equivalent of solving cold fusion while simultaneously driving the sport into its first existential crisis. The rarity of good waves, and the eternal chess game a surfer must play to be in the right place at the right time to catch them, has ­always defined surfing, shaped it, given it character. The pursuit is 98 percent longing, 2 per­cent fulfillment. To surf is to suffer. Thus, on December 18, 2015, when Slater dropped a surprise video debut of his freakishly perfect wave, located in the manure-scented flats of Lemoore, California, the surf world froze on its axis. Wave scarcity is over. Or it will be at some now visible point in the future.Ìę

. Watch it again. There’s Slater at daybreak, looking like a million bucks in a winter jacket and wool cap, breathing steam, standing at the foot of his pool, waiting to get a look at his machine operating at full strength. The wave comes, but we don’t see it. The camera stays tight on ­Slater as his eyes go wide, his mouth breaks into a huge, shocked grin, and he lifts his arms, saying “Oh, my God!” It’s a joyous moment. And maybe a little chilling. Slater jumps up and down and starts laughing the laugh of a man who has changed his sport forever.

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This film is the second installment of a multi-part documentary seriesÌęexploring the life of . In this film, Slater competesÌęat as part of the . During a warmup session, however, Slater injures his foot taking him out of the competition.

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On December 15 last year, Kelly Slater made a key addition to his surfing rĂ©sumĂ©. That day he released a of himself gliding through a series of squat, glassy barrels. In the clip, the waves come one after another, and they’re perfect. They ought to be—they were the product of ten years of R&D by the Kelly Slater Wave Company in California’s Central Valley.Ìę

“It was the most incredible bit of surf pornography we’d ever seen,” says Jess Ponting, head of San ­DiegoÌęState University’s . “It was a one-video paradigm shift.” Artificial waves have been around for decades (see “A Brief History of Surf Parks,” below), but they’ve been puny—more gimmick than game changer. Slater’s may be the first that serious surfers actually want to ride. But his company is just one of at least a half-dozen racing to bring surf pools to those willing to pay to ride a consistent break—even if the ocean didn’t produce it.

“You could call it a wave war,” says Robert Reynolds, an investment banker and consultant who specializes in surf parks. “Within the industry, there’s quite a bit of drama.”

One of the men on the front lines is entrepreneur Doug Coors, who’s currently completing the , Texas. NLand uses technology from a Spanish company called ­Wavegarden, and its six-footers are good for 35-second rides through Texas Hill Country. (The waves in Slater’s video appear to be about four feet.) The park will also offer a barbecue pit and a brewery. “It’s the first of many we’ll develop,” says Coors. Slater, for his part, has been linked to plans for a park on San Diego’s waterfront.Ìę

Building a surf park isn’t cheap—each pool costs about $20 million—but at least a dozen of them are scheduled to open inÌęthe next few years in Russia, Spain, and ­Hawaii, among other locations. The snapped up Slater’s company this spring for an undisclosed sum, and there’s talk of adding a competition park to the World Tour or ­including artificial waves in future Olympics. “There are so many surfers in the world and a finite number of great spots,” says Wayne Bartholomew, former president of the Association of Surfing Professionals. “Being able to produce a wave that breaks 24/7 is really appealing.”Ìę

At least it’s appealing to businessmen. “Surfing’s more fulfilling in the ocean,” says Australian board shaper (and park designer) Greg Webber. “But when it’s beautiful and predictable, there’s a crowd.” Surf parks are geared toward people who may live hundreds of miles from the coast but want to try getting on a board. Promoters and entrepreneurs have been trying to reach those potentially lucrative customers for decades, with little success. What’s different now, says Tom Lochtefeld, owner of , is the technology. “It’s a space race,” he says.

Lochtefeld spent millions pursuing tech similar to Slater’s, which works by dragging an underwater sled across the bottom of the pool at a rapid clip. The ­resulting wave is beautiful, but riders must wait 90 seconds for the next one to roll by. That might be a problem from a business standpoint. Fewer waves per minute could mean fewer customers. Lochtefeld thinks he has a solution, in the form of a scale model that sits in hisÌęSan Diego office. Perfect peelers—albeit only six inches tall—roll down a 40-foot-long tank every eight seconds, pushed along by puffs of air from pneumatic engines. The company plans to turn a canal in the Dutch city of Rotterdam into a wave pool and to use the technology at a park outside Bristol, England.

But a firm called , located just north of San ­Diego, is trying to beat him to it. “Lochtefeld says that pneumatics are the greatest thing, but he didn’t even invent the system,” says Bruce McFarland, who owns AWM with his wife, ­Marie. Seventeen years ago, McFarland worked forÌęLochtefeld, and the breakup was not a cleanÌęone. After McFarland left Wave Loch, Lochte­feld filed for patent infringement. His suit was eventually thrown out, but the experience rankled the McFarlands, even as they have their own plans to open a three-pool park outside New York City next year.Ìę

What differentiates AWM’s pneumatic system from the technologies used by Wave Loch and Slater, McFarland says, is that it’s customizable. “I’d call Kelly’s wave a point break, and it’s great,” says pro surfer Cheyne Magnusson, who is on retainer with AWM. “But here it’s pretty much wherever your imagination can take you. For a surfer, that’s mind-blowing.”

By way of demonstration, Magnusson grabs an iPad wired into a tank and ­begins firing off a series of vacuum chambers, which can shoot air at any ­angle. “I can hit all the chambers at once and make a big closeout, or do them in succession and make a simulated point, or do a combo swell where you shoot them at each other and make a peak,” says Magnusson. “It really gives you the kinds of dynamics the ocean throws at you. The first time I tried it, they had to drag me away.”Ìę

The industry is betting big that consumers will feel the same way. “People are ready,” says McFarland. “They saw the Slater wave. Now they want to know what’s next.”

A Brief History of Surf Parks

1969: Big Surf, the first wave park in theÌęU.S., opens in Tempe, Arizona.

1985: The first surfing competition on an artificial wave takes place, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

1993: șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű heralds theÌę“latest trend.”

2012: Pro Sally Fitzgibbons learns to stickÌęa reverse aerial at Wadi Adven­ture, a park outside Dubai.

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Last October 17 was a mixed day for surfing on the west coast of Portugal. On the south side of Peniche, a small oval-shaped rocky peninsula poking out into the Atlantic, winds were gusting onshore at about 25 knots, leading organizers of the , the penultimate event in the 11-contest , to call for the fifth lay day in a row as they waited for conditions to improve. Things were better on the north side, so many of the pro surfers who had come to town for the event went to a beach there to chase down the occasional barreling swells. Among them, Kelly Slater, at age 42 the oldest competitor on the tour by six years, was probably the least enthusiastic.

“I had it in my head space that I was going to go golfing,” Slater told me a few weeks ­later. “It looked really hard to find a good wave.”

A friend encouraged Slater to at least get in the water, telling him that they would just catch a couple and then come in if it wasn’t any fun. So they pulled on their wetsuits and paddled out into the head-high sets. After a few minutes, Slater scored a little tube.

A couple of minutes later, he dropped into his second wave, turning to face it as he raced under the folding crest. In front of him, the wave began to crumble. It was going to be a short ride. Back on the beach, , a 20-year-old California pro known for aerial acrobatics, had told Slater that the strong offshore winds made it possible to catch huge air if you launched off the top of a wave. Slater figured this was a chance to try something new.

He was surfing at a high speed, and as he approached the tumbling whitewater, Slater crouched low and spread out his arms, coiling his upper body and aiming for the lip. He shot skyward and began spinning, his board now higher than his head. He went around once, then kept going, completing another half-rotation and landing backward in a sea of froth with his board pointing toward the shore. Then he spun another 180 degrees in the water and stood up.

Shortly after, . Four hours later, a professionally shot video that included commentary by Slater and other pros who were on hand in Portugal was on YouTube. The surf world erupted. Comments sections on surf websites lit up with a debate over whether the trick was a 540 or 720. A few younger pros had come close to landing something similar over the past year, but none had pulled it off. Nobody would have predicted that Slater would be the one to do it—especially not on his first try.

Slater was barraged with dozens of texts from pros expressing admiration or indignation. Industry pundits contemplated whether it was the greatest aerial in the history of the sport. A technical breakdown of the maneuver by skating legend Tony Hawk circulated. Mainstream media outlets like , , and reported on the “mind-blowing” stunt.

With a single stunning move on an unremarkable wave, Kelly Slater had shown the world that the bald geezer of competitive surfing was still its undisputed king. For the next month, nothing else that happened in the sport really mattered.

Slater caught his first wave when he was five years old, near his hometown of Cocoa Beach, Florida. He won his first world title in 1992, at age 20, making him the youngest champion in surfing history. He captured five titles in a row between 1994 and 1998, got bored and went into semi-retirement for a few years, singing lead for an acoustic rock band called the , then came back to win five more titles, the most recent in 2011, when he beat his own record for being the oldest champion in the sport’s history. In 2012 and 2013, he finished in second place, both times narrowly losing out in the points race in the final event of the season, the Pipeline Masters, on the North Shore of Oahu. In December, he arrived at Pipeline in third place, clinging to an outside chance at a world title.

Other superstars have had successes in their late thirties and early forties, but none have retained their potency like Slater. On any given day, he’s still the best surfer in the world. What he did on that windy day in Portugal would have been like Michael Jordan winning the NBA slam-dunk contest while playing for the Washington Wizards—if Jordan was also still contending for a championship and an MVP award.

“There is no precedent for what he does, in surfing or in any other sport—period,” says Matt Warshaw, author of . “I don’t have time to listen to people talk about any other athlete in any other decade or century. What Slater has done for as long as he’s done it, he’s on a level by himself and he can’t even see who’s in second place.”

When he was younger, Slater dominated surfing contests with his technical precision, innovation, and ruthless competitive drive. He rode waves faster than everyone else and artfully mixed new-school aerial tricks with the fluid style that had long defined the upper echelon of the sport. But as he’s confessed many times, he was a miserable winner. Surfing was Slater’s escape from an unhappy childhood—his mother kicked his alcoholic father out of the house when Slater was 11—and he channeled his anger into a brash win-at-all-costs approach. It worked, but the other guys on the World Tour resented him, and Slater could barely stand himself. After watching him take advantage of a technical rule to win the finals of the 1996 U.S. Open in Huntington, California, the crowd of some 50,000 welcomed Slater back to the beach with a ­chorus of boos. “I had such a feeling of emptiness and loneliness back then,” he says. “I wanted to win so badly that it got in the way of other things.”

Since the end of his first retirement, in 2002, Slater has worked at cultivating a more balanced approach to life and surfing. The first time I interviewed him, in 2005, he was deep into a process of self-reflection and emotional recovery, spurred in part by the death of his father three years earlier. He spoke openly about trying to identify patterns in his personal life and teared up a couple of times when talking about the kindness of people close to him. When I spoke to Slater several years later, he had settled into a more relaxed existence but seemed ready to be done with the battle mentality required to be a champion. Now he appears to have found a middle ground.

“It’s really like a Zen practice,” he says. “For most elite athletes, a personal challenge feeds their desire to be good at something. So to get to a point where you’re happy and you’re still able to push yourself competitively, you have to find different reasons.”

But having a cooler head doesn’t ­explain how Slater has managed to hold onto his physical skills into his forties. Warshaw points out that, as surfers age, the critical thing they lose is the ability to stand up quickly and cleanly the moment they catch a wave. “You start popping to your feet a little bit more slowly, and your position on the board isn’t perfect the way it used to be, maybe your weight is shifted just a tiny bit off-center,” he explains. “Now you have to make corrections. Everything you were able to do as a great surfer isn’t out of the question, but you have to get things together right away to make it happen, because you have less time. And once you start thinking about that, you get the yips.

“But it’s never happened to Slater,” Warshaw adds with astonishment. “It doesn’t seem possible.”

There are, of course, other older athletes who’ve been able to defy or at least postpone the inevitable declines that come with age. According to Hirofumi Tanaka, director of the Cardiovascular Aging Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, most of them follow what he calls the Formula One approach. “Formula One drivers have 20 peo­ple working on their car during pit stops,” says Tanaka, who points to swimmer Dara Torres as a prime example of someone using this resource-intensive system. “It’s the same for aging elite athletes. They have dieticians, doctors, massage therapists, personal trainers, strength-conditioning specialists—it’s a whole army of helpers trying to maintain and enhance their performance.”

Slater is not one to be this regimented. His wandering answers to questions about fitness reveal his interest in all kinds of practices—jujitsu, CrossFit, freediving—but ultimately the guy just surfs a lot. He does follow his own downsized, DIY version of the Formula One approach, reading obsessively about health and nutrition and tapping trusted practitioners when in need. “I get beat up and go looking for help,” he says.

Slater does almost no dry-land training—no weight rooms or beach calisthenics. He’s a big believer in the power of regular, deep-tissue bodywork, “where they walk on you and use their feet,” and has recently started traveling with a hard plastic roller with a vibrator inside that he uses to work out the kinks in his muscles. Recovery after a contest can mean a couple of weeks of no surfing at all. When he retreats to his Florida home (he also has properties in Hawaii and Australia), he’s likely to spend days by himself, doing nothing other than taking hot baths and listening to music.

The one thing that stands out in his otherwise low-key program is his yogi-style diet. Most days his breakfast is a homemade pudding made of chia seeds, raw nuts, goji berries, and yogurt. At home he makes his own almond milk in a blender, straining it through cheesecloth. He frequently drinks a concentrated dose of omega-3 fatty acids from marine algae. Over the past couple of years, he’s cut out almost all caffeine. When he’s traveling for surf contests, his “very big suitcase” is packed “half with clothes and half with food.” He even pays close attention to the texture of his stools: “If you’re going to the bathroom regularly, and it’s a healthy stool, your body is ­probably ­doing good.”

To surfers who have known Slater for a long time, the most amazing thing about him isn’t his enduring physical power but his motivation to continue competing on an 11-stop, round-the-world circuit with a pack of kids. “I have no idea how he does it,” says , who’s also 42 but left the World Tour after 11 years, citing burnout, to focus on big-wave surfing. “I think we’re all trying to figure that out.”

It may simply be that he still enjoys it. “I’m healthy, and I’m competing with guys who are literally half my age or less,” he adds. “I don’t personally tie anything to that. I don’t care what my age is. These are my peers, and I’m surfing against them. If they have a problem that I’m older, then go ahead and beat me.”

So what happens when an athlete’s skills don’t erode with age?

The short answer is that he can do things nobody else can do. Slater has spent 37 years surfing waves, accruing experiences in incredibly difficult situations—in midair, inside giant tubes. Like crafty veterans in other sports, he sees opportunities for moves that the young guns don’t and has an ever growing bag of tricks to pull from. But unlike, say, a seasoned baseball pitcher who has added a few pitches to his arsenal but lost some pop on his fastball, Slater still has his best stuff.

Which means that we’re likely going to witness more surprise aerial tricks and, when the 2015 championship hunt gets going next spring, more performances like the one he put on back in August, during the semifinals of a World Tour event at Teahupoo, the dangerous reef break in Tahiti. Slater was surfing against , the then 21-year-old Hawaiian wunderkind who’s been hyped for years as the next Slater. Teahupoo was doing its thing, cranking out thick barrels of emerald water that offered up short, thrilling rides before thundering onto the reef. Florence caught the first wave of the heat, went deep into the tube, stood tall for a moment, then came flying out the far end in a spray of whitewater. The crowd hooted, and the judges gave Florence a near perfect score of 9.9.

Slater paddled into the very next wave, taking a huge drop before grabbing the rail of his board and turning onto the face. The tube started to swallow him, at which point the proper move was to gun it for the exit and hope you don’t get thumped. That’s what every other surfer at the contest would have done. But Slater saw another possibility. He tucked low on his board and rode an arc toward the top of the wave, where he found a faster line. He rocketed out of the hole and threw his hands into the air, as if to say, Can you believe that? The judges couldn’t: they gave him a 10. He went on to beat Florence in what many consider the greatest heat in the history of competitive surfing.

For Slater, the rush from that kind of experience is the same as it's always been. “It just feels natural,” he says. “I get the affirmation that I'm doing what I was meant to do in life. When I landed that maneuver in Portugal, I felt like I was eight years old again and my dad was on the beach watching me do my first off the lip. It felt like I did something really special. And I was so stoked.”

Michael Roberts () is an executive editor at șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű.

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