Yeah, especially when you're always the one winning and getting what you want. Do you ever look at those guys like Rob, who never got their title despite arguably deserving it? Is there any sadness for you, that you amassed six through those years and those guys never got even one?

I don't know. Looking back, there's been these guys who are runner-up. Taj [Burrow] was once or twice, Parko [Joel Parkinson], Elko a bunch of times, Cheyne [Horan] a bunch of times, Rob once or twice... Those are all guys who fit into the history of our sport, and they each have their own place. But at the same time, the results you get in life are part of your journey, part of what makes you who you are, allows you to learn things about yourself. If you're winning a lot, or all the time, or more than you should or something, that also can be hard when you have it. Which I experienced competitively, and I experienced personally too, on different levels, with relationships and different things. The flip side of it is, if you have someone who gets really close, but doesn't quite obtain that, there's a whole different lesson for them.

If you look at it right, it's no worse or better. But from a career standpoint obviously it's nice to get that win. As a competitor, I'd never give some of those up. But at the same time, I'd like to have seen Rob win his title. I'd like to have seen Cheyne Horan win his title...

But obviously you had a much more direct effect over whether Rob won his, versus whether Cheyne Horan won his. So how about these people who say your dominance hasn't been good for the sport. What would you say to that?

I don't know. Has it not been, is that the case? I don't know... When anyone holds a solid place in a sport for a long time, is that good or bad? I don't know how to answer that. Probably the most dominant person ever in any sport is Tiger Woods. He's been number one in the world, except for a month or two, for, like, eight or 10 years. And I don't see that as having hurt golf.

No, it's been great for golf.

For any sport to capitalize on what's happening... I did say once that rivalries are really important, but it's also how it's marketed and presented to people. It's a weird thing to talk about when it's me. It's easier to look at things from an outside perspective and be fair and unbiased.

Last year wasn't the easiest year for you competitively. It seemed like guys kept having the heat of their life against you every single contest.

[Long pause.] Good for them [laughs]... That's a compliment, to be able to somehow pull that out of guys. If I lose a heat and some guy went off, I don't get mad at all. I get a little frustrated at opportunities missed, like Teahupo'o was a huge opportunity missed...[but] there's something for me to learn from it. I look back now and see not everything is going to go my way this year. The first couple [events] did, but sometimes things go against you. You have to learn something from that, pick up and see where it takes you.

Is there motivation in those missed opportunities?

I don't know. I've been thinking about it. If I were to win a ninth title this year, everybody and their brother would have spoken for my next year already, saying I have to go for 10. So there's a part of me that almost doesn't want to win, for that reason. It puts me on tour for another year at least, trying, and then if I don't win, what? What if I came close? What if I were to win nine, and then potentially the next year come sorta close, and I'm looking at 38 years old... Eighteen years of doing the same thing every year gets old.

It seems like it would be almost impossible to be immune to the pressures and expectations that come along with all of it.

Sometimes it does feel like that; when you have a schedule, it does feel like a job. How many people out there have the same job for 18 years? Do the same thing every year? Eventually you feel like you're over it. At that point you have to be in the moment more than you have been.

It's a real challenge to find the right way out.

Yeah, what's the right way? Do I wait 'til I'm losing and then get out?

The problem with going out on top is that you're still on top. You know you can still win; you did it the last contest. It would be hard to walk away when you know you can still do it.

Yeah, yeah. And the other thing that comes up with that is...there are very few pro surfers who have retired well. And I'm not talking about financial gains or anything, I'm talking about, there's been such a reluctance from a lot of guys in terms of setting their lives straight, knowing what they want in terms of what's after pro surfing. The idea of not holding on to something. Making that choice and moving on to something else you love. Going for it.

Do you ever think you'd be involved with pro surfing post-retirement, helping shape the sport, like, say, Rabbit [ASP President Wayne Bartholomew] has?

I'm actually quite passionate about certain aspects of helping change the competitive side of surfing, the sport of it, but I really doubt I'd do it as a job. I'd do it more for fun, to help out.

One of the biggest issues--I'd assume you'd notice after doing it this long--is intellectual suffocation. Don't take this wrong, but in the surf industry you're dealing with stupid people on a daily basis.

[Slater laughs.]

At least that's been my experience.

Have you found somewhere in the world where there's no stupid people?

Well, in certain fields stupidity is a barrier to entry. And that's not the case in surfing, at least not working for the media or brands.

I'd argue that in professional surfing, at least the level I want to do it, there is a limit. Stupidity is a barrier. You can't achieve the greatest extent in what you want to do, whether it's surfing or nuclear physics, without having an open mind, being smart, being able to make good judgments and decisions about situations and observations of different viewpoints of things.

But one could argue that's another reason you've been as successful as you have been. It's not just about natural talent and competitiveness, it's about an intelligence that's lacking in some of the guys you've surfed against.

Well... Yeah, I guess. I won't say...

I'm saying it, not you. That's just my take on it.

[Slater laughs.]

Did you ever feel like you lost out on the chance to go to college, have those experiences?

Yeah, early on I thought about that. I thought about it at the time. But what comes around, goes around. My girlfriend now is going to college. I'm experiencing it through her.

The thing about school is you don't come out any more intelligent than you went in. You're the same person. I just got introduced to different stuff that I might otherwise not have been introduced to.

Most of the things people learn in college, they're not so passionate about. It's not because they wake up in the morning thinking about it, go to sleep thinking about it; it's because they have to get this piece of paper, pay off the loans they've spent years building up. It's not necessarily about the love you have for something; it's about the need. The "having to do something."

Yeah, most people don't love school like we love surfing. But even for me, being vaguely involved in the surf industry, I'll go through days where all I talk about is surfing. Every conversation. And when you finally meet someone who isn't a surfer, and you get to talk about something else, it's a relief. You're so happy not to have to talk about surfing anymore.

Do you know how often I want to tell people to f--k off 'cause they want to talk about surfing? [Laughs.] I'll meet someone and maybe they don't surf, maybe they sort of do, and all of a sudden they start asking me, "Oh, what was it like..." about competitions, my life, surfing... You have no idea how boring that is for me. You have no idea how uninteresting that sounds to me.

Which is the irony, of course, 'cause that's exactly what I've been doing for the last hour.

***

In the weeks after our interview, Slater's casual dominance continued, with another set of back-to-back victories in Fiji and South Africa. Amazingly, Kelly's win streak was not quite unprecedented - he'd won 4 out of 5 to begin the '97 season as well.

After J-Bay I asked Kelly if his current streak felt different: "That one back then actually felt easy. I guess when you win it is easy, sorta. Or it appears to be. It's just the same when you lose and winning seems so far from you. Certain choices take over your mind and make things easier or harder in life." Kelly also alluded to a common thread between both streaks - stability in his personal life. "When I won so much in '96 -'97, I was in a relationship and although not as content as I am today, I was more stable than I normally am," Kelly told me. "When I act from a good place my results have definitely been much better on every level."

With title number 9 seemingly in the bag, the question on everyone's mind is whether Slater will go for 10. "People are talking about next year already," Kelly acknowledged. "I like where it's at now." Kelly noted that he doesn't get to carry-over momentum from this year in any tangible way. "It sure would make the idea of going for 10 seem a little 'closer' but I still need to do work... We start a new year with 0 pts and number 1 is equal to number 45."

After stumbling in Indonesia, Slater recently returned to the winner's podium yet again with a win at Trestles - his 5th in 7 events. I spoke with Kelly on the podium, as the beer swollen crowd began to dissipate around us. There wasn't much to say, from a certain perspective - we both laughed for a moment at the sheer improbable ridiculousness of it all. No matter how dominate Slater had been through his career, his current streak seemed absurd.

I asked Kelly what had changed from a year ago, when his 2007 victory at the Boost had broke Tom Curren's all-time-wins record, ending Slater's personal victory drought. "I was stuck for 16 months without a win there, and now I've had five this year," Kelly told me. "Once you break that barrier for yourself it makes it easier; you're not thinking about it... It opened up the floodgate for me."