Kelly Slater's Next Ride

The most accomplished surfer on the planet is creating a suite of global brands based on sustainability and imagination.

- Tim Struby

In the predawn chill of December 5, 2015, Kelly Slater pulled on his wetsuit, grabbed his board, and dove into the water. Although Slater, an 11-time World Champion surfer, had taken a similar predawn plunge countless times before, this morning was different.With onlookers that included fellow World Surf League pros Nat Young and women’s champion Carissa Moore, the 44-year-old paddled out and caught a wave that may turn out to have been the most ground breaking ride of his life. Carving up and down the face with the smooth slashes of a fencer’s blade, Slater dipped into the wave’s barrel. There, crouched in what surfers call the “green room,” Slater rode for what seemed like an eternity.

As he emerged from the tube, he triumphantly threw up his arms while the crowd cheered, because this was no ordinary wave. Slater wasn’t in the Pacific Ocean but rather 110 miles inland, on a man-made lake in California’s San Joaquin Valley. And the wave wasn’t a product of Mother Nature but of Slater himself. Through the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC), the surfer and entrepreneur has spearheaded a decade-long quest to build the perfect artificial wave. He had a vision of bringing surfing to landlocked states and countries and, in doing so, revolutionizing the sport. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since 2005,” he said in a video posted that December. “This is the best man-made wave ever made.”

Vision has always been an integral part of Slater’s success. Growing up in Cocoa Beach, Florida, he and his older brother, Sean, with whom he surfed, did not have the luxury of big West Coast swells. That meant making the most of smaller surf, seeing something—a spot for an aerial, a chance for one last cutback— where others saw little.