What's Kelly Slater's Best Session?

5. Proximity (2017)

John John Florence and Kelly trading off in pristine blue barrels with not another soul in sight? Check, please. “I really wanted to align surfers who were kindred spirits,” Taylor said. “And Kelly and John John going to the middle of the South Pacific where no one else was going to be out was the inspiration for that.” “It was sort of magic to watch Kelly lock into his competitive nature,” Taylor said. “He’s surfing against a younger surfer who’s sort of the next version of him, but he’s also still on top.”

4. Here and Now (2012)

Kelly goes off the grid right before he’s scheduled to surf for a single-day movie part. Low and beyond, he was on a plane to Fiji, arguably his favorite place in the world. Cloudbreak was firing and stole top honors in the film. Kelly even strummed guitar for the soundtrack, too. “Like everything with Kelly, if he’s not in and he doesn’t want to do it, it’s tough pulling teeth,” Taylor said. “And once he’s in a little bit, he’s all in.”

3. Loose Change (1999)

Taylor leaned into the skits and story, while Kelly continued to lean on his rail. He gets barreled at a glorious run of swell in the Mentawai Islands after picking up fast food in his convertible (how’s that wig?) “He’s always trying to tweak his body and twist it to find these lines,” Taylor said. “For me, there are some moments in the film where I think of Kelly at his peak.”

2. Momentum (1992)

This was back when 18-year-olds rode 6’8” instead of 5’8.” But no matter for Kelly, Benji Weatherly, Shane Dorian, Taylor Knox, Ross Williams, Rob Machado, Pat O’Connell and the vanguards of the Momentum Generation.“What I love about that is that it draws out his surfing,” Taylor recalled. “He’s so powerful he’s able to sort of draw these different lines with these boards and push hard and it holds through. There are so many moments in that film where he’s completely ripping and the boards are really long. 

1. Soup Bowls for Campaign 2 (2005) and Sipping Jetstreams (2006)

Like everyone else, Kelly deserves to have surf by themselves. But it’s a good thing he urged Taylor at the last minute to fly on five planes through the Caribbean to Barbados, where an all-time swell was hitting Soup Bowl. A big ask by Kelly, and a roll of the financial dice for Taylor. But as you'll see, it paid off.

“It was magic,” Taylor said. “We filmed it and captured every bit of it. It was his best day. I went to that spot with him like 20 years previous. It was sort of this synergy of his peak, favorite session of all time, I’m filming it, we’ve been coming here that many times. That (was a) reward for working together all these years.”