WL Rating
Sequencing is everything. About a year ago, I read Kelly’s other book For the Love and kind of slammed it for its absence of an intimate portrayal of Kelly. Well, it turns out that Pipe Dreams actually offers all the missing bits and then some. Written by Slater with the help of an editor, Pipe Dreams walks the reader through a detailed history of Kelly’s emergence as the world’s best competitive surfer. It starts with a brief description of his early years in Florida learning to surf while his family life falls apart. Kelly provides quite a bit of insight into how the family breaks, and how that impacts his life and relationships moving forward. The book also covers loads of other interesting topics like Slater’s initial fear of big waves, the tragedy of Baywatch, figuring out how to compete, learning about Pipe the hard way, breaking through the old surfing order, etc. Throughout the book, Slater is completely open and transparent about his motives, fears, feelings, and actions. He isn’t always a prince, but you have to admire his drive and honesty. If you aren’t interested in competitive surfing or surfing personalities, then this book probably won’t be your thing. But if, like me, you ever wondered how a professional surfer thinks about his sport, then you’ll really enjoy Pipe Dreams. (October 2010)
