Who is the world's greatest surfer?

Question

I have seen riding giants and yes those guys are cool but who is the greatest surfer who does not need technologial support?

Answer 1

Kelly Slater

This is some info on him from Wikipedia:

Kelly Slater (born Robert Kelly Slater on February 11, 1972) from Cocoa Beach, Florida is the most successful professional surfer in the history of the sport. He is, according to peers, a surfing genius.

Slater is an eight-time world champion (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006) and took many modern surfing moves to a new level. He was involved in the X-Games in 2003 and 2004 and has been a big factor that has helped the East Coast beat the West Coast team two years in a row in the Surfing competition. To this day, he can be seen in magazines such as Surfing Magazine, Transworld Surf, and Surfer Magazine.

In 1991 Slater was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Besides surfing he has also modeled for Versace and during the 90's he formed a band called The Surfers which released an album of surf music, Songs From the Pipe.

In 1992-3, Slater acted for one season on the American TV series Baywatch as the character Jimmy Slade.[1] Even long afterwards the Australian surfers on the world tour liked to refer to him as Jimmy. [2]

In 1999 he appeared alongside Garbage singer Shirley Manson in the promotional video for the Garbage single "You Look So Fine". He played a man washed up on a sea shore, rescued by siren Manson.

A videogame by Treyarch and Activision named Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer was released September 17, 2002 [1] (he also appeared in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 with his own surfboard, possibly to generate interest in the former). In 2003 he released an autobiography called, "Pipe Dreams: A Surfer's Journey." Kelly has an eight year old daughter named Taylor who lives in Cocoa Beach with her mother.

In May 2005 in the final of the Billabong Tahiti Pro contest at Teahupoo, Slater became the first to score two perfect 10 rides for a total 20 out of 20 under the ASP two-wave scoring system. (The corresponding honour under the previous three-wave system belongs to Shane Beschen from 1996.[3]) It was a high-scoring heat and he was leading with a 9.5 and a 10 against opponent Damien Hobgood when Hobgood was crunched by a tube that closed down, dislocating his shoulder and leaving Slater the contest winner. Slater surfed on and scored a second 10. (And then put on some entertainment, getting a can of beer from the support boat and drinking it while inside the tube – which the judges scored 8.7!) [2]

Slater is considered by the specialized media as the best surfer ever. At the Nova Schin Festival in Brazil in November 2005, he won his seventh world title. He has been given the nickname "the Michael Jordan of surfing" by the media and his fans.[2]. His main sponsor is Quiksilver and his favorite waves are Pipe in Hawaii and Kirra in Australia. [3]

Slater is passionate about preserving coral reefs globally and protecting temperate reefs in California through his relationship with Reef Check[4]

His sponsors are Quiksilver, Al Merrick surfboards and Boost Mobile.

Slater has been romantically linked in the past to Pamela Anderson, and most recently (in 2005) Brazilian supermodel, Gisele Bündchen.

Slater is good friends with musician Ben Harper. The two performed a song together during Harper's concert in Santa Barbara, CA on August 15th, 2006.

Answer 2

Undoubtly Kelly Slater. 8 world titles, 6 in a row in the 90's. He then took a few years off, returned and promptly won it again.
he will win Pipeline this year as it's probably going to be his last event.

Answer 3

The guy at the beginning of Hawaii 5 O'.

Answer 4

That penguin in the new animated movie about a penguin that surfs.