Kelly Slater Sets the Record Straight: "Brazilians are 100% Leading the Charge with Progressive Moves and Airs"

The recent controversy over WSL judging has been heated.

It started when Brazilians Gabriel Medina and Italo Ferreira both lost to surfers from other countries in the Surf Ranch Pro earlier this year.

Now, following an interview he did with Stab Mag about the WSL judging criteria, Kelly Slater has taken to social media to set the record straight and let the world know that he thinks Brazilians rip. Basically.

Slater reposted Ferreira's mind-blowing barrel-to-air combo that we reported on earlier today and wrote:

"First off... this is one of the gnarliest things I've ever seen done on a wave. And I'm baffled that @italoferreira could do a year on tour and not make the Top 5.

"Anyway... I did an interview with @stab regarding airs in the criteria at Lowers where I thought I was being critical of the judging criteria and I made the point that airs aren't the only progressive thing (but yes, they are THE most progressive direction for surfing) given certain conditions.

"Somehow my words always get taken out of context so in case anyone is confused by them the Brazilians are 100% leading the charge with progressive moves and airs in surfing. And I have no problem with that or acknowledging it. I want to see great surfing is all.

"John John and a couple of others are with them in the air department but it's a very clear distinction which group of guys are out in front of this, and I just wanted to throw a little appreciation post after reading some comments from Brazilian fans.

"To further clarify my point, Filipe won without doing airs at Lowers last year and sometimes the waves don't offer air sections. In that case, the focus obviously changes to other aspects of surfing and some of that is a nuanced approach so I was surprised to see such an early outline of what the judges will be scoring on at Lowers when we don't know how the waves will be."

There you have it folks.

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