Here is my take on both of them:
Kelly is surfing better than he ever has. He is still beating the "new generation" of young guns such as Gabe Medina, Julian Wilson, Kolohe Andino, etc. At the same time, he continues to beat the worlds best surfers, Mick, Joel, and so on. We've all seen what he can do in a contest and in free surfs. His contest contest surfing is arguably the best we have ever seen (based off of his track record, victories and scores) and in my opinion, no matter who wins a contest, his surfing is always the most exciting. We all think, "what will he do this time" when the announcers say, "Kelly Slater, up and riding". And nine times out of ten, he has at least one amazing maneuver that makes the crowd, and me, go wild. Seeing Kelly free surf is a sight as well. In fact, I think watching him free surf is more exciting than his contest surfing. He drops in to riskier waves and seems like he is having more fun. He also has performed some of his best turns and airs in his free surfs as well as getting some of his best barrels.
Now for Dane. He has publicly stated that he wants nothing to do with the Tour. The hype surrounding him when he first qualified was immense and he proved to the world why he deserved to surf with the best. He has been labeled countless times as the best Free Surfer in the world. He is always on Surfline with some sort of highlight of a move or an air he pulled off. Simply put, he does some things that seem inhuman and that no other surfer would be able to pull off if they tried 100 times. As a contest surfer, we have seen Dane make good results and bad ones; nonetheless, he has pulled off some of the best maneuvers we have ever seen in contests. He is without a doubt the best aerialist the world has ever seen.
The thing is, I personally can't decide who is better. If these two were put in the water alone, I don't care how long they had to surf, it wouldn't be enough. ASP judges aren't qualified to judge the surfing that these two do because they have created a level of surfing that we may never see again, at least not in my lifetime. Kelly has proved for almost thirty years why he is the best and Dane puts out video clips every week that will blow our minds even more than the week before.
So my question is this, who do you think is the better surfer and why. Please respond to this. Best responses will get re-posted! Either respond here or if you want email them to clementiv@comcast.net
Here are a few video clips to look at to help you decide.
Kelly:
Dane:
(air at the end...)
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