Quiksilver Pro: Will Kelly Slater’s shock Round 2 exit in ‘crap’ waves signal his exit from the Gold Coast?

HAVE we seen the last of surf king Kelly Slater on the Gold Coast? Slater has hinted he could make like Mick Fanning and take his own sabbatical.

Kelly Slater pictured showering after his second round lose to Stu Kennedy from Lennox Head. Picture: Nic McElroy

HAVE we seen the last of surf king Kelly Slater on the Gold Coast?

The 44-year-old was knocked out of the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks yesterday by Lennox Head surfer Stuart Kennedy just days after arriving on the Gold Coast for the first event of the World Surf League season.

It’s a result Slater will look to throw away at the end of the season — if the 11-time world champ is still on tour.

Kelly Slater pictured showering after his second round lose to Stu Kennedy from Lennox Head. Picture: Nic McElroy

While throwing his support behind Mick Fanning’s decision to take a break from the tour, Slater hinted he could take his own sabbatical.

“Maybe I’ll beat him (Fanning) to the punch?,” Slater said.

Slater took a break from regular competition from 1999-2001, competing in just eight championship tour events over three seasons.

He admitted he had been frustrated competing on the Gold Coast in sloppy conditions recently and had thought about putting pressure on officials to put the event on hold before his heat began.

“I had a game plan which was to do my best to pick the best waves, which was a relative term, because there really weren’t very good waves out there,” Slater said.

“I’m not really that frustrated other than the waves have been crap in every heat I’ve surfed the last two years.

“I’m starting to lose my brain a little bit.”

Winner over Joel Parkinson when the final was held at a pumping Kirra break in 2013 and quarter-finalist at Snapper in 2014, Slater was knocked out in sloppy surf in Round 3 last year before his Round 2 exit yesterday.

Kennedy had no qualms going up against the man rated the greatest of all time.

“I thrive on (competing against) the bigger guys, always have, it’s always pushed my surfing way more, so I’m glad I’m actually at the level to compete in these events now,’’ said Kennedy, who is likely to spend a significant portion of the year on tour as a replacement for the injured Bede Durbidge.

“It’s pretty cool. It definitely fired me up.’’

He will have to continue that giant-killing mentality if he is to progress further, given he faces 2014 world champ Gabriel Medina in his Round 3 heat.

“I kind of knew I was going to have one of the top seeds because I’m the fourth-lowest seed of the event, so I knew I’d get one of the top guys straight away,’’ Kennedy said.

“I’ve just got to keep lifting my game every heat.’’

With several business interests and a love of chasing big waves around the globe, Slater has multiple interests outside of the tour.

And in backing Fanning’s break, he gave an insight into the grind of the international tour.

“You can easily say mental and emotional strain is worse than a physical injury oftentimes,’’ said Slater, who has also battled a chronic back condition in recent years.

But one of the fittest and most competitive surfers on tour can never be counted out.

“You never know with Kelly, he’ll say he’s not coming and the next moment he’ll probably rock up still,’’ Tweed Coast product Josh Kerr said.

Even if he calls a halt to competition surfing, Slater is unlikely to be a stranger to the Gold Coast.

With property interests in the city and representatives of his Slater Designs brand such as Kennedy based on the NSW North Coast, he makes regular visits to the region.