Roam Where You Want To: When you’re a global citizen like Kelly Slater and you’re free to roam pretty much wherever you want to chase good surf, your life is lived at the whim of the swell forecasters. And so, with a break in the tour and a deep Indian Ocean low brewing down in the Roaring 40s, Kelly packed a boardbag, threw in a pair of his signature Roam boardshorts, and jumped a plane to Bali.
Now, this is hardly an original pilgrimage. Bali is a regular post-up for surfers from all over the world, but it had been almost four years since Kelly last visited the Island of the Gods. He found a lot had changed in that time. For starters, last time he was on Bali there were only a handful of guys surfing the secret righthander known as Keramas on the wet season side of the island. These days however, it’s become the high performance epicenter of the Southern Hemisphere winter, and Kelly lapped up day after day of super-rippable overhead surf.
The other big change Kelly noticed was on the beaches of Bali themselves. High-tide lines clogged with discarded plastic bottles and rubbish saw him take to Twitter lamenting the state of the beaches. “If Bali doesn't #DoSomething serious about this pollution it'll be impossible to surf here in a few years. Worst I've ever seen.” The Tweet made news around the world and brought a global focus to the problem. Kelly’s actions however spoke louder than his Tweets and he put a board up for auction and raised $5000 for a better Bali, donating to both the Role Foundation and the Save Uluwatu project. Kelly knows that as a global citizen there’s got to be some give with the take.
Kelly’s Roam boardshorts are a passport for his surfing adventures around the world. Made from PET plastic – recycled from the same kind of plastic drink bottles that were littering the beach in Bali – the shorts feature Quiksilver’s revolutionary Diamond Dobby fabric. They stretch four ways and are rash-free. If you want to surf all day in some far-flung wave-lashed corner of the world, these are your ticket.
