Kelly Slater

One of my best friends quit the tour when he had re-qualified for the following year, but he had decided to retire and go get a job.

And about a year later, we're in Australia, and I'm in the contest, and he's working.

He had to go to the contest because it was part of his job.

He had to fly to Australia to do some work at that event.

And I'm like...

dude, what are you doing?

You should still be on this tour right now.

And he's like, I'm an idiot.

He's like, I was making more money going surfing.

He's like, now I work all freaking day.

He's like, I'm here.

I can't even surf nearly as much as I want.

I got to find a break because I'm working the whole time.

And he was like, I should have stayed on tour until it ran out.

You're like, I'm still at it, bro.

But I can't imagine that there's a lot of money in surfing unless you are at the- No, most of our money is sponsorship dollars and you got to get a certain notoriety and that kind of thing.

But the money in surfing has dried up a little bit in recent years because surfing was built on the backs of these-

originally from the 60s and 70s where these guys wanted to go surf around the world.

So they started companies to sell clothes and wetsuits so they could fund their own surf trips.

That's really how the Rip Curls, Billabongs, Quicksilvers of the world started.