Kelly Slater, Teahupo’o, and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata

The idea of “surf music” is a funny thing. For an activity and a culture that covers every corner of the globe there’s really no one soundtrack that’s the best for riding waves. There’s that undeniable echo of a Dick Dale guitar rif. The ’90s had that distinct punk energy juicing up every segment of a Taylor Steele film. But most would agree that music and surfing are best paired through memories and whatever gets us in the mood to go hunt for waves. In that sense it can be anything to anybody.

But Beethoven?

Well, it works. With a combination of the right wave and the right surfer — Teahupo’o and Kelly Slater — something is fitting about Moonlight Sonata as a surf track. You couldn’t pull this off with Ben Gravy chasing down an oil tanker in Texas or a throwback clip of Ratboy hucking airs somewhere along West Cliff Drive. But Kelly, Teahupo’o, and Beethoven work.

The footage comes from the recent Tahiti Pro and some of the lay days during the event. Having missed the mid-season cut, people were intrigued to see how Slater would do as the event wildcard. He did put on a decent show, appearing in the quarterfinals and giving Ramzi Boukjiam a run for his money when he posted a 9.80.

But this more than makes up for his pre-finals day exit. There’s something to this classical music and heaving barrels thing.

The post Kelly Slater, Teahupo’o, and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata first appeared on The Inertia.