📍176 Van Arsdale Avenue, Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931, USA
1972 – 1990“Robert Kelly Slater was born in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in February 1972, and grew up there with his brothers, Sean and Stephen. His father, Stephen, ran a bait-and-tackle shop near the beach, and his mother, Judy, who had moved to Florida from Maryland to work at NASA, later worked as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. The family lived in a small, three-room house, and the beach was Kelly's playground. He started riding waves at five, first on a bodyboard with fins, and soon moved on to a surfboard, surfing the small, crumbly beach breaks of Cocoa Beach and the Cocoa Beach Pier with his brothers and a crew of local kids. The waves were small, but they taught him to generate speed and read every section. By ten he was winning age-division contests up and down the Atlantic coast, and in 1984 he won his first national title. He went on to win eleven world titles, the most in surfing history, and Cocoa Beach has honoured him with a statue.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today