Kelly Slater Details Frightening Pipeline Experience

With great waves comes grave danger. 

Oahu, Hawaii isn’t just known for hula dancing, fresh pineapple and palm trees—it’s also known for its top tier surfing. And in exclusive first look at Apple TV+’s upcoming docuseries, Make or Break, 11–time World Surf League World Champion surfer Kelly Slater discusses his first-time surfing at one of the island’s most legendary spots: Pipeline. 

Pipeline is located in Oahu’s North Shore and is famous for its notoriously intense waves and great surfing conditions. But Slater warns, it’s not for the faint of heart. 

“Pipeline was so mythical to me as a kid,” Slater says in the clip. “There was a poster on my friend’s wall, and I remember looking at the wave…and just thinking I don’t know how guys can turn around and catch that wave, that’s so scary.”

Slater’s first surfed the waves at 12-years-old. “I remember this wave picked me up and slammed me on my back on the reef with my board,” he recalls. “For a second I just felt like I’ll never come up, it’s just going to hold me here forever.

“That’s what surfing is,” Slater explains. “That fear and danger that comes along with it, that’s also enticing.”