Kanoa Igarashi and Leonardo Fioravanti have been getting guidance from Kelly Slater since their pre-teen days. Slater, 45, is old enough to be their father, but he's more like their smart-ass uncle, poking and prodding them purely for entertainment. During Slater's Quiksilver days, Igarashi and Fioravanti were all-star members of their international grom squad. For the better part of the last decade, Slater's been playing the role of Yoda to both of the young Jedi.
These days, however, Slater's warriors aren't nearly as intimidated by him. The trio held a nice little reunion during their Round Four match at Pipe today, and for the second year in a row, Igarashi got the edge on his hero. In fact, the Californian nabbed his best wave while Slater was sitting on priority, then backed it up a minute later with the wave that sealed the deal. Kanoa boosted his record to 3-0 against Slater, the best ever at Pipe. Rest assured, Kanoa will be poking Slater soon enough over that stat.