Stumbled across an interview with Midget Farrelly from the year of our lord, 1968, that provided this gem of a perspective.
What are your goals in surfing?
MF: At the expense of sounding ridiculous, surfing doesn’t have a limit, and neither do my goals, nor my ambitions. But surfing will lead me as it will, and perhaps I’ll lead surfing a little. I analyze it, plan it, plot it. I try to experience all the emotions that come from being involved with surfing. So the answer is simple: I’m going to win six more world championships, and I’m going to build the perfect board, make a million dollars, and own a private break of my own. These things are obviously untrue, impossible, ridiculous, unthinkable, because all of those things create problems that the genuine surfer cannot afford. The genuine surfer cannot afford too much fame. The genuine surfer cannot afford to be isolated in his own break. The genuine surfer cannot afford to look after a million dollars. The genuine surfer cannot afford to dominate competition. He becomes an unfortunate, pathetic object of people’s attention when he does. The surfer must be pure, hard, calculating, precise. He must be a combination of a Spartan athlete, a technologist, a futuristic spaceman of the waves. Not so much an image hero, millionaire, champion, and success. This is the psychology he must take on if he is to truly succeed within himself in surfing.
I wonder what he thought of Kelly Slater, if he thought of him at all? Can't imagine too many talents stepping to a quote like this in the era of all-encompassing sponsored content, but as naive and contrarian and pure as this answer is, it belies the ongoing tension between The Industry and the immediacy of surfing. Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.