Kelly Slater's Guide To Beach Living

The beach is both a real place and an imagined place. It has its own pulse (a few clicks above a coma), its own smell (Coppertone), its own attractions (bikinied babes) and its own soundtrack (the Beach Boys). Although it's someplace we merely visit on occasion, we realize that there are people who own the beach, people who have staked a claim on its mysteries. They appear to have achieved a oneness with the beach, with its rhythms, its rituals and its taboos. They also have achieved something more lasting than a tan--that is a state of mind that equals being on a permanent vacation.

We wanted to list some fads of beach living to deconstruct its mystique. We asked wave-god Kelly Slater (four-time winner of Surfer magazine's Surfer Poll) to help the chalk people who want in on the beachitude but can't spend their lifetimes getting it. The five-time world champion, born to surf in Cocoa Beach, Florida, describes beach culture as a "lifestyle thing. It's being casual and relaxed enough to do what you want. It has impacted everything from music to fashion." (Slater's band, the Surfers, whose other members include surf greats Rob Machado and Peter King, has a new CD called Songs From the Pipe.) Here's what else Slater has soaked up in his 26 years at the beach: