Away from the world of F1, Lewis Hamilton loves to engross himself in various adventure sports, surfing being one of them. Stemming from the same, the Briton shares a close friendship with 11-time surfing world champion Kelly Slater. The surfer is working on a big project in Texas, and Beach Grit reports he wants his F1 buddy to join the project and design an important element of the same.
Slater is knee-deep in his latest project – designing the world’s third Surf Ranch, which will be located in Austin, Texas. The 51-year-old wants Hamilton to be a part of the design team and come up with an electric car racing course. He claims that it would be a fun place for the Mercedes driver, even if he would not surf.
“I’m trying to talk Lewis Hamilton into designing an electric racing car course, like a track, electric car track. Even if you don’t surf it’ll be the best place ever.”
The ranch, named ‘Austin Surf,’ will have a surfboard going through the ‘A’ as its logo. It will be built on the same grounds where the bones of Doug Coors’ failed Wavegarden lay. There will be oceanfront villas, an eighteen-hole golf course, two skate parks, and even a recording studio. Furthermore, the Surf Park will also have two waves, so surfers can enjoy riding on their surfboards without much hassle.
When Lewis Hamilton undertook a serious risk by ignoring Slater’s advice
Sharing a friendship that spans a few years, Slater and Hamilton often spend time with each other, mostly while surfing. During one of these sessions, Hamilton opted to not pay heed to an 11-time champion surfboarder’s advice and ended up looking death in the eye while narrowly escaping from it. In November last year, the duo went surfing, where they came across a huge 25-foot high wave.
Hamilton could see a tunnel in the middle of the wave and wanted to ride it. Slater advised him against the same, but the Briton did not litem. The wave soon threw Hamilton off his board and onto a reef, which he held on to for dear life. “I just had to make sure I didn’t get sucked in. So I dived down and grabbed the reef and prayed.”
While Hamilton came out of the accident unharmed, it once again showcased the adventure-loving side of the Mercedes driver, who continues to explore various other engaging sports such as surfing.
