Raw Sessions: Kelly at Lowers

A south swell lit up California this week, and Kelly was right where you’d expect him to be, Lower Trestles. Press play for the raw session and watch the 11x World Champion put the DRK through its paces on a pumping Lowers wall. Filmed by  @jack_colemang .

Back in San Clemente after a long stretch abroad through Australia and Tahiti, Kelly paddled out in warm water and boardshorts for a session at one of surfing’s best high-performance waves just before the 2026 WSL Trestles Pro.

Under Kelly’s feet is the DRK in I-Bolic 2.0 Technology by Dan Mann, the winning design from Stab Magazine’s Stab in the Dark X. The DRK is a refined evolution of the FRK, retaining the rocker, bottom contours and fin placement Kelly has trusted for years while refining the rail, foil and outline for more sensitivity and response through the back half of the board.

This is the winning design of Stab In The Dark X starring Kelly Slater.

Dan drew inspiration from the original shape he crafted for Kelly when first asked to make the 11x World Champion some boards, the DRK is a refined version of the FRK designed for high-performance surfing in good waves. When Dan shaped the original batch of FRKs for Kelly in 2015, they sat in his board shed until 2017 when a friend insisted he try one. He loved that board from the very first turn on it, he immediately clicked and felt he could mindsurf anywhere he wanted to on the wave, it drove and jumped to exactly where he wanted to go. 

Kelly's FRK shapes went unchanged until 2022 for the Barra de la Cruz event when he wanted to change the rail and foil to be more balanced under his chest. And then once more before a trip to J-Bay in 2023, when he asked Dan to push the wide point forward making the back half of the board more narrow than the FRK, allowing for a more elliptical, pulled-in tail. More narrow meant more sensitivity, and more need to be on top of your game.

Dan on the Stab In The Dark X project, "it was a simple decision that this was my best shape for him. The board looked insane under his feet. He could put it wherever he wanted and he didn't have to think about it. Kelly not thinking about the board is when he is free to fly. When he is flying, we all win."

The DRK came to be with great care to keep the features that make the FRK such a great board, like fin placement, bottom contours, and rocker. It's a high-performance, refined, simple, and clean version of a high-performance shape that is surprisingly versatile in various conditions.

As he does with all of Kelly's shapes, Dan made the fin cluster conducive to changing between Quad and Thruster configurations. Kelly's been riding with his all-new Slater Designs Endorfins KSR Fin Set.