Slater, Parko and Reynolds Threaten Legal Action Against Teen Surfer.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14 – Three of the world's most popular surfers today put aside their rivalries and issued a joint statement demanding 14-year-old Mandurah surfer Danny Kincaid removes them from the list of 'surf heroes and influences' on his myspace page.

“Normally I'd be cool with props from a kid like Danny,” says nine-time World Champion Kelly Slater.

“Being hero and role model for the kids comes with the territory, but you've got to draw the line.

“I was tooling around online, googling my name – oh, admit it, we all do from time to time – and clicked through to Danny's myspace site.

“I was horrified to see a clip he'd made interspersing footage of himself surfing Mandurah Main Beach, with clips of myself, Joel and Dane.

“Not only that, his online bio cites the three of us as the guys he models his surfing on.

”The kid's surfing's not even remotely connected to our virtuosity. It's a scene I don't wanna be part of.”

Slater contacted Coolangatta's Joel Parkinson immediately and alerted him to the youngster's unacceptable alliance.

“My first reaction after checkin' the Danny's site out was 'hang on let's not get carried away here' ” says the typically unflappable Joel Parkinson.

“Sure the kid had awful style and technique, and I could barely see where the influence of any of us could be spotted, but I was heading out west that week anyway, doin' a surf shop / surf-with-the-groms promo in Mandurah, so thought I'd check the kid out first hand before taking any action.

“All I can say is that he actually surfs less like us in real life than online, which I didn't think was possible.

“Nothin' against Danny, he seems like a real nice kid, and I'm happy to be a hero for the guy, but having seen him surf first hand, I categorically deny influencing him in any way, shape or form.”

Parkinson emailed Slater and immediately they arranged a phone conference with Californian sensation Dane Reynolds.

“I wasn't down with the guys,” says Reynolds “Even after seeing the footage and hearing Parko's first-hand description, I thought well, who are we to judge? I mean maybe we've just influenced the kid in a different kind of way, you know – amping him up on the beauty of surfing and that.”

“But the guys made me watch the Kincaid clip again and again, and I see their point – there's absolutely nothing in this kid's surfing that can be stylistically or technically linked back to any one of us.

“So we're asking young Danny – nicely for now – please come clean and acknowledge that our surfing has nothing to do with yours.

“On behalf of Kelly, Joel and myself, remove us as your cited surfers of influence immediately. We don't want to have to call in the lawyers, but if we have to we will.”

This is not the first time young Kincaid has made headlines, (see http://asl-insidethegoldmine.blogspot.com/2009/04/jury-of-peers-unconvinced-teen-surfer.html), and quite possibly not the last.