Ben Gravy Gets The Invite To Slater’s Surf Ranch

Novelty Wave surfer Ben Gravy got the nod from Slater to come surf the ultimate novelty wave- Kelly’s Surf Ranch

Posted on December 18, 2017– WCT surfers, investors, tight-knit industry folk and Kelly’s friends make up the list of who we’ve seen get the invite to the Surf Ranch. And as you can imagine, ever since Slater pulled the lid off the place in 2015, he’s been inundated with people from all over the world who want in. Kelly went live on Facebook from the Surf Ranch, during its final day of operation for 2017, and threw out a personal invite to someone that you may not have heard of- Ben Gravy.

“I got at least 50 messages today to get Ben Gravy in here,” said Slater. “So, Ben Gravy, you will be my first invite next year. Everybody go tell him. I’ve wanted to anyways, I just haven’t been able to find the time to do it.”

Ben is a far cry from the typical surfers we’ve seen invited to The Ranch; but who is he? And Why did he get the nod from Slater?

Ben is THE novelty wave surfer. He hails from New Jersey and has made a name for himself by surfing every novelty, fictional-wave he can find. Two years ago he started a video blog to share his experiences and quickly gained a large following, which he calls the “Nubb Nation.” Thanks to Gravy’s following, they were able to get enough attention from Slater to make Ben’s phone blow up with some of the most exciting news a surfer could get.

“I love that guy. I love his attitude, and he goes and surfs every novelty wave on earth. So, let’s go make him ride the best one.”– Kelly Slater

Zander Morton of SURFER spoke with Ben to get the details on what brought him to this point and how he feels about heading to the Surf Ranch next year.

Before we get into Slater inviting you to surf his pool in 2018, let’s take it back to the beginning. What motivated you to do a video blog every single day?

A few years ago, I would have never even considered doing it. I went to college and got a bachelor’s degree in film, and I was really into film: using high quality, slo-mo, 4k, Hollywood cameras, and vlogging wasn’t even on my mind. But in 2009, I started making surf edits and putting them on my YouTube, but they didn’t gain a ton of traction. I started messing around by putting up little short behind-the-scenes videos to go along with the edits, and people liked them way more [laughs]. The audience seemed to enjoy engaging with me over that platform. So, at the end of 2016, I decided to go for one video blog every day, and now here we are, at vlog 709, and I haven’t stopped yet [laughs].

That’s an impressive streak. Is it ever overwhelming?

Oh, it’s the hardest job I’ve ever had in my life. It is literally a 24/7 thing. In the beginning, I was filming all day, and filming way too much, and then I would edit until three in the morning. Now I have it a bit more fine-tuned, so it isn’t as time-consuming. But I film all day, produce it in my head, and then it takes about 2- to- 4 hours to get it done and ready to upload.

Almost two years later and you haven’t missed a day?

In 2016, since it was a leap year, I did 366 straight [laughs]. I missed one vlog this year because I was on a road trip chasing novelty waves in Missouri and I got smoked while surfing in a river. I kind of had a little mental breakdown. I drove 14 hours straight home and I was too exhausted to put something together. But that’s the only day I’ve missed.

Did you expect people to react the way they have to you sharing your life online? You’ve got quite the loyal fanbase.

It’s absolutely blown my mind. My expectations were zero going into it. I figured it would be fun, and if I could get 500 views every day that would be cool. Everything that has happened is way beyond anything I could have imagined.

Online commenters can be a pretty rough crowd. But you’ve built a really strong, positive following. I don’t often see vitriol thrown your way.

I’ve learned that the true recipe for success through this is honesty. I’m 100 percent transparent online. I’ve cried in my vlogs, multiple times. I’ve shown sadness, joy, epicness…I’ve shown it all. Sometimes, yeah, it’s heavy. I get 99 percent positive comments, but when one person comes at me…it’s tough. They go for my throat [laughs]. At times I’ve had to have thick skin. But I usually just try to win them over with a funny response. I try not to let it get to me anymore.

Your following, the Nub Nation, is a big reason you were personally invited to the Surf Ranch by Slater himself. How did that transpire?

Oh my god [laughs]. When I first saw clips from the pool I just thought, I can’t wait to get in that thing. But I knew every other surfer on earth was thinking the same thing, so I just sort of wrote it off, thinking it would never actually happen. But a wave pool is a novelty wave, and since I love novelty waves, some of my followers started telling me I needed to hit Kelly up. I just laughed it off.

Then, Slater actually came to Jersey about two months ago and we happened to surf the same spot. I went up to him and said ‘hi’ in the water, and we talked for three minutes tops. He was super nice. I had no idea he actually knew who I was, but apparently he did, because he mentioned I should try jumping off the pipe by where we were surfing, which was in reference to an Instagram I put up from an earlier vlog where I was bomb-dropping on a soft top.

Fast forward to the other day, I went to Florida to surf Typhoon Lagoon, and at the end of that vlog, I jokingly asked the Nub Nation to hit Kelly up for me and let him know they’d love to see me in his pool [laughs]. The weird thing is, and I didn’t know this, the day that video came out was the last day Kelly’s pool was open for the season, so he was actually at the pool when he got all of these messages. The timing just couldn’t have been better.

And not only did you get the invite, but Slater did it over Facebook Live, and said you’d actually be his first invite for 2018. How did that feel? Was that completely out of left field?

Totally. I was on an airplane flying from Florida to Philly. When we landed, I had a bunch of messages framing out, so we pulled up Kelly’s Facebook and found the video. We were in the back of the plane and just freaked out. I was having a complete and total meltdown, laughing hysterically. It was so surreal. It still is. I had no idea it was going to work.

I like how you end that vlog by saying your invite is proof that with hard work and the right attitude anything is possible.

That’s my main thing with the vlog. I want to inspire other people to believe that. When I started this I had just recovered from a really serious knee injury and I had no idea where it could take me. I just wanted to put out positivity to the universe because I truly believe you can accomplish most anything. I’m living proof. I’m a pretty random dude to be getting an invite to surf Kelly’s wave pool. Two years ago I never could have imagined this happening.

I know you’ve still got a few months to think about it, but what are you bringing to Lemoore?

Considering Kelly and I talked about the bomb drop, I have to do some type of bomb drop while I’m there. At first, I was feeling insecure and thinking I need to go there and try to rip, but that’s not what got me here. So I’m bringing the entire soft top quiver and I’m gonna try to give anyone that wants to watch the full Ben Gravy novelty experience at Kelly’s pool.

Safe to say we’re jealous, but we’ll look forward to seeing it unfold in episode 900 something.

[laughs] We’re gonna have a lot of fun. I just really want to thank everybody who has ever watched my videos, and all the people that bombarded Kelly to get me in the pool. It really means a ton. Nub Nation for the win!