Kelly Slater breaks foot surfing at J-Bay

Cape Town - Champion surfer Kelly Slater has been forced out of competition at Jeffreys Bay after suffering a freak accident resulting in a gruesome foot injury.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald website, the 11-time World Surf League champion broke multiple bones in his right foot while competing in the Corona Open J-Bay.

Slater was free surfing at Boneyards when he pulled out of a barrel and was struck by his board.

Slater reported feeling the bones "pop" and had to drag himself out of the water before being assisted by medical staff on the beach.

The 45-year-old American surfing superstar posted a photo of the break on his Instagram account, accompanied by the hashtag, #INeedElephantTranquilizers.

Slater also pinned himself for surgery and six weeks of rest before he could return back to competition, adding he had a 30-hour flight home to take before surgery.

The recovery process has ruled Slater out of contention at Jeffrey’s Bay and the next stop of the tour, the Billabong Pro Tahiti.

You ever folded your entire foot backwards? If you try it sometime, this is what it might look like. I pulled into a barrel this morning and the whitewash bounced the board back into my foot as I hit the closeout, taking all the pressure into the metatarsals. Kinda like smashing my foot with a big hammer as hard as I can. Sorta feels like I'm giving birth out of my foot right now! I'm guessing surgery and 6 week holiday is in order. Not looking forward to 30 hour flight home before surgery though. Ouch! It sucks but so many people deal with such horrible things around this world everyday that a broken foot is pretty minor in the scheme of things. Sometimes a bad thing is a good thing. I'll make the best of my time off. #ThatsGonnaLeaveAMark #INeedElephantTranquilizers

A post shared by Kelly Slater (@kellyslater) on Jul 17, 2017 at 5:53am PDT