Ten minutes with Dane
Friday 16 July 2010 J-Bay is swarming with all sorts of people as the circus comes to town. Amoungst the throng is the spectators, media, groupies and of course the people that it's all about, the pros. Chris Mason bumped into Dane Reynolds while loitering in the contestants area and had a chat with him, to see what's changed in a year. {mosimage}
Dane Reynolds has a personality that is the antithesis to his surfing. A laid back California drawl and relaxed almost disinterested demeanour belies the intensity and effort that comes through in his surfing.
At the moment he is sitting at no 6 in the ASP world rankings, but when asked if he is thinking about the rankings, a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders and drawn out “Naw, not really” gives the impression that either he just doesn’t care, or he is doing his best to look like he doesn’t care, so he can relax and focus on performing in the heat.
His initial reservations are evident immediately when I say hi. Clearly he is used to being badgered by the media. But on remembering who I am the initial hesitance to comment is broken, and a friendly and humble guy shines through, someone who is a pro surfer not for the money or fame (of which he has both) but because, as he puts it, he doesn’t really know anything else.
Seeing him at Supers again reminds me of some of his spectacular performances last year, including one very long, seemingly impossible to make tube and lots of futuristic above the lip antics.
I chatted to him today, leaning against the railing and enjoying the view after he won his heat against Ozzie Daniel Ross and Brazilian Marco Polo, and I got to ask him about his first day at J-Bay.
Chris: Dane how did you find your heat, how was it out there?
Dane: It was super fun. I had a mid morning heat and had been watching it all morning, it had that devil wind on it, and then I got super lucky and the southerly kicked in before my heat and it got really fun. There was moment, like two minutes left in the heat and most of the other guys had got waves, and I saw a set coming and was just like “hell yeah, this is so much fun!
Chris: So are you feeling good for the rest of the competition?
Dane: Yeah. Yeah, last year I felt super rusty here, but I felt a little better today, so yeah, feeling good.
Chris: How are your main concerns amongst the other surfers?
Dane: Oh I don’t know, Kelly looked good straight off the plane, Jordy was looking pretty damn good as well, probably just your usual suspects. But you never know, you never know who will have their good heat. I really just try not to worry about other people.
It is still early days here at the Billabong Pro, but there are already a couple of stand-outs, including the “usual suspects” as Dane puts it, Kelly Slater, Jordy Smith, Owen Wright, Mick Fanning and without a doubt, Dane himself.