The Real Jordy Smith

The wind blows a southeasterly gale on the day of the interview. Sand swirls around the streets of Hout Bay. We can’t find the place. We are late. Finally, I pull up to an empty guest house on the side of a hill. It seems too modest an abode to house the second-best surfer on the planet.

I mean, if you type the word Jordy into your Google search bar, the first auto-added surname in the list is, you guessed it, Smith. He's even perched above the 2011 Super Bowl star, Jordy Nelson, wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, the winners of the most popular sports event in a nation of a only a few hundred million football-obsessed souls.

In the driveway, an Audi S4 station wagon with roof racks is the only sign of human habitation. Must be the right place after all.

A young black guy in surf gear lets us in. The house is cool and quiet – well kept. Jordy Smith walks past us wearing a faded green shirt. He gives a cursory nod, before disappearing into the adjacent room. Clare and I look at each other, somewhat baffled.

Steve, a guy I know as “Laces” comes out and greets us. He is friendly, and he tells me to take a seat. Jordy comes out two minutes later in a fresh shirt, smiling and apologetic. “Sorry man, I thought you were someone who was just checking in!”

We sit on the couch. He offers us water. Sitting next to me, Jordy is tall, thin and tanned brown. He is openly friendly, and appears at ease and genuinely sincere. I do not notice any reservations, haughtiness or hostility. It's like he's just any home boy parking off on a couch about to have a chat with another young, if slightly older, surfer brah.

I break the ice.

CM: How’s your rest been?

JS: Ja it’s been really good actually, I think a bit of time off was much needed after last year. The year is so long that by the time you get to the end of it you’re like ‘Aah, all I wanna do is just nothing for the next month and a half!’ So I’ve pretty much been doing that. Well I haven’t been doing nothing, I’ve been doing a lot of training, and ja, house hunting here in Cape Town. Just loving the time off, but at the same time itching to get back onto the tour.

Tell us about the house hunting, are you looking to move here?

Ja, definitely looking to move here. I have just put in an offer in at Llandudno, and it’s pretty much gonna go through, but I just have to wait and see until the 4th march, and I’ll know for sure then.

Cool, and are your family moving over, or will they stay in Durban?

No they’ll stay in Durban, but I’ll pretty much be living here. It’s a lot easier to get visas here, because if you are anywhere from Durban to East London you gotta fly to Joburg to get visas, and that’s kinda a nightmare.

How much time will you spend here in Cape Town?

I’ll probably be here, more now than going forward, I’ll probably be here maybe 7 months out of the year, something like that. So it’s pretty good, you know last year and the year before I was only here in South Africa for a month and a half out of the whole year. I was basing myself out of California, but that kinda got a little bit much, and just kinda got old really quick so…

What are your thoughts on California?

Oh I loved California. I love it. It’s just that you know, it’s pretty hard to leave your friends behind and things like that. And there’s just not too many waves there, to be honest. And that’s a huge part of what I want to, you know South Africa’s coastline  is just incredible for waves.

So I guess you have been taking full advantage of the summer surf here?

Oh definitely, I mean I don’t even have to move from Llandudno, I just go down here and it’s my perfect wave. So ja, I love going down there.

So, when you were growing up, there was a perception that you were arrogant. these days people comment on how amiable you are, and praise the way you interact with the public. What changed?

I don’t think it was a change at all. You know I think people kinda misinterpret arrogance for confidence, and that’s probably the biggest thing that they misinterpret. There’s nothing wrong with somebody being really confident. When I was younger I kinda just wasn’t afraid to show it, and now I just keep it inside more than anything. But ja, it’s just one of those things, you grow up and mature, as everybody does.

You deal well with media attention. Is it difficult, or do you find it easy?

Um, it gets easier. When I first came out of school I went from just being an average school kid to (being in) the public eye overnight, and it’s a hard thing for someone to take on all of a sudden, you know, you don’t know how to deal with things like that. It’s not something you can just school learn in school, it’s an experience you have to kind of go through…and ja, it gets better as you get older and you get more used to it. But like I said, coming straight out of school I was just unknowing of the whole fame side of things and it can you know, kinda throw you for a loop, trip you out a bit.

Do you feel you are the best surfer in the world right now? Is that something you think about?

No, you know I don’t think about things like that, I just kinda go out and, I’ll leave the comments and things like that for other people to say, I’m just going to go and surf, and they can be the judge of who’s surfing better. I think you can’t really judge because there is no one particular best surfer you know. There’s guys who are great at competition, look at Kelly and then you get guys who are amazing at free surfing like Dane. Everyone surfs equally as good, they just surf in different ways.

When was the last time you felt like a kook?

Um jeez, pretty much every surf. You know, if you don’t land a turn that you pretty much should be landing ten out of ten, you just go “Gosh, what’s happening here, am I losing it?”

Here Steve “Laces” interjects, he’d been sitting at the table a few feet away, “You’re lying, it was when you got beat by me at the Retro contest!

To this Jordy replies, “That’s true, that’s true”

I did see that, Steve you popped a shove-it. Now is that something you enjoy, hanging out with the local surfers? I know everybody was happy to have you there and it was a big jol. Is that something you’ll do more of?

I love going down to the beach, and just hanging out, having a few drinks with my friends. That’s kinda what it’s all about, just having fun and enjoying yourself. So I wish there could be 12 events like that.

Tell us about the Lamborghini? There are rumours that you have one. Can you fit surfboards in it?

You cannot. No. (laughs all round) Ja, it’s just a dealership gave me one in the states at the end of last year,  to drive around in or whatever. It’s in Hawaii at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll get it to California one of these days, and when I go there I’ll jump in it. But no, it’s a terrible car for surfing. You know what though, I don’t actually like it that much, I let my friends drive it more than anything, to be honest. Because it’s a really bumpy ride, it’s like a race car you know, you can’t really open up on the thing and the gears are all hand shifting like that (he makes awkward pinching movements). Maybe if I was in Germany or something it would be good.

Are you environmentally conscious?

I am ja, to a certain extent I am, for sure.

Do you recycle?

Here and there, not too much. I kind of just, you know, I think it’s pretty simple, you just don’t litter and try and take care  of what’s around you and that’s about it, you know.

People call you Jordy smith, but your name is Jordan, will that ever change?

You know my mom still shouts at me as “Jordan’, that’s kinda when I know… I’m in the shit. My close friends will call me Jordan, but ja, I think Jordy is a pretty youthful name so, ja, it sticks around, for the young kids.

Apart from gunning for the world title, what else do you want out of life?

Out of life? I think happiness is pretty much the main thing for me. Whether it’s with world titles, or with my wife, or kids or business decisions or whatever it is. Just to be happy I guess.

Ok, the last deep metaphorical question. Define greatness.

Greatness…There’s a lot, I don’t think you can really define greatness. It depends what you want to succeed in or what you want to become great at ... (pause) ... Greatness is for someone to achieve their goal, I guess.

coming soon: Part II