Time to Shine

First Year on the WQS, what was your aim going into the year?

In 2013, my main goal was to make the top 100. In 2012, I placed around 160th. I wanted to make the top 100 so that I could do Prime rated WQS events from the beginning of 2014. That didn’t quite happen, so this year I plan to make the top 100 by the mid-year cut-off.

What do you enjoy about the WQS?

The WQS takes you to so many places that you wouldn’t even see on a map or really think of going to. I remember going to some place in Peru, where you have to get a flight to the main city, then you take a plane to this little town with the smallest airport, after which you have to endure a two hour bus ride through the middle of the desert to the place where the event’s held. The whole way the WQS is setup, is that if you don’t do well in the bigger events, you’ve got to do the smaller events to make up for it. And the smaller events typically take you to places you would never think of going.

Who do you travel with on the WQS?

Majority of the time I travel with other South Africans. This year I travelled a fair amount with Davey Van Zyl, that was pretty fun (laughs). I’d occasionally end up travelling by myself and I’d meet up with people along the way, guys from Quicksilver or just friends of friends. You kind of go without knowing anyone, but then a mate of yours would hook you up with someone they know from somewhere and you end up becoming good friends and making new friends along the way.

What do you dislike about the WQS?

It’s pretty hard when you go to a place where the waves aren’t that great, or when you go somewhere where the waves are good and you end up surfing on the bad day. I went to El Salvador, and the day that I surfed the waves were onshore and pretty bad, the next morning guys were getting four barrels in a heat within the first five minutes. The waves looked a bit like Supers. The flying gets to you, sometimes you miss flights and it gets pretty expensive, but it comes with travelling around the world I guess.

I remember watching you against a Japanese guy. Just before the buzzer went you caught one last wave, did an air-reverse and fell off on the close-out turn. How do you deal with close ones?

With all the contests and heats that you surf, there’s a lot of what ifs, what if you did this, or what if you did that. Making so many mistakes is super frustrating cause you know if you just landed that turn or that air things would’ve turned out so differently. With it happening so many times, you just have to learn from it and move on. Fussing about the ‘what ifs’ just wastes a lot of time.

You’re one of those surfers who runs a blog and is constantly uploading content, do you think it’s a necessity for the modern day pro surfer?

Definitely, pretty much everything is online now days, besides contests obviously. Everyone, everyday (if you are a surfer) visits surfing websites to see what’s new. I think having an online presence is becoming more and more important. Sponsors are no longer just looking at results but also how well you market yourself and the brands that you surf for. You marketing yourself goes along way and it’s more beneficial for them (sponsors) at the end of the day.

Who in your opinion portrays themselves in a way that looks ‘cool’ to other people on the web besides the obvious candidate, Dane Reynolds?

You get different approaches, like Dane Reynolds does things differently and I guess that’s what people find intriguing about him. Then you get guys that just pick up clips anywhere, and it’s not that different or creative, it’s pretty straight forward surfing. Brendon’s (Gibbens) pretty good at it, there’s nothing to do with contests, because he’s a free surfer. A lot of people like it and he does it in a clever way without making it look like he tries too hard. He has a following that he knows and understands, so he pushes out similar content, and he doesn’t push out too much of it. Some guys push out too much content, and people get over it. It becomes more of an annoyance than something people can’t wait to see. Brendon puts out less than most people, but when it comes out, people are super stoked on it.

What do you feel are the strongest and weakest elements of your surfing?

If I had to think about last year, in terms of contests, I get a little over amped. I build it up in my head slightly too much and it causes me to rush things, and I forget to time maneuvers properly. I’m quite a tall guy, and usually tall guys are fairly powerful, and that’s another thing I’m trying to work on. In terms of my strongest element, I like to think that I’ve got a good variety (of maneuvers). Personally I don’t want to be boring and do the same thing over and over again. I try to keep things interesting when I take off on a wave.

If you weren’t a pro-surfer, what would you be doing?

I have a passion for design and that sort of thing. So if I wasn’t surfing, I’d probably study and pursue a career in graphic design.

What is the end goal in your surfing, what do you want to accomplish?

I definitely wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to do the best I can and I wouldn’t be on the WQS if I didn’t think I could one day make the WCT. So obviously I have my goals and stuff, but I’m just trying to take it one step at a time. Trying to make the World Tour and once I get there, I’ll only be competing for one thing.