At my lowest point, if you could have found a bookie to give you odds, I would have been a million-to-one to ever win a world title.
Even eating a pastry gets me horny.
I might have taken the title of ‘Craziest Surfer on Tour’, or ‘Fattest Bloke in Palm Beach’.
I remember my mates used to tell me I had a real weird style though. When I first started. They told me my arms were kind of weird. Not like throwing them everywhere, but they were more tucked in, the shoulder and arm rotation wasn’t right, that’s what they used to say. It was just funny.
I remember thinking, ‘Far out, I can’t believe this,’ when I started riding waves. Then I was starting to imagine where it could take me.
I still get the feeling I got when I started, that’s why I’m still doing it after all these years. I still get that full adrenalin rush before I compete.
I’m pretty superstitious, I want to do everything right, get my routine right, and I wait for waves. I kinda try to sense the ocean coming together for me.
Just one more, hey boys?
Looking back, I realise I was so in awe of Hawaii that I really wanted to become Hawaiian and fit in with the local scene.
The disappointment at losing is still in my system.
There are times in Hawaii when it’s really big and angry and you can’t help but go, OK, you’re in control. But for me the ocean’s in control whether it’s one foot or ten foot. It writes the script.
Whenever I greet the ocean, I always take one step into it and two steps back when a wave hits me, just in respect.
