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INTERVIEW: BRETT SIMPSON
HB's favorite son is cautiously optimistic about his solid start on the Aussie leg of the WQS
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April 17, 2009
8085 visits
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Fourth time's a charm?
Ask most world tour hopefuls about their chances for qualification this year, and they might give you a politician's response: "It's way too soon to comment on that, of course. But intelligence sources do inform me that something will be resolved in the foreseeable future." But Brett Simpson is willing to give up a little more.
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SURFLINE: How does it feel to finally burst out of the gates? BRETT SIMPSON: Well, you said it. This is my fourth year trying to qualify, and this is the first time I've gotten a couple of good results early. It's always been a struggling point for me, and it feels good that I focused on that this year and broke that habit. Was it weird to wait three months before you surfed in your first event? That was strange, but it was a good thing, I think. In the past I've always been so keen to do everything. Just name the event, and I'd be there, trying to rack up those points. But things are different now. There's so many six-stars and the Prime events are worth so much that there's no point in doing anything else and burning yourself out. It's all about doing well in the primes. That first six-star, the O'Neill Coldwater Classic in Tasmania, seemed like one of the cooler qualifying events in a long time. That was a great contest. It was so rugged and raw over there that it felt more like a surf trip than a WQS. We surfed four different spots in one event - some ledgy, out-the-back reef, a few different beachbreaks...it was a lot of fun. I had a good rhythm going, too, but drew Damo in the Round of 16. Our heat was at some rip-bowl left, and it's tough to beat a Hobgood at a rip-bowl left. [laughs] Getting a result at Margaret River was new for you, too, wasn't it? Yeah, I've always had a tough go there. Never really tried to learn the wave, know what I mean? But this year Ian Cairns came over with me - who obviously knows the place better than anyone. We were out there at 5:30 every morning and he basically mapped it all out for me. It's not just the left or the right; it's the medium lefts with the walls, it's this wave and that wave. I had such a better working knowledge of the break this year - knowing which waves to look for. And it made a huge difference. Who else is traveling with you this year? It's kinda weird 'cause there's no too many guys from California doing the tour this year. The Gudauskeses are, but it's really fallen off. Like, in Tasmania, I just went with Aaron Lieber, who's working on his next film. It was cool because we could go off and try and get clips when I wasn't competing. "It's kinda weird 'cause there's no too many guys from California doing the tour this year. The Gudauskeses are, but it's really fallen off."
-- Brett Simpson
Do you feel like there's a real shallow talent pool in California right now? Yeah, I do. And it's not just the economy. I don't know what it is, really. I mean, there's a few of us. Guys like Nathaniel Curran, Austin Ware, Nate Yeomans, Gudauskeses. But it really falls off after that. It's not that there aren't good surfers; it's just that a lot of our good surfers don't seem to have that drive, you know? Like, where are all the guys from down south or Santa Cruz? It seems like there'd be a lot more really making a push. Maybe everyone's too comfortable; I don't know. But there is a good generation coming up - the guys like Kolohe Andino, Nat Young and Conner Coffin. It's just going to be a couple years before they're really in their prime. For me, competition is always just something I've loved and I want to compete at that top level. It's pretty all-consuming for me. You've had a couple close calls where it came down to the last event on whether or not you'd qualify. How hard is it to take those losses? It's obviously a huge bummer when it happens. You get dark; you might get depressed for a day or two. But there's never been a point where I contemplate giving up. Never. The way I see it, I'd rather just keep focusing on improving my surfing. As long as I keep improving, then I will qualify when I'm ready. And it's not just about qualifying. I don't want to be one of those guys who gets there, has that huge celebration, and then struggles all year just to stay on. My goals are to qualify when I can truly compete with the big names. With Jordy and Dane on tour, do you see that performance bar continue to rise? Yes and no. I mean, there's certainly more radical surfing on tour. But still it's the Slater, Mick, Taj, Parko guys who are surfing at the highest competition level. They don't make mistakes. They have amazing flow, linking big maneuvers on the best waves. They're just gnarly. I mean, Dane doesn't really have the best attitude about competition and Jordy just wants to win everything sooooo bad, that he ends up making dumb mistakes. They're polar opposites but sort of in the same situation. It's like if you combined both of their brains, they'd be unstoppable. [laughs] Any guys on the QS right now who are impressing you? Adam Melling is on a really good program right now. Real solid. Powerful. And Owen Wright is already making a good push. I see him going far, for sure. There's a lot of guys, but there's also a lot of big events and a lot of opportunity. A lot of opportunity to get a couple of big wins. So, you're at home for a spell and then off to Durban? Off to Durban for the Quiksilver Pro - a Prime event, and then back over here to Trestles for the 6.0 Prime. If you look at it, it's really one of the most important legs of the whole year. Nail these events, and you're looking good for the year. Come up empty, and you'll be playing a lot of catch-up. Hopefully it won't have to come down to the last event for you this time around. When I qualify, I want it to be decisive. It doesn't bother me that it's taken me longer than some of my peers for my surfing to mature. I used to be in a rush, but I'm not anymore. I'm in it for the long haul. MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |