Registered or Premium Member? LOG IN | Become a Member: TRY PREMIUM FREE
|
Surfline requires Flash Player 9 or higher. Please download and install the latest version of Flash Player before continuing. |
March 5, 2009
29233 visits
|
|
Dane Reynolds hates interviews.
But the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast is now in its sixth straight lay day and the guys on tour are running out of things to do. So, Dane made some time for Surfline photog Sean Rowland to come by his Coolangatta flat for a few hours. Here's an early-season update from the Gold Coast on America's favorite sophomore.
Shit, I don't know... [long pause]. On a personal level, I learned not to treat it like a job or anything more than surfing really. I feel like the more serious I take it the less I get out of it and the more stressed I become and the worse I do. I just learned to not put pressure on myself and just enjoy it. |
|
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR SURFING IMPROVED BY BEING ON TOUR MORE THAN IT WOULD IF YOU'RE FREESURFING AT HOME OR ON TRIPS? I don't know. I don't think it changed in either way because I'm doing the same shit I'd be doing otherwise except I'm surfing a couple heats here or there. It's not like I'm going out surfing D-bah envisioning I'm in a heat or practicing, trying to work on consistency or anything like that. When I'm not in a heat I have no thought in my mind about surfing heats. I really don't think my surfing has changed one way or another. I guess I'm just doing less surf trips to places with awesome waves... "I don't have any goals this year. I've pretty much abandoned goals in general."
-- Dane Reynolds
YOU WERE NURSING INJURY DURING THE BREAK. WHAT DID YOU DO TO OCCUPY YOUR TIME TO GET READY FOR THE 2009 TOUR? It's been about five months now... wait, what's the date today? It's been a long time. I've been doing physical therapy to get my ankle back to normal. I've been surfing since about a month and a half into the injury. Well, not really surfing like I know it. I don't know... pretty much the same old shit. I'd go hang out at the beach, swim, and bodysurf. I was in the ocean the whole time even after my injury. I guess I had a little more free time but pretty much the same routine. DOES IT FEEL DIFFERENT COMPETING AT SNAPPER THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST YEAR? Yeah. There was a helluva lot of pressure at the beginning of the year last year with that crazy build up between me and Jordy. I felt a ton of pressure just to surf well -- not to get a result or anything, but just to surf well in my heat. This year I don't have any pressure. I don't really care either way. It's kind of strange now because I have Nathaniel [Curran] in my next heat. That's kind of a trip and I don't know what to think about that. HAVE YOU BEEN TRYING OUT NEW BOARDS WITH AL [MERRICK] LIKE KELLY HAS? I've worked on one with Al that basically is a Fishcuit but cut out of a bigger blank. He cut it out of a six-foot blank and pulled in the tail a little bit. It's basically a Fishcuit with a narrower tail but it's hard to get it to fit in the pocket. I think it's 'cause of the big batty tail. So Al shaped another one out of a bigger blank and pulled in the tail, trying to get it to where it has the same sort of glide and quickness [as the Fishcuit] but can fit in the pocket a little bit better. I named it the Molecule and drew up a logo. He's all stoked. It was pretty sick. As far as shortboards go, I have a couple older boards that work really well and I have a new one that works well too. I haven't had to work with him on shortboards lately because they all work really well so I wasn't worried. ARE YOU SETTING SPECIFIC GOALS FOR YOURSELF THIS YEAR ON TOUR? No, I don't have any goals this year. I've pretty much abandoned goals in general. I just remember in high school that was always the format for success that they teach you -- make goals and try to achieve them. I don't know, goals never worked for me. I just want to make myself happy on a daily basis and I feel like the big picture has fallen into place from that. If I look at the big picture, like, "I want to be ranked this high this year," everything is leading towards something that's way off in the distance and you forget about right now. It's sort of funny when you start analyzing stuff like this... WHAT EVENT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEAR? I don't know. This event's always fun, but then we're here and it kind of sucks. [Laughs] We were trying to make it awesome for a while but then we're like, "No, it sucks." Bells kind of sucks too. I like the place at J-Bay but the wave is hard as hell. France is cool. I like France. One event that I really enjoy surfing heats at is Trestles because it's a wave that I feel comfortable to let loose on. It's soft and playful. But, I don't really like all the hoopla that goes along with it though. MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |