|
December 28, 2008
22248 views
|
|
Last year around this time,
the biggest story in the surfing universe was rookie superstar Jordy Smith. I did a story in the winter 2007 issue of WATER magazine called "How Jordy Smith turned the surf world on its head this summer - and why next year's ASP World Tour will be the Best Ever." (Well, it kinda WAS the Best Ever, only not how we'd originally thought.)
|
Surfline requires Flash Player 9 or higher. Please download and install the latest version of Flash Player before continuing. |
|
All eyes were on him and fellow rookie Dane Reynolds as the year started up. Everyone was preparing themselves for some kind of New World Order in pro surfing brought on by the two radical first-timers. But then a funny thing happened: Call it the Kelly Effect. And after unspectacular results in the first couple contests (a 9th, 17th, and 33rd), the whole Jordy-taking-over-the-ASP-World-Tour thing started to fade back. By the end of the year, both Jordy and Dane were in the back half of the ASP Top 45, and Jordy was actually on the bubble of not requalifying going into the Billabong Pipeline Masters. To make matters worse, Smith tore his kneecap apart in the final day of the O'Neill World Cup at maxing Sunset, and was told by doctors in no uncertain terms that he couldn't surf Pipe. So he had to watch by the sidelines to see if he'd be returning to the 2009 ASP World Tour. By the end of round two, enough people had lost so that Jordy's spot was safe. He ended up finishing number 26 in the world - and the top 27 from the ASP World Tour qualify for the following year. Talk about cutting it close. Surfline caught up with Jordy last week at the O'Neill house by Pipe on the North Shore to have him talk about his season. (After the interview, he paddled out at Gums on an ancient bodyboard, "just to get the blood flowing in the knee.") SURFLINE: What happened in the final of the O'Neill World Cup at Sunset? JORDY SMITH: I was having a pretty good run. I was feeling the best I've felt all year, for sure, during this Hawaii patch. It was just unfortunate. My first wave in the final, bottom-turning, the water just rushed over the front of my deck and pushed my front foot towards the nose and my back foot over the grip and went into a kind of splits. I tore the MCL and the ACL. These things happen. Injuries come and they go, and just now gotta make sure you do the right rehab on it and get it better for next year. "I used to get a lot more aggro off the heats and especially those first events."
Did you try and catch waves after that? I went back out and tried to catch another wave and I stood up and was like, 'oh, this really hurts.' I did it again and the wave wasn't real good so I pulled off. Then as I got back out, I got really licked on the inside. A bunch of sets caught me on the head and broke my board. I was just kind of there swimming, and I couldn't really use this leg. It was pretty hard. Then I got back to the rip once my board had broken and I got another board, but it was a little too small -- it was a 7'2" and I was using a 7'4" that day. I tried to catch another wave and got one and fell completely straight from just top to bottom 'cause I couldn't stand on the leg. I was like, 'something's wrong here. Something's really hurt.' By that stage the heat had already ended and I just went in. Going into the 2008 ASP World Tour, you said your goal was to get in the top five. What was the biggest obstacle: your surfing? Strategy? Or mental state? Definitely strategy. I made a bunch of rookie mistakes. I was arriving at events, places that I've never been to the day before with boards I'd never ridden. And I had just too many boards. I think for the first five or six events, I rode a new board in every single heat. Like brand new, never been surfed, paddle out on it, and it's just like, 'whoa...' You just couldn't get to the events before hand? We have a lot of trouble with our visas. So it's hard to get to the locations ahead of the time and prepare and have the facilities like everyone else. It's pretty hard to get the visas going, but that's our main goal for this year. Get there real early and get there ahead of time, you know, a week before. And in heats: clearly, it's not like you went in like a total freesurf guy. You went in as a really good competitor. What was different than you thought it would be? I haven't done many man-on-man before in my life. I think the bottom line in the 'CT is that you've gotta catch the set waves, 'cause the judges just don't give you points for how hard you rip a medium wave. You gotta get the best waves. And everybody on the 'CT, they can all surf as well, so if you're not getting those waves, then you're not gonna win. It's also different from the WQS because the 'CT, you have to have a 100% win rate to win. The 'QS is, like, 'OK, I can get a second here maybe and maybe I'll get to the final.' But it's not really like that. You gotta win all the time. Plus, the beginning of the year was just a scramble. Here, then there, then this and this, and dealing with that and this. None of the parts had settled yet, so I think next year will probably be a little bit of a better year for me, hopefully. Which contests did you feel most comfortable? The first contest that I felt comfortable was probably Trestles. It's where I told myself, 'Okay, I'm gonna ride this board only. Even if it's a dog, I'm riding it, I wanna win.' And that's kind of where things started changing slightly. I tried to ride that board and just rode that board throughout there and France and Mundaka. My game plan wasn't too good at those events, but the fact that I learned to stick to one board was really good for me. You almost didn't qualify for next year's tour - how did that feel? A lot of people ask me that. They're like, 'hey, are you stressed that you're not qualifying?' And I was like, 'no, I'm twenty years old and I've got a full career ahead of me and I don't need to rush into things.' I kind of rushed into the beginning of it, but that's just how it played out. And next year I'll take it a little slower. Do you feel like you should have maybe taken a year to cruise and do more stuff or do you feel it was good to have the trial by fire? I just walked straight into it. Other people make noise other ways, whether it's making their movies or whatever. I didn't have an opportunity at that stage 'cause I was sponsorless. The only other way I could make some noise was by winning events and taking on the 'QS. Next thing I know I was winning the 'QS and on the 'CT and it all happened so fast. Just going from normal school kid to being in the public eye, that was a pretty big change. Do you feel like you're better after a year of being in the public eye? Definitely. I used to get a lot more aggro off the heats and especially those first events. Learning how to control it and take it, but definitely now that the year's over, I've learned a lot and learned how to be a lot more professional. What are your plans now? Just gonna go back to California and do a little bit of training and rehab with Tim Brown and Warren Kramer and a bunch of people up there. Just try and get my knee back. It'll take a month or two, and get back in and see it next year. At the moment, it's not too drastic. I've been doing a lot of rehab, so it gets better and it gets worse. I've got ups and downs, but that's how it goes. Let's hope, before next year starts, it's all good. SURFLINE HOME PAGE MORE SURF NEWS |
|