Highlights from the remaining heats of round three… waves were pretty small but well done to Mick and Andy for getting through, and Pat Gadauskas for somehow pulling a rodeo flip on a two-footer.
Good luck Louie, hope you can find some waves for this thing!
Tommy in his heat against Deano. //ASP/Robbo
This morning Parko was out in his boat on the Tweed River, catching tailor with his dog, Rocco. A long way from Tahiti you could say, but not so far away he hasn’t been keeping an eye on what’s been happening.
It was a big morning in Tahiti… a lot of crucial heats with careers on the line. Did you get up early and tune in?
I hoped to get up for Kieren and Andy’s heats, but they were a bit too early. I woke up at five minutes to six, just in time for Deano’s heat with Tommy. I actually found it that heat really hard to watch. It was two good mates of mine and you know the tour was pretty well over for whoever lost. I don’t think they’re going to be able to make it now this year. It was really tough to watch and unfortunately Tommy lost. I didn’t see Dingo’s round three heat but I heard he lost in the last 10 seconds. I’m so glad I didn’t watch it. That would have been heartbreaking. Poor fella, I’m really feeling for him.
I’m not sure where Dingo sits on the ratings now that he lost that heat, but I don’t think it looks good. I saw Rabbit down the street before and he was really upset about it.
It’s been heavy for all the guys who have their careers on the line, but it’s also produced some of the best surfing for a second round we’ve ever seen. You can smell the desperation, eh?
It was some of the best surfing I’ve seen in a second round, for sure. There was so much on the line and you could see it in the way those guys surfed. There was a lot of desperation, a lot of wrap-around cutbacks onto dry reef. I guess you’d never do that unless you were trying to win a world title or to save your career.
And you went fishing as soon as Kelly’s heat came on… lost interest in the world title race?
It’s early days. Definitely every result counts at the moment sure, but at the moment it’s about who’s surfing well and who can handle the big heats. Obviously Kelly can, we all know that, and I just got a text telling me he’d won his heat in the last couple of minutes. But I saw Jordy’s heat with Manoa and he looked nervous. Jordy shouldn’t have fallen in that barrel, it was a pretty basic barrel and I’m sure he’s thinking a bit about it now. You don’t get many chances like that to take Manoa down out there.
You called it after J-Bay that being world number one coming into Tahiti isn’t all beer and skittles because you generally get Manoa.
You know you’re going to get Manoa or Heiarii and they know the place so well it’s going to be hard. I’ve been beaten by wildcards so many times it’s not funny. And Jordy isn’t known yet as a Teahupoo surfer – which he might be in years to come – but the Tahitian guys thrive when the guy they surf against doesn’t know their spot as well as them, they sense it and they lift.
Can you read anything out of today in terms of a world title?
I think Jordy is feeling like he’s being chased. As the year goes on there will be more and more big heats, and he seems to work a lot better without that pressure. Whether you feel pressure or you don’t, everyone knows when a pressure heats on, you can try and block it out as much as you like and tell the world you’re cruising, but I reckon you’re better off acknowledging your state of mind. You’re better off feeling and dealing with the pressure rather than trying to block it out.
The small swell really opens the field up here. Who are you tipping?
There are a whole heap of guys who could win. I thought Wilko surfed really well, but I’m liking Mick. Four-foot for Mick out there is perfect because he’s the smartest chess player on tour, and at four foot it’s all going to be about finding the waves. The usual suspects will be there though, mostly. It’s become purely a wave catching contest. Unless it becomes consistent – which it won’t – it looks like it’s going to stay a wave catching contest. If Marco Polo can beat Bobby out there anything can happen. It’s not just surfing when the waves are like that.
You missing not being over there?
I think I just miss surfing, full stop. I missed competing at J-Bay because I was all ready to go and compete the week before, but now it’s been eight weeks without surfing, and I’d be happy to just get a wave, singlet or not. I’d trade 50 heats right now for just one wave on a little backbeach down the coast.
Joel in the hyperbaric chamber.
Where are you? It sounds like you’re in a coffin.
I’m in a hyperbaric chamber for my foot. It’s like a big plastic tube, kind of like a sunbed with airplane windows. I’m lying down on a mattress and I’m stuck in here for the next hour.
Did you take a book in there with you?
I’ve got my phone, that’s all I’ve got. That’s why I’m calling you. I’m bored.
What stage are you at with your recovery?
Right now I’m on the verge of starting to walk on the foot. By the end of next week, in 10 days, I’ll be rid of the crutches and I’ll be walking around in a moonboot. I’ll be in a moonboot for up to six weeks, but at least I’ll be walking on my own. I’m just happy to get off crutches; that will be a huge step.
I bet when you took that moonboot off last year with your injured ankle, you were hoping to never see it again.
For sure. I hated that thing, but now to me it’s a step closer to getting back in the water.
Speaking of that, how was getting back in the ocean for a swim the other day.
That was incredible. The best thing I’ve felt since I cut my foot. I just had another swim this morning and I haven’t washed the salt off me. It just feels that good to have that crusty salty feel on your skin again. The thing with my foot, if you do your ankle or your knee you can still shower, but with the cut I can’t get my foot wet. I went five weeks without being able to wash my foot.
How did it smell?
Not good. It still had crusty blood from the operation on it. I can’t go and spend hours out in the pool with it, but at least now I can jump in and wash it. It’s a big psychological thing to be able to get back in the water.
Have you started training again?
I started yesterday. It was great. The foot was fine to train with. I’d tried to train two weeks ago but it was too painful and it opened the cut up a little bit. The surgeon told me to forget about it for a couple of weeks, but now that I’m at that stage I can still do my ball work and all my sit-down stuff. I can do all that, all the stuff I usually do on the ground. My arms, abs, my heart rate and cardio level, if I can keep all that up, then I’m not starting from scratch when I get back on my feet.
What’s your surgeon saying about when you can surf again?
Mid-October. There are no shortcuts. Even though it feels great and it feels like it’s healing, if I put my bare foot down on carpet it feels like I’m walking on nails. What makes me cringe is the thought of walking on a road. My God, that would feel like walking on broken glass. The scar tissue still has shooting pain through it when I put weight on it. The doctors told me that from the start, and that’s going to be the biggest thing to overcome in getting it back to normal.
Are you counting down the days until you surf again?
Not really. For now I’m thinking short term and looking at the day I can lose my crutches and walk without them. They’re the things that will happen sooner, and they’re the stepping-stones to getting back on a board. They’re the things that mean more to me now and keep me going, rather than thinking about getting back on a board. There’ll be a time for that. Just to get my day-to-day life back, instead of getting out of bed in the morning and having to get on my crutches to go clean my teeth. That shits me.
And a return to the Tour?
If I can make the Triple Crown I’ll be stoked. I’ll be surfing again when the Puerto Rico event is on, but Monica is due to have the baby around then. And I’d only just be back in the water, so I don’t think it’s feasible to surf a Tour event after just a handful of surfs. I don’t want to go back on the tour happy to get a 17th, I want to go back on Tour and be confident enough to know that I could win.
The Triple Crown worked well as a goal for you last year coming back from your ankle injury.
Yeah, last year was a little different. I set myself the goal of winning the Triple Crown, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself this year. I’m coming off a pretty horrific injury. If I can go there and be competitive and just surf some good waves, I’d be happy with that. I’d love to win the Triple Crown again, sure, but I’d also be happy to win some good heats and get a bit of momentum back. If by some chance I feel 110 per cent with my foot leading into it, I’ll be going there to win, but I don’t think that will be the case at the moment. Come February 28, 2011, that’s when I’ll throwing the kitchen sink at it.
Tahiti is about to start: are you missing not being there?
I’m a bit edgy, but it was harder missing J-Bay being the first event after I cut my foot. Even the US Open looked fun, and I would have loved to be in that. Now I’m starting to get used to the fact I’ll be watching a lot of surfing on TV this year.
What are your thoughts on the new ASP contest format?
I reckon it’s unreal. I can’t wait to surf that format. It’s almost a bit like two comps in one. I reckon when it gets down to the last 12 guys and you get those three-man heats where nobody loses; they’re going to be really exciting. I’m already thinking about surfing one of those heats with Mick and Dane. You’re going to give it your all, put it on the line, because you’re not going to lose. There’s no priority, you’re going to catch a lot more waves, and you’re going to throw caution to the wind.
Fishing?
I got some good tailor the other day down the back of Fingal, some chopper tailor that fed the family for the night. I got a big flathead – six or seven pounds – the other day off the jetty at the back of the house. And I’ve been fishing with Occ in the boat a little bit
And Joel Junior, your third child, is due in October.
I’m pumped. We’re going to have a boy, which I’m stoked about because I’m not going to be so outnumbered in this house by women anymore. Evie and Macy love the idea of having a little brother. We’ve got no idea what we’re gong to call him at the moment, although Macy wants to call him Joey because he’s in a pouch at the moment. She keeps asking, “When is he going to hatch?”
On The ASL Couch With Parko from Australia's Surfing Life on Vimeo.
Five weeks later and I'm finally back in the water. //Swilly
Five weeks to the hour after I cut my foot I finally got back into the ocean today for a bodybash. The sequence of shots below is probably the worst sequence of my whole career, but it felt the best. The second I hit the water I felt a thousand times better.
