Joel's last taste of J-Bay two years ago was a good one. //Shorty

Talk to me about the contrast between how you feel today, getting on a plane to J-Bay, and how you were feeling 12 months ago sitting on your lounge with a few dozen stitches in your foot?

My mind is pretty much the same – I think I dealt with the disappointment of the injury pretty well – but at least I’ve got a foot that’s not in two pieces. I’m so excited to go to J-Bay. I’ve wrapped myself in cotton wool this week and made sure I didn’t do a repeat of last year and got on that plane healthy.

Does it seem like 12 months ago since the injury?

Not really. I mean everything still feels kinda fresh for me, but so much has happened since then. It doesn’t feel like that long ago, but when you look back and realise what’s gone down since, there’s a bit in there.

How has your seven-week holiday from pro surfing treated you?

Awesome. I went to Bali for a Billabong boardshort shoot and got some amazing waves at Deserts, and I’ve just had an amazing week in Fiji. I had really nice Cloudbreak two days of epic waves, then the rest of the time just cruising and relaxing and enjoying island life with the family before I got stuck into 10 days of training at home getting ready for J-Bay and the rest of the year.

So your backhand tuberiding is probably going okay after Fiji, how are you going on your forehand?

I’ve gone right enough in my life for that to always be there. My backhand tuberiding is the one I love working on.

What’s the one thing you’re most looking forward to at J-Bay?

Everything. After two years everything about J-Bay excites me, but the one that’s in the forefront of my mind is that wave. I’m so excited about getting there and surfing that wave again after two years away. So excited, just the sensation of going so fast. My first wave when I get there I’ll probably just fly along it without doing a turn and just soak it all up. I‘m really excited about going back to J-Bay, but feeling really relaxed about going there at the same time, if that makes sense. Once you get there the whole vibe of J-Bay will take the edge off it and relax me.

Is surfing J-Bay instinct for you now after doing it for so long?

I guess so. The more you can rely on instinct out there and let the natural stuff take over, the better it is for your surfing. Better for me anyway. Trying to force something for me doesn’t work out there. It takes a little bit more time at J-Bay to assess the day – the direction of swell, the break between sets, which waves are hitting the reef just right – all those little things. But once you know in your head, which waves are the better ones, when you find the wave you want you can just go with it. Where you do your turns is the most crucial thing with J-Bay. Too early and the wave will take off without you. You just really need to be in a rhythm with that wave to surf it well.

What kind of surfing will win J-Bay?

That depends on the conditions, but in pumping J-Bay full rail surfing and monster turns with a couple of barrels will usually do the trick.

Given you’ve won here twice, how important is a result here at J-Bay for you?

I guess it is. We’ve had a break, we’ve had a bit of time off, and so it feels like we’ve just come out for the second half. No one can say they’ve got momentum. You haven’t surfed a heat in months and your mind drifts away from competitiveness when you have seven weeks off, so you have to get back in that zone and in that routine of getting ready for your heat and building that confidence again.

And there are a few unknowns at the back end of year.

I guess so, definitely. New York, I suppose you can prepare yourself for some pretty small beachbreak stuff. You never know, it might get some waves but from what I’ve heard it’s going to be pretty hard to run a good contest up there. You might have some moments, but all up it mightn’t be so good. San Francisco I have no real idea. I’ve heard it can get okay. I’m not sure what we’re going to get at either, but the one thing I know is that we’re all in it together. If it’s ordinary we’re all surfing the same thing. It will be one of those things that whoever adapts to what we get the quickest will win.

Looking at the ratings at the moment, do they mean anything to you? Guys like Taj and Mick have surfed as good as they can at certain stages but sit fourth and eighth. Do you give any weight to the ratings going into J-Bay?

Not so much. I think Adriano has been surfing out of his skin this year, but I think Taj has probably been the best surfer in the world with Mick not far behind, but their results haven’t been there and so they’re not up there. But there’s no point in looking at the ratings right now. Once the routine kicks in and these back-to-back events start to go down, that’s when you’ll see some shuffling and you’ll see who’s going to make a challenge. They’ll be worth a look then.

Joel, wallet-dropping at D-Bah last week. //swilly.com.au

A good result for you yesterday at Burleigh? [Joel finished second to Taj Burrow in the Breaka Burleigh WQS event]

Yeah, for sure. It was the first time I’d entered the Burleigh contest and I did it for a little warm-up, to get the gears moving. I just wanted to surf a few heats, and to make the final was a bonus. We saw last year how Taj won at Burleigh and used it as a momentum builder for the Quikky, so hopefully I tap into that kind of feeling.

And you’d surfed a couple of good heats the weekend before when Snapper won the Kirra Teams title?

That was so much fun. It’s a lot of pot luck that event; you need your whole team to surf well, there are a lot of heats, you need a lot of heat wins. It was really well done by the Snapper boys. They’re always tight those teams events, and it came down to Clipper [Clint Kimmins] needing to win the last heat, which he did. You know what, I feel more pressure surfing for Snapper in those events than I ever do in a World Tour event because the club is so strong and has such a great record. I always remember growing up, Jay Phillips was the anchorman for the club and he never let the club down. He always performed and gave everything for the club and I try and hold myself to that standard.

How do you feel now about having to sit out last year with the foot injury?

I guess the benefit now is that I’m hungry; not only to compete, but just to surf. That’s one of the key things with surfing on the tour; you’ve got to not only stay hungry to surf throughout a whole event, you’ve got to stay hungry over the course of a whole year. The way I’m feeling at the moment, I’m going to paddle out for my last heat of the year at Pipe even hungrier than I was when I paddled out for my first heat at Snapper. That’s how I’m feeling, that’s how hungry I am to surf right now. And the thing now is that I’ve got three kids, so it’s not like I can go surfing five times a day, I’ve got to pick and choose my windows to surf in and I have to make the most of them.

After the injuries of the past two years do you feel your luck can’t get any worse?

I guess so. There’s always something that could be worse, I suppose. There’s always somebody worse off. I had a couple of injuries that meant I couldn’t go surfing, and compared to what some people have to face in their lives it was nothing really. Being the glass half full guy that I am I feel like there’s always someone worse off than me and I’m not about to start dwelling on how unlucky I am. I didn’t have a great run and I’m feeling things can only get better.

How’s your training regime been going?

It’s good. I’m feeling strong. I just got over the mountain, literally, and we’re on the downhill run into Snapper, tapering off toward the Quikky Pro. With 10 days to go we’re lightening my training up a bit. I’m not getting out of bed feeling sore from the day before, I’m waking up strong and full of energy. I’ve punished myself enough so I get the benefit of it now.

And you’ve been swimming some big laps out through the Tweed Bar. [Joel was a passenger on a fishing boat that recently capsized on the Tweed Bar].

[Laughing] Yeah, been doing a bit of ocean swimming. I’d been doing a lot of breath holding work in the pool with Wes and it came in really handy when we rolled the boat and I had to start diving underwater salvaging all the gear.

Could have been worse, I suppose, you could have swum in from Nine Mile? [The week before the interview a fisherman had swum in from Nine Mile reef off Coolangatta after his boat capsized]

I know. That wouldn’t have been fun. I’ve spent some time in the water out there at Nine Mile, surfing, and it’s not the kind of place you’d want to be swimming. It’s four or five miles out to sea and there are some big fish out there. Dangling on the end of a rope towing in out there is one of the eeriest feelings I’ve ever experienced. Surfing it was spooky enough, so I can’t imagine what was going through that guys head when he had to swim to shore.

Let’s talk about your surfing.

I’ve been surfing a lot and I’m feeling really strong when I do. I went on a trip with Mick and Koby [Fanning, Abberton] down to South Oz last week, which was great. Had some fun waves and met some cool people down there. The waves haven’t been great at home – I missed that one day at Kirra – but they’ve been consistent and I’ve been surfing every day.

How important is this first event in terms of your season?

Really important. There’s always a lot of hoo-hah about whoever wins the first event – they somehow always become the world title favourite – but for me it’s more about putting in a solid showing. If I surf well and feel like I’m going to be able to keep surfing well then that’s a victory to me. This event is one of my strengths though, and a win here would be a win I wouldn’t need to desperately chase at the end of the year.

Speaking of the schedule, the tour is going to be pretty frenetic in the back half of the year. It’s basically six events back-to-back.

I was looking at it the other day and the back half of the year is going to be full-on. And it seems like we’ve dropped a few good waves for some beachbreaks, the old Dream Tour is getting a few bums on seats again. I remember back to my first year on tour [2001] when it was one epic wave after the next – Fiji, Tahiti, J-Bay, Mundaka – it was the ultimate Dream Tour. But it’s also good to go to new places; it keeps things fresh.

In terms of your career, how important is this season?

It’s a big year for me, for sure. I turn 30 pretty soon. After what’s happened over the past couple of years, after the injuries and disappointments, if I can surf every event this year at 100 per cent fitness I’d consider that a victory in itself. And if I can do that I’m confident I’m going to be challenging. But I don’t dwell on what’s happened to me. I’ve learned to just worry about the 30 minutes of the next heat in front of me. It doesn’t even matter who I’m surfing against, doesn’t matter what happened last year, doesn’t matter that I’m turning 30. It’s all about those next 30 minutes. Then it’s all about stringing a lot of good 30 minutes together.

Who do you think will be challenging for the world title this year?

I think Jordy will be a lot more mature in the way he surfs heats, just on the back of the confidence he’ll take from last year. He’s an amazing surfer and he put together a really good season last year. And Mick’s surfing on the trip we just did blew me away. You can see he’s been working pretty hard on big airs and stuff the judges will really notice.

You got anything new in your repertoire to spice it up?

[Laughing] I’ve been doing some amazing nosedives and I’ve got a new bog rail I’m going to debut at Snapper.

Do you feel more pressure surfing your home event?

I used to, for sure. It used to eat me up, but now I just enjoy it more. I’ve learned to enjoy it and not feel the pressure. It’s actually easier, I’ve learned. I know how to duck and weave around the back streets and keep a low profile. Stay out of the limelight and really concentrate on what it’s all about.

How’s the bank at Snapper?

At the moment, shit. They’ve been pumping apparently at night, but I’m not really seeing it. The current is supposed to go southerly today and tomorrow; there won’t be many waves out of it but there’ll be a swing in the current to bring the sand around the point. They can pump enough sand, they can pump a heavy sand mix and bring enough sand around, they just need the current to do it. In 48 hours you can have a bank. I’ve seen it before; you’re looking behind the rock one day and it’s deep enough to fish in, the next day you’re getting barreled there.

Job's back on. //Swilly

Even the clichés have taken a break.

Gauging how absorbed a pro surfer is in The Game can usually be measured by talk of sprints and marathons. Talk of one heat at a time. Talk of the opposition knowing every grain of sand out there. Truth guarded and refreshing honesty hidden behind game-faces. But for all involved, right now the tour and its attendant hyperbole is a million miles away.

“Sweet f*ck all,” states Joel Parkinson of what’s been up to lately at home in Coolangatta. It’s the longest unbroken stretch of home-time Joel has had in a decade. There’s no talk of training. No talk of boards. No talk of the next contest. Instead there is talk of children’s parties, football games, and his long-held goal of one day dropping daughter Evie at school by paddling her across the river on his paddleboard.

The pro tour has gone into hibernation. The Tahiti event moving from its traditional window in early May to the end of August in search of better swell has created a 10-week black hole. A mid-season break longer than the entire off-season. The tour bus that had been travelling at a hundred clicks an hour has suddenly ground to a halt, and surfers have had to formulate strategic plans around doing nothing. The more cynical amongst you who consider the life of a pro surfer tantamount to a holiday at the best of times aren’t going to like what comes next.

“I’ve had two weeks of, hang on… [yawning at 3pm]… not much I suppose. I’ve been surfing on little fishes, hanging at the beach and the surf club. Just cruising. Haven’t been training, haven’t been surfing my contest boards. It’s been awesome not doing any of that. Just be a family man, be a dad, do the school runs every day. I’m picking Macy up from kindy right now.” The weather and waves have fallen into place; the kinetic summer long gone, replaced by lazy lines, balmy days, empty car parks. The only 12-hour days going down around here are all in the water.

After dropping the kids off at school, Joel’s daily ritual has only really extended to driving down to check Snapper. “It’s been so fun every day. It’s a phenomenal bank. At two foot it’s the best I’ve ever seen it, the best two-foot pointbreak in the world. The other day it was waist-high and too small to get barrelled, so I grabbed a boogieboard and got an eight-second tube out there. No shit. It’s been so much fun. The kids have been all over it. Jagger Bartholomew, Sunny Cohen, and Luka Stevenson, all these kids are on fire. It’s like what surfing Snapper in 2020 is going to be like.”

The break has also allowed normal transmission to resume with Mick Fanning, who’s also been at home for the best part of a month. After spending the back end of last year trying to avoid each other while duking out the world title, the two have been living in each other’s back pockets lately. “He faded me,” barks Joel of the wave he and Mick split at Snapper last week. “Don’t believe him if he tells you otherwise. I was riding his board, trying to fit into the same small barrel. It was such a fun little surf.”

The pair has even been daytripping down the coast together, invoking teenage days when Joel’s Commodore Vacationer with the leopard skin seat covers would be piled full of boards and blackguards and pointed south. “Yeah, it was kind of like the old days; me, Mick and Shags in the car going down the coast. We used to do a lot of trips down the coast in the old days, but in the past few years we’ve been so busy that we never have time to go down there,” recalls Joel. “It’s such a full day, you leave at 4am and get home at six that night. But we had a ball down there, got some really fun waves, got bogged. It seems like when we get together like that something hilarious happens.” The fact this time it was only Joel’s car bogged in the sand and not Mick’s ski being washed onto the rocks, as has happened during previous incursions, saw them drive home laughing instead of trying to get their stories straight for the insurance assessor. They even ran into Big Artie Beetson while getting a feed on the way home, the chance meeting with the walking headland of a man proving a good omen for Joel’s Queenslanders, who would go on to win the first State of Origin game two days later.

But while the surfers have had a break from clichés, rust never sleeps for surf writers. This 10-week spell is a false dawn, the calm before the storm if you like. The back end of the season is going to be frenetic; five events back-to-back between Tahiti and Puerto Rico where the world title will be won and lost. “It’s a hard year to prepare for,” says Joel. “It’s been so stop/start. If this was last year, my roll would have stopped after three events because the events stopped. This year no one will have any momentum coming into J-Bay. It’ll be like the first event of the season all over again. So I figure it’s the time to recharge the batteries now. With a break like this you’ve got to take it slow. You can’t rush into it and surf yourself stupid. You’ve got to have a program for your holiday. J-Bay’s not so far away I guess, eh?” I tell him it’s in six weeks. “I’m back training soon, doing a lot of paddling, back on my normal shortboards. I’m surfing my normal 6’1” this arvo. Then I’m off to Bali next week and I’ll be starting to fine tune. Come J-Bay you want to still be eager to surf and in good form. You don’t want to have surfed yourself into the ground in the break.”

Although Mick and Joel are currently holding down fourth and eighth places respectively on the ratings, neither seem too perturbed. As both found out last year, it’s momentum at the right time that wins world titles. “I think I’m in a pretty good spot,” says Joel. “I’ve had two decent results, and it’s the guys who get on a roll at the back end of the year who will fight it out. It’s all a matter of timing.”

“It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” says Joel.

Clock punched. Job on.

[For video from the boys trip down the coast click here, and for more photos from Joel and Mick's trip down the coast check out next month's issue of Tracks]

[Show as slideshow]

Career win number seven, Kirra '09. //Shorty

To alleviate the boredom while we wait for something to happen at Haleiwa, here are the digits on Joel’s career so far. Thanks to our mate Mike Newman at RAS Sports for crunching them.

Debut// ’99 (Wildcard), ’01 (WCT)

Events// 92

Heats//349

Wins// 235

Win ratio// 67.34%

Quarters// 44

Semis// 26

Finals// 16

Wins// 9

Events per win//10.22

Favourite colour// Fuschia

Joel Parkinson – Portugal WCT Wrap from Billabong on Vimeo.

With the ankle injury gone and a half decent looking forecast, Portugal was always going to be fun. It felt great to surf good waves again, Europe so far had offered nothing, so you could say i had my froth on !!