Posted in Freestyling, Photos, World Tour
Parko, Occy and Luke Egan all have a special relationship with J-Bay. While Joel’s been coming here for 12 years, Luke and Occ first came here in the mid-’80s, and all three have won major contests on the fabled righthand point. In an excerpt from Joel’s book, Parko+Friends, all three talk about what J-Bay means to them…
Luke: I think it was 20 years at least since I first came to J-Bay. When was it?
Joel: How long have you had your block of land?
Luke: I think I won the block of land here back in ’87.
Occy: That was the Dream Sequence contest you won, hey Louie?
Luke: Yeah, I’d made the quarters of the Country Feeling contest the week before and they had the Dream Sequence contest the following week and first prize was a block of land. That was a Derek Hynd creation, the Dream Sequence. It was invitation only and the waves were pumping too. I was here for two weeks and I don’t think I rode a wave under four-foot the whole time, stayed on my 6’6” for two weeks.
Occy: You still got that block of land?
Luke: Yeah, it’s just up on the hill behind us. It’s the last one left on the street with nothing on it.
Occy: It’s the last one left in J-Bay!
Luke: I thought about selling it a few years ago, then travelling around Africa until the money runs out. But I just felt like if I sold it, it would be like going to Cash Converters and selling one of your trophies. So I’ve never done it. I still drive past it every year I’m over here and check it out.
Occy: I remember the first year I came here and won the contest, the Country Feeling Classic. Eighty-four, wasn’t it? As soon as they blew the hooter a 20-wave set hit and everyone was just freaking out. At eight in the morning the swell hit and it was corduroy eight-to-10 feet all day. I remember Tom Carroll and I doing crossovers out there after our heat one day. It dropped for the final, four feet, and I beat Hans Hedemann in the best-of-three in a blue wetsuit with pink sleeves and yellow gussets.
Luke: And you wore booties!
Occy: I did! And I can’t surf in booties! We’ve all won an event here, yeah. Never thought about that.
Luke: I think we’ve been lucky to have been channelled toward this place. Getting that feeling of what this place is about from the start. That’s what’s made it a special place from the start for us. Instead of turning up on your own you’re living with the family on the top of the point and you feel welcomed to the place.
Occy: Yeah, it’s really special. Louie’s right. You’ve got family here and you feel like a part of the place because the most respected family in the place treats you like one of their own.
