Joel Parkinson

THE BOOK LAUNCH

We launched the new book the other night at Kirra. Such a fun night. Had a hundred of my close friends and family there at my mate Nick’s bar, Fresh, just across the road from Kirra. Had a few cheeky beers, but I think the girls ended up drinking more than the guys because there was a swell coming overnight and the guys didn’t want to get bent too out of shape. Mon’s cousin Holly wrote a poem for the night which was all-time, Big Trev took the stage for about two hours, I waffled for about 30 seconds and that was it… my book was launched. Hope you guys like it.

LEARN TO SURF

Parkos All Stars Surfing from Billabong on Vimeo.

This Saturday night the National Rugby League (NRL) is putting on the first ever Indigenous All Stars Vs The NRL All Stars game and its being played up here at the Titans Stadium.

I got asked the other day if i could take some of them for a surf so we went down to Currumbin Alley to catch a few waves. A couple of the boys could surf, but there was alot of Carnage, some really funny collisions.

It was good to get the boys out there havin’ a go !!

HOME SWEET HOME

HOME SWEET HOME from Billabong on Vimeo.

Been back home for over a month now. The surfs been pretty flat all through out January but that’s standard for that time of year.

The last few days though the waves have been really fun, it feels good to be back !!

THE J-BAY GROOVE

The view from my backyard looking up to Supertubes. //Shorty

I feel like I’m back in a country where I feel comfortable. Brazil is such a full-on country, and to come from here to J-Bay it feels like my second home. I can’t really feel myself or feel relaxed in Brazil, whereas here, I could live here, I could do months here.

We’ve been doing a lot of flying. So sick of planes. We went Sydney-Joburg, Joburg-Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo-Florianopolis, then all the way back to Joburg then down to Port Elizabeth. But at least they’ve been mainly long flights. You just knock yourself out and go to sleep. Louie got crook from the flight back from Brazil. We were sitting 20 rows behind him and it was like a heatwave. I’m sitting with Bobby and he’s stripped down to his singlet and he’s all sweating. It was radically hot. Twenty rows in front and Louie has taken a couple of sleeping pills and knocked himself out. He wakes up hours later and his whole body has gone numb… he’s frozen solid! Couldn’t feel his hands or his feet. His section of the plane was freezing. Sure enough he gets to J-Bay and he’s crook as a dog. He gets on the lounge and stays there for three days, just floored him. He’s on the way back now. He’s set his bed up on the loungeroom floor and has been sitting there watching Top Gear and the cricket on telly.

We got a great little pad looking straight into the eye of the point at Supertubes. We’re not in the contest scene, but we’re aware of it cause its only a two-minute walk. It’s nice and chilled. Me, Occ, Wes and Louie are staying here, we’ve got a sick little barbie pit and we’ve been firing that up every night, having a braai every night, cooking a lot of dead animal, just living the African lifestyle.

My first surf on the point felt so good. So good. It was one-to-two foot J-Bay, pretty much just two or three guys out, pretty terrible, but it was still better than any wave I had in Brazil. It’s a way better shape, it’s faster down the line. I was enjoying going fast so much I wasn’t even really turning.

The sand out here is unbelievable at the moment. The best I’ve ever seen it. It’s very close to small Kirra or Greenmount. The point is set up perfect for guys like Mick and Dean. Deano really stood out in the freesurf the other day, got one amazing tube. I didn’t get too many, I broke my board, but just seeing Deano surf and seeing how comfortable he looked and he easy he made it look, it gave me a huge confidence boost. If it’s looking like home for them, then it’s like home for me.

Occ is so psyched for his heat with Curren. He was talking about it this morning. Curren pulled out the old, “I’ve got a sore back,” and I said, “Occ, maybe he’s trying to bluff you, but maybe you’ve got to be wary of the injured warrior.” Hopefully they get good waves. Maybe every day before the comp starts, for 15 minutes, they should just put Occ and Tom out there on their own. Like playing Hells Bells every morning at Bells Beach, just to get everyone psyched for what’s about to happen. Can you imagine how sick that would be, psyching up for your heat watching Occy and Curren surf? No one is ever going to get sick of watching those guys.

I’ve only had a few waves each surf, been taking it pretty easy. This morning I only got one barrel, did a little air on it. But that got me feeling like I’m back, reminding me that I know this wave. It’s a wave where I don’t need to spend a week or two to tune up on it. One good wave and it all comes flooding back; the shape, the speed of it, the way it breaks. You can get so comfortable and confident on it so quickly, more so than any other wave. Chopes, or Bells even, it takes a whole week at least, but here at J-Bay one good wave and you’re back in the groove.

THE RED DIRT

Scoping out the world's best straighthander. //Frank

Just got back from chasing a swell up into The Desert. We scored. Drove up with Louie and Andy, and Occ flew in the day after we got there. It was so good to do that trip with a bunch of good mates, get away before the tour kicks off again.

I’ve been up there once before for four days with Jack shooting for Free As A Dog, stayed with George and Tracy Simpson up there. It’s not for every surfer on the planet, that trip. It’s for the surfer who wants to challenge themselves in the elements with no one around, big waves, just a few of the boys camping. I went five days without touching fresh water and just loved it. Just that style of roughing it, stinking of campfire smoke the whole time.

I love it that crew head up there for a month or six weeks and just live there between swells. I could see myself doing a month there easy. You know, you appreciate the little things when you’re up there camping. You surf two long sessions all day, and it’s not like you can go and sit down and have a pub meal and a schooner for dinner. I was that excited to sit down and have a cold beer from the esky as the sun went down because you realise how hard it is to lug everything there, bring the ice and pack the esky. You’ve got to earn everything up there. No free rides. You realise the value of things.

Eating is a huge part of life up there. I pride myself on good campfire eating and I tell you what, my campfire recipes were all time. The first night I cooked fish, steak, sausages, vegies and salad. Second night the same, then third night I did a tuna pasta with vegies and salad.

The right looked evil when we checked it. Ten foot closeouts. Andy was so keen to just throw himself into anything, and if he was going out there was no way that I wasn’t. And it was Occ’s birthday, so of course we went out and put on a show for him.

On the way home in the car just sitting in the back seat, Occ and Louie were in the front. I was just sitting there thinking as a kid how often I’d dreamed of doing a surf trip with those guys, my heroes, and here I was 10 years later sitting in the back seat with the two guys I’d watched on movies a thousand times. Like, how cool is this. We shot some epic footage on the trip, which is all going into Still Filthy. It’s kind of like the last footage they shot for it so it’s going to be a sick way to wrap it up.

The drive up there was long, but the drive home was longer. We did 12 hours in one hit. Punched it. I drove the whole way up there and drove the whole time we were up there. I did the first two hours coming back and I said, “I need out of this drivers’ seat.” I jumped in the back of Louie’s car, fell asleep, and I woke up 10 hours later outside the airport.