Hey guys, just letting you know Joel will be signing copies of his book on Tuesday afternoon (May 25) at 4pm outside the Coffee Club in Marine Parade, Coolangatta. Mick will be there with too, signing copies of his book. We’re sure their English teacher from Year 9 will be on hand to see how they managed to write a book each without ever showing up for a lesson.
Here’s a Bells story that didn’t quite make it into the book… it’s a classic though. I’ve surfed against Troy Brooks at his home break of Bells for over 10 years… he’s smashed me plenty of times, but I got him this time a few years back and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll let him tell the story…
“We had a heat at Bells a few years back, and on my last wave I needed an 8.6. I did a Superman in the Bells shorey and nailed it and got an 8.9. What I didn’t know was that Joel was on the wave behind me and had got a 9.5. I came in claming it, thinking I’d won the heat, not knowing he’d just snookered me and made me look stupid. But that’s typical Joel though. His style suits Bells probably more than any other surfer. He’s got that long drawn out carve that fits well into the Bells face, and then he can pretty much do whatever he wants; throw the fins, pop airs, tube ride, duck and weave out of Bells barrels.”
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.
A palm-fringed limestone reef. Boards in hand. The Telo Islands. Three pm. A Tuesday.
Joel: “I’m thinking about doing a book.”
Editor: “What’s your book about?”
“I dunno… a book.”
“What kind of book?”
“I dunno… stories, photos. A book.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”
“I want a book about me that’s not all about me.”
“Hmm, a book about you that’s not all about you…”
And so Joel’s Book is born…
I’ve wanted to do a book for a long time now and I finally pulled my finger out and did it. Okay, when I say “I”, I mean the Flying Pineapple guys mainly, but putting up with them for a year while they did it was pretty hard work on my behalf, so they can’t take all the credit.
When I was a kid I loved my magazines, but I loved my surf books even more. I remember an old book called Surfing Wild Australia. It had a sunset on the cover, I think it was taken at The Wreck in Byron. It had all these incredible photos from around Australia… I think Gnaraloo was in there, Tassie. But Dad had heaps of surf books and I’d lose myself in ‘em for days.
But I wanted to do a book that wasn’t all about me. I didn’t want to do a bio, not yet. I wanted a book that was going to capture the people and places I go… and maybe throw a bit of myself in there for good measure. Most places I go to regularly I’ve been going to for 10 years now, and I’ve been lucky to meet some amazing crew and in that time share some good times and good waves with them. When you travel and stay with friends in other places around the world for long enough, it goes beyond having a roof over your head, you actually become family to these guys and vice versa. Some of my best friends today live half a world away, and I’m lucky that I’ve been given the chance to travel and hang with them at their place. It’s a very cool thing to have, and it’s something common to a lot of surfers who travel around. Surfing’s just got that power to bring people together.
So for most of last year as I travelling around we were catching up and talking story with my friends in Hawaii, J-Bay, Angourie, Tahiti and a heap of other magic little places. There’s some all-time stories in there; me and Rasta cruising through Europe in an old van, the tuna that almost cost me a heat in Fiji, Occy wrestling the seagull in Gnaraloo. And there are some pretty epic photos in there, the best photos of me from the last couple of years as well as photos of my friends and the places they live. Jonny Frank and Shorty did most of the photography, and there are some gems.
I just wanted a book that made people appreciate all the good times and good friends surfing has given ‘em.
PARKO+FRIENDS launches in Australia on February 18 and is available in bookshops or Billabong stockists. It will be launched in Europe and the US later this year.
