Joel Parkinson

THE SUBMARINER

Up to periscope depth. //Photos Hodgo... shphotography.com.au

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SNAPPER SUBS

Stop, drop and roll. //Kirstin/ASP

Survived my round three heat today with Kai Otton. We laughed about it… we drew each other four or five times in 2009 so it was funny we got each other again today. Just like old times. Otto has been surfing so well all contest and surfed a great heat. I squeezed through some of the smallest and roundest below sea level low tide tubes and managed to sneak through.

I’ve got Taj and Alejo Muniz tomorrow… looking forward to it.

BUSINESS TIME

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.

DANE AND DUSTED

It was an interesting week at the Quiksilver Pro all right.

Probably a little disappointed that I didn’t make it further than the quarters, because I felt I was surfing really well and I was in good rhythm. I just had the misfortune of drawing Dane. Everyone on tour has known that Dane has had that heat in him for two years, and we were all wondering when we were going to see it. Unfortunately, the bastard unleashed it in my heat! I could hear the crowd going nuts and I figured he was on fire. I finally got to watch the replay later that night on Fuel and it was pretty amazing what he was doing. It’ll be great for the Tour if he can keep surfing like that for the rest of the year, I just hope it doesn’t happen again against me. I was really happy with the way I surfed though in the contest. It’s a different year with a different feel to it, and I’m happy to walk away with a 5th and will be looking to do well at Bells and really get things rolling. I reckon the great thing about the contest at Snapper was the level of surfing. Guys seem to be really pushing themselves, and it’s going to be a pretty huge year. It was hard to single anyone out because just about everyone surfed above themselves. It was great to see Taj chalk up another win… he’s on such a roll at the moment.

I’ve got a week at home for some solid surfing and training, then I head to Margies to surf the QS event over there. I love that place so much that I’m really pumped about being back there. I’m psyching on Bells though, and reckon a week in a steamer and some cold water swell at Margies will be good preparation for it.

THE WIN WAS A BONUS

Fully whipped. //Shorty

How good was today? I thought when I paddled out for my Quik Pro heat that it was as good as Snapper was going to get, but then it just kept getting better and better all day. It was a bit hit and miss when I paddled out for my heat with Dusty, and no one had been barrelled all day because of the high tide… but the tide was dropping and I knew they were there. I was pretty confident I could find a couple and I was lucky enough to get two in the first five minutes. It was a real danger heat for me cause Dusty is a freak, and I was pretty stoked to make it through to the next round.

I watched the last few heats from home on Fuel and was blown away by how good it got. My God, how was Bede’s heat? Are you kidding me? It was like watching Backdoor some of those barrels, and I’m just hoping it’s as good tomorrow. Am pretty psyching on my heat with Freddy, and just hope we get some waves like today. I’ll just be happy if I get barrelled a few times.

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