Joel in The Bowl. //Photo Jon Frank

You got a good feeling about Bells this year?

I’m really excited, for sure, especially with the forecast looking pretty good right now. I’m pumped to get down there and leave the coast here for a while and start travelling.

Is Bells an old boys’ wave? Can Bells be a forum for progressive surfing?

With Bells it’s less of a progressive wave, more of a traditional wave. But it depends on your definition of progressive. It’s not a progressive wave in terms of boosting airs, but it can be a progressive in terms of the lines you draw across it. It’s a hard wave to get all high performance on. There might be a section here or there, but the majority of the time, even last year when it was as good as Bells gets it’s still a hard wave to ride. It’s a difficult wave to find a good line on because it’s always changing, wave-to-wave and even while you’re on the wave. It’s not like a Snapper wall or a wave at Trestles or something like that that you know what you’re getting. Bells is a constantly changing thing.

What’s the secret to surfing Bells well?

Shit… you’ve just got to pick and choose where to surf hard. You can’t surf the wave hard from start to finish. You need to pick your moments, then know when to back off and let the wave do the work for a while. Managing your speed is the key. It’s one of those spots where you’ve got to be picking the right wave and turning at the right time. You can get the best wave out there, but if you’re timing is off on the first turn it all seems to go pear-shaped from there. You can’t force Bells, you have to let it happen.

Is Bells like an old bike? Can you just get back on it after 12 months of not surfing it and get straight into the groove?

I’m coming down a couple of days early to warm up, but Mick’s quote is the best one I’ve heard in regards to Bells: “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.” You have to adapt a lot as the days roll on. It changes. The tide, the wind, the swell, wind it can all change so quickly that keeping a groove on is hard.

How they going to trump last year’s contest?

They can’t trump last year… not for me anyway (laughs). Footage from last year keeps popping up all the time and I find myself having to get away from it because I don’t know if it can be that good again. You can’t convince yourself that every heat is going to be six foot and offshore in the Bells bowl.

Paddling out for the final – 50 years, good waves, your best mate in the final with you – did you sense you were in the middle of something magic?

Yeah, but magic disappeared for a while cause it took 15 minutes to even get out, Mick and I both got smashed. But it really did feel like there was something going on last year. I think paddling out with Mick knowing it was the 50^th year and I think paddling out against by far the best surfer of the event and my good mate, it was like, “Who’s writing this script?” I was hoping whoever was writing it had a good conclusion there for me.

How do your boards change for Bells?

Maybe a bit more length and definitely different fins. For me fins are the key. A raked fin really seems to work for me out there. They seem a little drivier. They’re the fins Occy rides out there.

You’ve won Bells three times now… is it a place you count on for a result? Do you need a result at Bells?

I guess a result here sets me up for a good year. Because I’ve had a good track record I kind of expect something out of myself there, a final or a semi or a quarter, whatever. In past years when we’ve had to surf some crap up and down the coast, but it’s such a different vibe when its held in the Bells Bowl. The whole feeling of the place changes.

Do you feel the better the waves the better your chances?

I’d like to think so. The Bells Bowl, I mean, I still don’t claim to know it at all, but the more you surf out there the more you understand it.

Whose your biggest threat at Bells this year?

I’d say Mick and Taj, going on form. I mean, Mick surfs Bells Bowl better than anyone.

And it’s an interesting point for Kelly too. Brazil’s next and if he doesn’t bag a result at Bells he might not go…

Yeah, I hope so! (Cracking up). I mean, Kelly probably doesn’t even know if he’s going to Brazil. But he’s no slouch at Bells, he’s got three of them.

He’s got four.

There ya go.

I was interested in your thoughts on what you’ve seen of John John this year.

He’s looked insane. He’s been unbelievable.

Could he do something at Bells?

He could do anything, anywhere. His carving was amazing at Margies, his railwork, it’s all good. But he’s never surfed Bells, so that will probably sort him out. It’s a tricky spot to jump in cold. Sometimes you see the waves when they’re good and you think you’ll win with two nines, but you can end up winning with one six. It can be a real unknown kind of a place. If it goes to Winki it gets a little more squared up, but at Bells you just ever know what’s going to happen.

Have you got a bolter… someone who might surprise us at Bells?

For some reason I reckon Yadin Nicol. I think the wave and the forecast will suit him.

With the history of the place, and your own personal history at Bells, is it hard to paddle out and think it’s just another heat and another contest that needs to be won?

The history and the vibe of the place follows you out into the lineup. I love it. It’s like no other contest.

And is there a particular Victorian you’re looking forward to catching up with?

Brooko for sure. It’ll be so good to catch up with Troy and the family. I haven’t seen that much of him since he moved home to Torquay, so hopefully he’ll take me to all his secret waves while I’m down there.

Parko on the wall bank at D-Bah. // shortyphotos.com

You finished runner-up in the world title last year and made the last two finals. Did you take a lot out of last year?

I guess, sure. You can only take confidence out of finishing second in the world. A world title is still my goal and I’m still right in the mix, and finishing runner-up I should take a lot of confidence out of that going into this year. And anything could happen now – that’s my attitude – anything could happen because it’s surfing after all.

Did we see the best of your surfing at the back end of last year?

There’s always room to improve your surfing but some of the best stuff happened when it became mathematically impossible for me to win the world title. The favourite parts of my surfing happened at the back end. My surfing at the back end of last year felt free spirited, felt so good, it felt kinda right. I’d been putting a lot of pressure on myself up till that point but as soon as it lifted my best surfing happened. I had an open-minded end of the year, and this year I’m going to take that attitude with me. It’s not like I’m going in totally unprepared – I’ve been doing a lot of work on my surfing – but I’m going into 2012 with an open mind.

Is all the hype being directed at the new generation of young guys on tour a blessing in disguise for older guys like yourself?

Absolutely. I’m sure it takes a lot of pressure off Kelly and the older established guys. Those young guys are unbelievable with what they’re doing and their surfing is worthy of the hype, but I’m happy for them to have it. I think we all went through that when we were younger, the whole hype thing it comes and goes, but I guarantee this year or next year the Medinas, the John Johns, the guys coming through like Yadin, they’ll break the top 10 and be there quite a while.

How is your surfing evolving to deal with those guys?

There are probably a few points in my surfing that are still evolving, my aerials I suppose, but the thing is everyone has their strength and weaknesses and that’s the beauty of the mix of guys on tour. I think with the waves we’ll get on the tour this year, the stops we have, we might see some of the young guys discover they have a few weaknesses at certain places. Those guys are pretty good all round, but when you go to a new break you’ve got to get your head around it, and we haven’t seen either John John or Medina at the start of the year yet so it’s a little uncharted for them. J-Bay, Bells, we haven’t seen them there yet. Tahiti, Fiji, you know John John will probably be really good there. But it’s till their first time surfing an event there and you have to learn the wave while surfing it in a heat which is a different thing altogether.

Are you predicting a tough year for the judges?

For sure. I would have hated to be a judge down at the Australian Open at Manly. That was a really hard event to judge; it was tiny and every wave guys were throwing air reverses. It was hard to pick what air reverse was better than the other. This year on tour the judges will have it a bit easier at places like Cloudbreak and where good surfing wins heats and it’s pretty easy to say what that is, but at beachbreaks when it’s smaller and the surfing tightens up and there are more tricks and airs they’ll have to really have it sorted out, because sorting one air from another becomes really technical.

For the first time in a long time there is no clear world title favourite. Would you agree?

Definitely. There are guys who aren’t being talked about that much. Everyone talks about Kelly and some of the younger guys, but everyone seems to have forgotten about Jordy Smith in that equation. Jordy is a dark horse. A lot of people are talking about Owen because he went from strength to strength last year. He will be up there, and Julian Wilson is surfing amazingly and the thing is he really wants it. You can tell. And then you have the usual suspects. Mick has been training really hard and surfing really hard, and I’m sure Taj’s name should be in there too.

Does the world title keep you awake at night like it used to?

I sleep like a baby. I sleep fine. If the world title happens, it happens. If I’d never have given it my all I’d definitely be thinking about it too much, but over the past three years I’ve given it everything I’ve had and that’s all I can do. World title or not I sleep fine… unless the kids wake me up.

And the one big change to your regime this year is no Luke Egan on tour with you as coach.

Louie has given me so many awesome insights over those three years, so much knowledge and so many good ideas. He’s got so much confidence and insight into me and my equipment, what I can ride and when I should be riding it and what works for me. But I’ve got all that stuff in my black book now, all the stuff he’s shown me and we’ve worked on, so while I owe him a big debt of gratitude I reckon I’m ready to go out there on my own and see how I go.

Have you tweaked your boards at all for 2012? Anything radically different?

At Manly I was riding this little JS Rock ‘n’ Roll model with a little swallowtail. He shaped one for himself six months ago and I stole that off him and loved it, and he’s developed that board to the point where I can surf it in heats if the waves are small and fun. I prefer to ride a normal shortboard in perfect six foot waves, but we’re going to get heats this year where the surf might be pretty average so I know I’ve got a really good groveller if that happens.

You mentioned the intensity of the past three years and how hard you’ve gone at the world title, and you mentioned how liberating it was at the back end of last year once that world title dream was gone. How much of that mindset are you taking into this year?

I just don’t want to go back into how hard I was training there for a while. Some weeks I was training more than I was surfing, and this year I’ve tried to flick the switch and swap them around and do a lot more surfing. I probably won’t go into the new season with exactly the same headspace I had at the back end of last year – I want to surf smart and I don’t want to be blasé about it – but I definitely want to take some of that freedom I had late last year and channel it.

And onto Snapper, you’ve hardly surfed there at all over summer because there’s been no sand. What are your thoughts on what we’ll see there later this week?

There’s been no sand at Snapper at all, but a week is a pretty long time out there when they start pumping. There are little waves there but I can’t see it being epic Snapper. A week out it needs a lot of help. But D-Bah has a great bank on the wall and that’s pretty much where I’ve surfed all summer, but in a perfect world I’d love to see a big six foot east swell and have the contest down at Kirra like we did down in ‘09. If we got a good day down there it’d be amazing.

What do you think Kelly will do this year? Have you thought about it?

No, not really. He’ll surf at Snapper but beyond that who knows. It’s always good to have him there, but if he decides to walk away I’m sure he’s going to find some good waves somewhere else.

And Dane’s got the wildcard at Snapper.

He’s by far the most exciting surfer in the world right now and I’m really interested to see how his surfing has evolved in the past year because we haven’t seen that much of him. I just hope he doesn’t evolve too much in a heat against me like he did last time.

If you could surf a man-on-man heat at Snapper with one guy on tour, who would it be?

I’d love to have a heat with Kelly. I’ve never surfed a heat against him at Snapper. I surfed against him at Burleigh once but I’ve never surfed man-on-man with him at Snapper, so that’d be cool.

And give me the name of one guy who will surprise us on tour this year.

Brett Simpson. I really like the way he surfs and he’s hard to beat. It took him a year or two to mature into the tour, but he looked great at stages last year and I’m interested to see how he goes this year.

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.