Speaker 1: All right. Today we've got special guests. We have a
Speaker 1: proper set up here, so you know he's a special guest,
Speaker 1: A great man, one of the greatest men of Australia.
Speaker 1: I like to think from my time here, he is
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven twenty thirteen World Star League champion.
Speaker 1: You've got role models in Australia, I think, and like
Speaker 1: the people all over the world that I think represent countries,
Speaker 1: I think of people like yourself, Ash Barty, people that
Speaker 1: represent this country of Australia better than anyone else. And
Speaker 1: it's credit to you and what you've done. We'll go
Speaker 1: through some of it. Man, it's it's pretty phenomenal, seriously,
Speaker 1: but we'll welcome in Nick Fanning, the absolute legend that is. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's so good to have you. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on. We'll start off the cooly kids from
Speaker 1: Kool and Gatta. Now you've got some of your great Mitess.
Speaker 1: You've got Joel Parkinson, Dean Morrison and yourself grew up together.
Speaker 1: You always told y'all this is literally what I was
Speaker 1: told you waged school. Now, I didn't know what wag
Speaker 1: miant right in, so I had to I had to
Speaker 1: do a bit of deep diving into that and find
Speaker 1: out that meant hooky an American language. But you essentially
Speaker 1: skipped school together, used to sorry full time, obviously, traveled
Speaker 1: the world, won championships and stuff like that. What was
Speaker 1: it like? I guess having those people you grew up
Speaker 1: with be part of your career throughout the time that
Speaker 1: you were traveling overseas, and I can imagine like at
Speaker 1: times it'd be so lonely being away from friends and
Speaker 1: family and everything else, like to have those guys there
Speaker 1: to be able to support you throughout those times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was amazing, you know. I guess going back
Speaker 2: to the school days, they probably wagged a lot more
Speaker 2: than me. I'd get in trouble. My brothers would tell
Speaker 2: my mum that I had to go to school. But then, yeah, look,
Speaker 2: those two guys were pretty much the reason why I
Speaker 2: am where I am today. They were destined to be
Speaker 2: pro surfer since they like twelve years old and I
Speaker 2: didn't really know how to become a pro or how
Speaker 2: to make the tour or anything like that. I just
Speaker 2: followed them, and I was always getting like second or
Speaker 2: third to those guys and just could never beat them.
Speaker 2: And that just made me want to try harder and
Speaker 2: just be better. And then yeah, we went through these
Speaker 2: leap frog effects where you know, one month Joel would
Speaker 2: be winning everything, the next month Dean would be winning everything,
Speaker 2: and then I would go over the top of them,
Speaker 2: and we'll just keep doing that, and then before we
Speaker 2: knew it, we're all top ten in the world. Like
Speaker 2: it just happened so fast. And like I just said,
Speaker 2: the tour can be a lonely spot at times, but
Speaker 2: you know, when you've got two of your best mates
Speaker 2: that you grew up with, anything happened, would all be there,
Speaker 2: like supporting each other, especially our first year on tour,
Speaker 2: always watching each other's heats, making sure that we're getting
Speaker 2: from spot to spot. And yeah, and it's still still
Speaker 2: like that today, Like we're always on the phone together,
Speaker 2: we're always going surfing together, and yeah, it's more more
Speaker 2: of a brotherhood than actual mates.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like, do you have a give a memory
Speaker 1: of like something of someone winning a championship maybe at
Speaker 1: a certain time that really just kind of jelled you on,
Speaker 1: took you to the next level of that friendship.
Speaker 2: Our first year on tour was was big, Like it
Speaker 2: was really significant, you know, Joel won the first event
Speaker 2: of the year for US. Joel to actually qualified the
Speaker 2: year before us but sort of didn't do that well.
Speaker 2: And then he won that event, and then yeah, we
Speaker 2: parted it his plays and then and then as we
Speaker 2: went through the year, I won an event and Dingo
Speaker 2: was sort of struggling, and there was a moment where,
Speaker 2: you know, he had a death in the family and
Speaker 2: and it was like it was us three just sitting
Speaker 2: there and trying to figure out the best plan for
Speaker 2: for Dean and making sure that he was okay to
Speaker 2: if he wanted to serve or if he wanted to
Speaker 2: go home, that he knew that he had support there.
Speaker 2: And I think that first year sort of really cemented
Speaker 2: how strong our friendships were. And then Dinga had a
Speaker 2: pretty bad accident in Hawaii and actually didn't qualify for
Speaker 2: the following year, and he got a wild card, an
Speaker 2: injury wild card, and then he came out the next
Speaker 2: year and ended up winning the very first event, and
Speaker 2: so it was a really big It was a big
Speaker 2: win for all of us in that situation, and seeing
Speaker 2: you may have a hard time and then come out
Speaker 2: in triumph was really special. So they're the things that
Speaker 2: sort of you know, carry on today and then even
Speaker 2: now we're off to it. We've always got each other's backs.
Speaker 2: We always know exactly what's going on in each other's lives,
Speaker 2: and yeah, good, bad, ugly, pretty, We're there for every moment.
Speaker 2: It's pretty funny.
Speaker 1: It's great to have that kind of family feel I
Speaker 1: guess of people, and it's so so important. I feel
Speaker 1: like in that inner circle of your mates that you
Speaker 1: kind of do. Now I want to go We'll go
Speaker 1: back into a little bit, but I want to go
Speaker 1: into fanning. The fire video, the og like video. Right,
Speaker 1: So you're young at this point in your career, you're
Speaker 1: traveling the world, simply filming yourself, hitting all these different
Speaker 1: waves around the world. That would have been one of
Speaker 1: the most exciting times of your life, surely filming everything
Speaker 1: just like I feel like, there's no real restrictions whatsoever.
Speaker 1: It was just like you're doing. I mean like at
Speaker 1: one point in the video you were in a fighter jet.
Speaker 1: It was kind of like just chaos.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. To be really honest, I was so
Speaker 2: naive to the whole video side of things. I was
Speaker 2: just I was all about just trying to qualify. I
Speaker 2: was just trying to get on tour and see what
Speaker 2: I could do on tour and stuff like that, and yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm so lucky. I get put in situations. Some are good,
Speaker 2: some are really stupid, but just get put in situations
Speaker 2: where I get to go and jump in a fighter
Speaker 2: jet or you know, I get to go on these
Speaker 2: trips where I'm just with a bunch of mates on
Speaker 2: a boat or something like that, and it's like, there's
Speaker 2: nothing better. It was a really fun time. I'll give
Speaker 2: you another funny story was when just after Fanning the
Speaker 2: Fire came out. It was our first yeah, it was
Speaker 2: our first year on tour, and we went to Brazil
Speaker 2: and there was a blackout in this hotel and there
Speaker 2: was fifteen hundred candles all around this hotel, like jeez, yeah,
Speaker 2: like the whole place was just out of power. And
Speaker 2: Dingo and I just rocked in that day. We're in
Speaker 2: a room together and we were like, all right, he
Speaker 2: wanted to go and get some boards fixed from a
Speaker 2: friend next door, and so we're like, oh, let's go
Speaker 2: do that and we'll be back in like five ten minutes.
Speaker 2: And so we left the candle on top of the
Speaker 2: TV and we essentially the candle went through, the TV
Speaker 2: exploded and we went back in five ten minutes. We'll
Speaker 2: be back in like four or five hours, because we
Speaker 2: ended up just going to hang out with these guys
Speaker 2: and we come back and people thought we were dead
Speaker 2: in the room and this and that, and all our
Speaker 2: boards were just covered in black silk. All our clothes
Speaker 2: just ruined, gone, had no clothes, had nothing. Dingo traveled
Speaker 2: home on a burnt passport. But yeah, it was just
Speaker 2: like fanning the fire really stuck then, because yeah, me
Speaker 2: and Dinga pretty much burnt down my hotel. From then on,
Speaker 2: Dingo and I never stayed together over again, and I
Speaker 2: moved in with Parkay.
Speaker 1: Fire out in Brazil. Yeah, oh gosh, don't license. How
Speaker 1: was that, like that video going out, like obviously kind
Speaker 1: of how the publicity comes with it, Like that's probably
Speaker 1: your first real, I guess, like experience of like kind
Speaker 1: of being known everywhere and a kind of a global standpoint,
Speaker 1: like being young in that situation. How was that, Like,
Speaker 1: how'd you end up handling that situation of having a
Speaker 1: bit of fame now with that coming out.
Speaker 2: It was it was different because I guess back then
Speaker 2: was sort of before the Internet. It was you know,
Speaker 2: there was no social media or anything like that, just
Speaker 2: DVDs then yeah, so yeah, I sort of probably didn't
Speaker 2: get the same notoriety of what a kid would do today.
Speaker 2: You know, you do something good today and it's on
Speaker 2: the news like that, it's on social thing like that.
Speaker 2: So it sort of took probably a year or so,
Speaker 2: and it's yeah, look, it's a learning curve, I think.
Speaker 2: You know, you get trained to to become a process.
Speaker 2: You get trained to talk in front of the media
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, but no one really goes through
Speaker 2: and trained you how to you know, handle your biers
Speaker 2: at the pub or not run around like an idiot.
Speaker 2: So it's yeah, look, as I said at the start
Speaker 2: of it, I made plenty of mistakes and that's just
Speaker 2: that's just learning. And but yeah, as you as you grow,
Speaker 2: Like even when I became world champion, it was like,
Speaker 2: I don't want that responsibility. All I want to do
Speaker 2: is go surfing. But it just comes and you have
Speaker 2: to learn to deal with it and you have to
Speaker 2: learn to, yeah, just treat people the way you want
Speaker 2: to be treated.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't know how to handle it,
Speaker 1: and it's like, treat them as you were treating anyone
Speaker 1: else in life, and like obviously there'd be more people
Speaker 1: that come into your life because of the fan that
Speaker 1: you've kind of gotten. But that's a great, I think,
Speaker 1: a great way of putting it. But now I will
Speaker 1: move into this because you say, treat people the way
Speaker 1: you want to be treated. Now the Gold Cost floods
Speaker 1: recently here, I've heard some amazing stories about you and
Speaker 1: what you've done. Even just walking in here. One of
Speaker 1: the guys are saying, you're just rolling around Jesski throwing
Speaker 1: beerd of people that needed it. But in all us
Speaker 1: obviously a massive, massive floods rolled through got the Gold
Speaker 1: Coast and a lot of people I need help. The
Speaker 1: government can't reach everyone, and you've essentially come to the
Speaker 1: realization you have the ability to get to these people
Speaker 1: through launching jet skis off highways. Have been told it's
Speaker 1: a credit to you. Is there any like looking back
Speaker 1: at that time in life and when it happened, Like
Speaker 1: what was going through your brain whenever you know this
Speaker 1: is happening in your kind of your area that you
Speaker 1: live and you're seeing these people being affected by something
Speaker 1: that's just you can't plan.
Speaker 2: For lack of better words, it was a shoot show.
Speaker 2: It was it was so wild. So it sort of
Speaker 2: all came about Parker went down down the river on
Speaker 2: his ski just to check things out, just to make
Speaker 2: sure that he went down the day before, and I
Speaker 2: was at home. I was dealing with you know, rising
Speaker 2: water where I'm at and and so I was like
Speaker 2: concentrating on making sure my family was safe and making
Speaker 2: sure that you know, the house wasn't flooding and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. And then to get a text probably about
Speaker 2: seven pm that night and Parka is like, hey, boys,
Speaker 2: we might need some help tomorrow. And instantly our community out,
Speaker 2: you know, our inner circle just went all right, we're on.
Speaker 2: And so it wasn't just me, it was we had
Speaker 2: this community that just everyone just dropped everything they were
Speaker 2: doing and just went, let's go and help these people.
Speaker 2: And you know, we had as many skis as we
Speaker 2: could get out in the water. We had them, we
Speaker 2: had boats, we had yeah, just trying to We're talking
Speaker 2: to people like SeaWorld to bring down their boats. The
Speaker 2: powerboat people came down from southward, just just trying to
Speaker 2: get as much resources to people. And then the other
Speaker 2: part was probably the biggest heroes in all This is
Speaker 2: that probably didn't get the recognition was all our partners
Speaker 2: were back at the oat ramp and they're just texting
Speaker 2: us addresses and telling us where food's got to get to,
Speaker 2: and they're dealing with the calls, They're dealing with Instagram messages,
Speaker 2: Facebook messages, and they were just around the clock, just
Speaker 2: NonStop like some some some moms didn't even see their
Speaker 2: kids in four or five days, and we're just like
Speaker 2: just putting their life on hold to go and help others.
Speaker 2: And they were just in a pressure cook of the
Speaker 2: whole time. I guess my role sort of as things
Speaker 2: went on, my role changed through just you know, just
Speaker 2: trying to figure out where I could place myself to
Speaker 2: make sure that everyone got the best benefit. You know,
Speaker 2: as I said, first first day, I was on the
Speaker 2: skis and I was going up and down streets, well
Speaker 2: they were rivers, they were meant to be streets, and
Speaker 2: just making sure people were okay, transporting people to dry land,
Speaker 2: you know, making sure that people could if they needed food,
Speaker 2: we would flag houses, make sure that food water to
Speaker 2: get through the night. And then the next day I
Speaker 2: went down to Mwoolembar flew down and I was on
Speaker 2: my way down, and that's when a woman by the
Speaker 2: name of Sky, she was a pharmacist down in Murbile,
Speaker 2: and she's like, I need to lift down, and she
Speaker 2: was in this tiny would have taken her hours and
Speaker 2: I was like, get on, let's go. So she got
Speaker 2: to open up the pharmacy down there, make sure that
Speaker 2: people got medication they needed, you know, everything to make
Speaker 2: sure that they were healthy mentally and physically. And I
Speaker 2: stayed in my wombar that day and we sort of
Speaker 2: had we had house boats coming down. We had we
Speaker 2: had a fleet of probably about ten fifteen boats that
Speaker 2: would come down and they was just dropping food, water
Speaker 2: because these people were all just cut off, and you know,
Speaker 2: we're trying to help out the hospitals, the recovery centers.
Speaker 2: I had the local police just filling up their paddy
Speaker 2: wagons and they're just going out places like Yukai and
Speaker 2: trying to make sure that people have food and water.
Speaker 2: So that was coordinating that at Murbile was pretty hectic.
Speaker 2: We're running out of resources, and so I was like,
Speaker 2: I didn't want to be the face of this. I
Speaker 2: didn't want to attract media attention or anything like. That's
Speaker 2: not who I am. But it was like, I'll do
Speaker 2: a media run just so we can get more money,
Speaker 2: we can get more food and get more water and
Speaker 2: get more help because we're run in nothing. And so
Speaker 2: that's how that went in. And then and then and
Speaker 2: then the next thing, I know, I'm organizing choppers to
Speaker 2: go out speaking to the premiers and you know, trying
Speaker 2: to help these people that you know, the people who police,
Speaker 2: trying to sort the rescues out, and so it just
Speaker 2: kept evolving. And but yeah, I was just I was
Speaker 2: just part of a team. Man Like for me to
Speaker 2: take all that credits, I probably it was. Yeah, our partners,
Speaker 2: the people out in the water, the people going and
Speaker 2: knocking on doors making sure people were safe. Like everyone
Speaker 2: was hugely, hugely affected, and we just tried to do
Speaker 2: our best to make sure that our fellow neighbors were
Speaker 2: and fellow communities were safe.
Speaker 1: That's an amazing thing I've learned about Australia is like
Speaker 1: whenever people on dire diar need, the community comes out
Speaker 1: and does their best. I've never seen anyone be as
Speaker 1: charitable of a country as Australia whenever people are in need,
Speaker 1: like whether it be just doing a good Friday appeel
Speaker 1: like today is good Friday, and like doing something like that,
Speaker 1: people just are so willing to give now would have
Speaker 1: probably in that situation think of like you and you're
Speaker 1: very selfless man, like you don't like to be in
Speaker 1: the front of the media, you know, and have that
Speaker 1: you obviously we just spoke about it, and you're talking
Speaker 1: about the people and the community that made it happen.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just yourself. Was it good? Though? To be
Speaker 1: able to have the ability of being a bit of
Speaker 1: an icon and a bit of a model, like a
Speaker 1: role model in society, to be able to use that
Speaker 1: platform to actually get their supplies and like be able
Speaker 1: to use that in such a beneficial way for those people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great. Like to be able to get
Speaker 2: more food, more water, more first aid, more all that
Speaker 2: sort of stuff. That was that was our goal, you
Speaker 2: know when we started to help and then and then,
Speaker 2: as I said, like when we started hearing stories about
Speaker 2: people trapped out the back of a woolen bar and
Speaker 2: you know, hadn't had any contact for five days, no food,
Speaker 2: no water, and we're like, how do we do that?
Speaker 2: And then you get people like just started donating how
Speaker 2: helicopters and then all of a sudden, we're coordinating where
Speaker 2: helicopters go, like people like Mick Dollon, another guy, Paul Gideon, Like,
Speaker 2: there were so many people that came and just wanted
Speaker 2: to help in one way or another, and I was
Speaker 2: just trying to figure out ways to help these people
Speaker 2: so they could you feel safe and you know, didn't
Speaker 2: have to worry about, you know, where they're going to sleep,
Speaker 2: or if they were going to be able to feed
Speaker 2: their kids or putting appies on and all that sort
Speaker 2: of stuff. And it was, it was. It took a
Speaker 2: big toll though on especially our partners and the people
Speaker 2: that were in on all that, you know, just to
Speaker 2: seeing these people in need. It really affected everyone. And
Speaker 2: the community is still picking up the pieces and you know,
Speaker 2: you walk down the street of some of these towns
Speaker 2: and yeah, they're still trying to get their lives back together,
Speaker 2: which is tough. And so that's why, you know, we're
Speaker 2: not forgetting about it. We want to keep helping. And
Speaker 2: that's sort of while we got other different things in place.
Speaker 1: Now we'll go on to another person that's helped you
Speaker 1: out quite a bit in your life. Your mother yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: it's true, she was your agent.
Speaker 2: She was hod that work.
Speaker 1: I was the dynamic of your mother being your agent.
Speaker 1: Did you ever have any conversations the same mom put
Speaker 1: a few few zeros at the end of that contract
Speaker 1: or asked for more here, asked for more there.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, it was funny, it was funny. You know.
Speaker 2: I guess. I think I was around sixteen seventeen at
Speaker 2: the time, and you know, I started getting larger contracts
Speaker 2: and and you know, my mates were having agents and
Speaker 2: managers and stuff like that, and and I went, oh,
Speaker 2: that sounds like a pretty good idea. Saved me working.
Speaker 2: And so I went home and my mom's she was
Speaker 2: the managing director of a whole bunch of different hospitals.
Speaker 2: She's mental health. And I went home and I was like, hey, Mom,
Speaker 2: what do you think if I got a manager or whatever?
Speaker 2: And She's like, no, you're smart enough to look after
Speaker 2: your own stuff. And you know, I'm going to help you,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to teach you the ins and outs
Speaker 2: of your business. And I'm like, okay, yeah, well, I
Speaker 2: guess I don't I guess I don't have a choice
Speaker 2: on that one, because yeah, like mom's stuff like she's
Speaker 2: the nicest woman in the world, but she's a fiery
Speaker 2: lines and when and you know who better to to
Speaker 2: protect you in that situation than your mom pretty much
Speaker 2: guide me and teach me about my business. And yeah,
Speaker 2: here we are today.
Speaker 1: Did she ever think you'd accomplish what you've accomplished? She
Speaker 1: still just got this is insane.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, I pinched
Speaker 2: myself too, like like you know, a kid born in
Speaker 2: Penrith to two migrants, you know in English, and that
Speaker 2: never swum. I think if you push my dad in
Speaker 2: the poorly drown you know, to become a pro surfer,
Speaker 2: it still blows my mind. And I think that's the
Speaker 2: beauty of it is that we all just learn on
Speaker 2: the fly. We all just learned as we went. And
Speaker 2: you know, there was probably probably situations where we could
Speaker 2: have made more money, or there could have been situations
Speaker 2: where probably a deal didn't go right. But you know,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 1: It seems like the people you like to surround yourself with,
Speaker 1: like giving them that experience also and doing it as
Speaker 1: a group means a lot. And like I think, like
Speaker 1: I said, that inner circle and having them be part
Speaker 1: of your career and sharing the successes and sometimes help
Speaker 1: you through the failures and things like that. It just
Speaker 1: makes it feel like such a more wholesome experience overall.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, for sure. And you know there's not
Speaker 2: dissing managers or anything like that. But yeah, if something
Speaker 2: went wrong, hang up the phone and throw it in
Speaker 2: the ocean because the lioness is coming for it was Yeah,
Speaker 2: I remember she lost it at my bosses so many times.
Speaker 2: You know. I have a great relationship with my old
Speaker 2: boss at Ripke or a Ridgeway, and he remember getting
Speaker 2: on the phone's on stuff and that learnt for me too,
Speaker 2: Like it was like, you know what, if I don't
Speaker 2: like something in the contract, I'm happy to get on
Speaker 2: the phone. So we're not doing this or let's change this.
Speaker 2: And it's it's a good way to learn doing and
Speaker 2: throwing as well, Like there are things that you don't
Speaker 2: want to do but you have to do, and then
Speaker 2: there's other things that I think the people that I
Speaker 2: work with trust that if I say I'm going to
Speaker 2: do something, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we want Brie. Now you've got little Xander, two
Speaker 1: year old retired life. How is it now? Being a
Speaker 1: family man.
Speaker 2: Oh, I love it. There's nothing better. As I said,
Speaker 2: I don't want to I try not to work just
Speaker 2: to be at home. And I love just learning each
Speaker 2: and every day from him, like not one day's saying
Speaker 2: it's crazy. But we have so much fun, Like even
Speaker 2: just walking down the beach last night, you know, we
Speaker 2: were just running and laughing for like two hours and
Speaker 2: it was just that's what you live for, you know.
Speaker 2: And Breeze. Seriously, she's the most caring, patient, mum person
Speaker 2: I've ever met. And yeah, I'm so lucky too that
Speaker 2: she came into my life. And Xander's the luckiest kid
Speaker 2: on earth to have her as a mum, because if
Speaker 2: she wasn't around, his life would be a bit different
Speaker 2: with me.
Speaker 1: Dropping on jet skis where everyone's yeah yeah and.
Speaker 2: Things, you know, tantrums probably wouldn't wouldn't happen.
Speaker 1: She's got patience, She's got so much. And Xander getting
Speaker 1: into swimming and everything else.
Speaker 2: Loves it. He loves the beach. He had a year
Speaker 2: where he hated the beach and I was just thinking,
Speaker 2: oh no, I'm going to have that kid that doesn't Yeah,
Speaker 2: So I was thinking, maybe you might steer him into
Speaker 2: golf or something like that. But he's loving the beach.
Speaker 2: He's going, Yeah, he's almost pulling us down the beach
Speaker 2: more often. And just like there's times where you know,
Speaker 2: I could go surfing or whatever, and I'm just I'd
Speaker 2: rather just hang on the beach with those two just
Speaker 2: have so much fun. And it was pretty classic. Just
Speaker 2: the other week, I asked him if I could go surfing.
Speaker 2: He's like, no, you can't go surfing. Mummy, go surfing.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, you know, three, you're off by yourself.
Speaker 2: And and she went and caught her first of a
Speaker 2: wave by herself. Wow. And me and him just sat
Speaker 2: on the beach playing trucks.
Speaker 1: Two year old's running the house already pretty much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I tell you what's going on. Have you got him
Speaker 1: onto the surf forward?
Speaker 2: He's caught a few waves, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Like over the back or you put him on the
Speaker 1: front of the surfa.
Speaker 2: At the moment, were sort of just putting him on
Speaker 2: the front. He's caught a couple where he's been laying
Speaker 2: on my back. Like, but yeah, I don't want to
Speaker 2: push him too hard, just because you know, I'm scared
Speaker 2: that if I scare and then he's not going to
Speaker 2: want to go back, so I'm doing everything at his pace.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll get into a little bit of this. We
Speaker 1: haven't actually really talked about your surfing career too much yet,
Speaker 1: so we'll get into a little bit of the rivalryes
Speaker 1: you've had with some of these people, Right, You've got
Speaker 1: Kelly Slater, Gabrielle Medina Andrel Dezusa, Andy Irons, like some
Speaker 1: of these amazing surfers that have come through the system.
Speaker 1: How do you like obviously, whenever you travel around the
Speaker 1: world doing these different surf competitions and stuff like, you
Speaker 1: would almost feel like a family. I feel like within
Speaker 1: a family of other people that throw up with the
Speaker 1: same competitions and stuff. It was it tough to separate
Speaker 1: whenever you go out there friendship from competitiveness. Is it
Speaker 1: like that whenever you get into the water, as soon
Speaker 1: as your feet hit the water, it's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: friendship goes to the side. This is purely business. Can't
Speaker 1: like get into the into the competition.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's how I Yeah, like that's how I always
Speaker 2: looked at it, Like I always tried to leave it
Speaker 2: out in the water. You know, sometimes someone might be
Speaker 2: a dick in the water, but you know, use the
Speaker 2: rules or whatever. But there's always I guess the same
Speaker 2: in footy, where there are some gentlemen rules and like
Speaker 2: if someone takes a cheap shot or something like that,
Speaker 2: you're going to be like, all right, I remember you.
Speaker 2: And there were times like that, but a lot of
Speaker 2: the time I would always just try and leave it
Speaker 2: in the water. You know, if you play by the
Speaker 2: rules and you give it your best, we're good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So that that was the way I was went about it.
Speaker 2: You know, as you said, you're traveling with these guys
Speaker 2: traveling with you, seeing their families and you know, helping
Speaker 2: each other through airports, and some people just see sports.
Speaker 2: You know, that's their team and they'll do anything for
Speaker 2: their team. But at the end of the day, guys
Speaker 2: and girls actually get along with people from other teams,
Speaker 2: and that's the way it should be. Like I still
Speaker 2: talk and hang out with some of my biggest rivals,
Speaker 2: Like probably my biggest rival, Parker is like one of
Speaker 2: my best mates. So so yeah, you have to you
Speaker 2: have to be able to separate it.
Speaker 1: It's funny because the people you compete against the people
Speaker 1: you have to actually go out there and try to
Speaker 1: be probably the most compatible to you as far as
Speaker 1: your friendships. You do the same thing, the same stuff.
Speaker 1: You go to such different places around the world. Like
Speaker 1: after an event, did everyone go to the same pub
Speaker 1: and like have beers together and like hang out or
Speaker 1: was it like everyone went their own ways, went to
Speaker 1: their own families or was it just kind of like yeah,
Speaker 1: we're WSL, like we're all here together or just enjoy
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, there's after parties and everyone comes together and
Speaker 2: has way too many beers and and that's the beauty.
Speaker 2: Like we as as Ozzie is too. We had different
Speaker 2: traditions in different areas, you know, Like probably the most
Speaker 2: well known one is in France, we had the Cafe
Speaker 2: to Parry, which is this little pub right on the
Speaker 2: corner and they sell giraffes like the two liter beers
Speaker 2: in a tube, and we would have, Man, we don't
Speaker 2: have anywhere between twenty to one hundred people there, or
Speaker 2: just celebrating like depends who won. And that's that's hilarious though,
Speaker 2: Like I go through photos now and I see those
Speaker 2: things and it's it's like they're the memories that you
Speaker 2: remember more than actually you know, round three heat lead
Speaker 2: up competition. Say yeah, and that's where you build your friendships,
Speaker 2: and you know it's that's the memories that you last forever,
Speaker 2: and they're the ones that will carry on with you
Speaker 2: because also too, as a sports person, you're only got
Speaker 2: a last span of say fifteen, you know, ten to
Speaker 2: twenty years maybe unless you're Kelly Slater and it goes
Speaker 2: on for four hundred and thirty years. But they're the
Speaker 2: times that you keep carrying on and you find out
Speaker 2: who you like and who you don't like, and who
Speaker 2: you like have a beer with.
Speaker 1: Like, what's your favorite place to compete? Actually, what's your
Speaker 1: favorite place in the world to serve? I want to
Speaker 1: compete because that's going to limit you a bit.
Speaker 2: It's probably the same thing. Look, I love home, you know,
Speaker 2: I live here for a because life's easy, amazing ways,
Speaker 2: climate's great. Probably the best places I love to compete
Speaker 2: where Fiji. We got to stay on a small little
Speaker 2: island and it was just the competitors and the crew
Speaker 2: and it's like almost camp vibes. And then obviously South
Speaker 2: Africa is a big one for me. I just love
Speaker 2: how raw it is and how you know you could
Speaker 2: be in the ocean, then you're going to see you know,
Speaker 2: wild big five animals within an hour. It's just still
Speaker 2: trips me out to this day. But it's just beautiful
Speaker 2: place and the people are amazing. So they're probably my
Speaker 2: two favorites that I would go to.
Speaker 1: You say, like, like surfing's properly shaped. Obviously it's been
Speaker 1: such a massive part of your life, Like is it
Speaker 1: now Like you obviously have the competition side of things,
Speaker 1: but now you go surfing and it's probably more of
Speaker 1: an enjoyment thing now than anything of You don't feel
Speaker 1: like you need to prep for the next competition or
Speaker 1: anything like that. Is it Is it really your escape
Speaker 1: now to just go out there and you just feel
Speaker 1: totally one hundred in your own environment whenever you're on
Speaker 1: the water.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's funny, like I go surfing. I really
Speaker 2: enjoy just going surfing, even if it's for like ten
Speaker 2: to fifteen minutes. But as I've gotten older, I've really
Speaker 2: noticed that if I don't surf, my mental health goes down,
Speaker 2: and so it's a good reset for me each and
Speaker 2: every day. And I know that briandsand to notice it
Speaker 2: too when we're at home, like if I haven't served
Speaker 2: in a few days. I'm a little bit snappier, and.
Speaker 1: They tell you to go for a sec.
Speaker 2: They're like, piss off, go to the beach, and so yeah,
Speaker 2: I the thing about surfing is that I go there
Speaker 2: and I concentrate one hundred percent on me. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: know what wave to catch, what turn to do, and
Speaker 2: I can right now, I can ride any board I
Speaker 2: want or you know, I'm not practicing for that next event.
Speaker 2: So that's that's the beauty of surfing. And you know,
Speaker 2: as I was saying before, like to be able to
Speaker 2: take my family down the beach and create memories is
Speaker 2: it's priceless.
Speaker 1: So special advice or anyone that's out there and trying
Speaker 1: to do what you've.
Speaker 2: Done, it's okay, aything, it's hard work, but you've got
Speaker 2: to enjoy it. Like, sure, there's days that absolutely suck,
Speaker 2: but you know that might be one in ten, it
Speaker 2: might be one in twenty. I was blessed to essentially
Speaker 2: like everyone, everyone says that their jobs are best in
Speaker 2: the world, but yeah, man, surfing is one of those
Speaker 2: things where you're not only going surfing for your job,
Speaker 2: you're going and doing surf trips for your companies and
Speaker 2: it's just Yeah, we're just spoiled.
Speaker 1: It's a phenomenal life you be able to live. Like
Speaker 1: in Look, there's two massive Red Bull Jess kids behind me.
Speaker 1: I think that would be pretty fun to take out.
Speaker 2: No lie for it.
Speaker 1: You've been fortunate enough not only in the surfing well,
Speaker 1: now that you've retired, you've got into a bit of
Speaker 1: the business world.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: A lot of people have known that you've been involved
Speaker 1: in the beer company that you've now sold. Like, do
Speaker 1: you look at yourself as a businessman now?
Speaker 2: Nah?
Speaker 1: No, Look, I think because you started Balta ber you've
Speaker 1: got like you and Joel obviously you talked about that
Speaker 1: friendship and it would have been pretty special to have
Speaker 1: a company like together that you started. Yeah, and like
Speaker 1: have that together as a friendship. People say, don't get
Speaker 1: into business with like family or friends sometimes, but I
Speaker 1: think it's so special that you were able to have
Speaker 1: that obviously like life experience with them and then even
Speaker 1: post career be able to continue to do stuff with them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was amazing, Like Balta's probably been the most
Speaker 2: amazing experience for a whole lot of different reasons. You know.
Speaker 2: I guess when we started Balta. We sort of all
Speaker 2: knew that our careers were coming to an end soon.
Speaker 2: And and as you learn to go through your career,
Speaker 2: you start figuring out that you don't need to be
Speaker 2: one hundred percent on point every single minute of the
Speaker 2: day to be the best. So you start learning that
Speaker 2: you can do other things. And that one was just
Speaker 2: bolted was just one of those ones where, like, to
Speaker 2: give you the background the story, be derbych was on
Speaker 2: tour with us as well. He just hit me up
Speaker 2: in the Cornics club and goes, hey, do you want
Speaker 2: to start a beer company? He's like, yeah, what's the
Speaker 2: worst can happen? Your free beer? And then Be He's
Speaker 2: like looking at me, goingreaking Joel get involved. I was like,
Speaker 2: I can only ask and he loves me more than anyway,
Speaker 2: and so we asked him, and then Bed already talked
Speaker 2: to Josh Kerr and then and then it sort of
Speaker 2: just started from them and the four of us got together,
Speaker 2: and then there was another guy, Sean Ronan from the States,
Speaker 2: and we all sort of caught up and we're like,
Speaker 2: all right, what's what do we need? Like, what's what's
Speaker 2: the plan? Bad had this big idea to start it
Speaker 2: on Straty and I was like, mate, that's not going
Speaker 2: to work because one it costs way too much on
Speaker 2: that ferry and all the rest, and so yeah, we
Speaker 2: all decided to try and figure out if we get
Speaker 2: it here in Corumbon and and then yeah, and then
Speaker 2: it was like, all right, what do we need? So
Speaker 2: we need one someone good in marketing, so we hit
Speaker 2: up Sterling Holland, who used to do their marketing for Billibong,
Speaker 2: so I already worked with Joel and all that, and
Speaker 2: then and then it was like, all right, we need
Speaker 2: a good CEO. And I my my favorite of all
Speaker 2: time team managers is a guy called Anthony McDonald. He
Speaker 2: was my red bull athlete pretty much for the first
Speaker 2: ten years of our relationship, and I asked him and
Speaker 2: it all just sort of fell into place here and there.
Speaker 2: And then the next thing, we're like, well, we have
Speaker 2: to find someone who actually made really good beer so
Speaker 2: people actually come back. Yeah, you know, we could, we
Speaker 2: could do this gimmick of like surfers trying to make
Speaker 2: beer and it's going to taste like crap and no
Speaker 2: one's going to come back for a second. But yeah,
Speaker 2: when we found Scotty Hargrove, it was like all the
Speaker 2: pieces came together and then Yeah, it was the beauty
Speaker 2: of it was that because everyone had been so successful
Speaker 2: in all their fields, no one had any ego. Yeah,
Speaker 2: everyone was learning off each other. And that's how it is.
Speaker 2: You know, you walk into Bolta today and if anyone's
Speaker 2: got an ego, they don't really last that long because
Speaker 2: it's like you just don't fit. You know. When talking
Speaker 2: about our CEO and McDonald, he'd learned the whole industry
Speaker 2: just from going and doing things and learning on the
Speaker 2: fly and and and you know, really immersing himself in,
Speaker 2: you know, meeting different brewers, meeting different companies and all
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff. And for me it was great.
Speaker 2: I got to sit in the marketing side of things,
Speaker 2: I got to sit alongside the board, and you know,
Speaker 2: learned people like David Ginjo who used to be the
Speaker 2: CEO of Channel nine. You know, just just sitting in
Speaker 2: these circles and just learning. Was just like, Wow, I've
Speaker 2: got lessons that I still carry on today. And and
Speaker 2: the other really cool thing is that I'm going to
Speaker 2: work my ass off for my mate, and I know
Speaker 2: my mate's going to work his ass off for me,
Speaker 2: and that's why we just we just yeah, it worked
Speaker 2: really hard and trying and do our best for even
Speaker 2: our staff as well. So that's that's how it all
Speaker 2: came together, and I think that's how it became so successful.
Speaker 1: So call you get a bit of a crash course
Speaker 1: in business from because of you and what you've been
Speaker 1: able to do. Obviously, a lot of people they've finished
Speaker 1: their athlete career and they feel as though you're in
Speaker 1: it for all. Let's say like ten years. You know,
Speaker 1: you go, well, I've lost ten years of experience in
Speaker 1: the real world. It's almost because you've been able to
Speaker 1: surround yourself with good people throughout it. It's like you
Speaker 1: almost got a crash course probably within like a year
Speaker 1: or two. That would have been ten years worth of
Speaker 1: experience probably outside of it, just because of what you did,
Speaker 1: and it would been like it'd been so cool, I
Speaker 1: think because you had been so focused on surfing for
Speaker 1: so long that now you had like a different outlet
Speaker 1: that was like totally new and totally exciting and had
Speaker 1: a massive like bell curve to try to you know,
Speaker 1: understand what you're doing and to do it with friends too.
Speaker 1: It would have been like awesome, just to have that
Speaker 1: experience for first like year two and be like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I'm just soaking in everything that's coming my way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, soaking in a lot of alcohol. Yeah, look, it
Speaker 2: was it was just it was just amazing. Like you
Speaker 2: can't you can't get that from a course exactly. You're
Speaker 2: in the real time. You have to you have to
Speaker 2: make like big decisions and you know, pressure cooker moments
Speaker 2: where you know, we're dealing with other people's money and
Speaker 2: stuff like that, trying not to lose it. And but
Speaker 2: I sort of see the business world very similar to
Speaker 2: the sporting world as well, is that you know you're
Speaker 2: going to make quick decisions and if something goes wrong,
Speaker 2: you have to let it go. You have to just
Speaker 2: keep going and moving forward and maybe evaluate after the
Speaker 2: game or something like that. And I think business is
Speaker 2: similar in that sense, but also too, it's like if
Speaker 2: you're working hard and you're giving it everything, then results
Speaker 2: will come one day. You know, it might not be
Speaker 2: a billion dollars here or something like that, but something
Speaker 2: will come out of it. Somewhere down the track. Someone
Speaker 2: might see and go, hey, this person is perfect in
Speaker 2: this role. So it's not just working for today, it's
Speaker 2: working for tomorrow as well.
Speaker 1: There's a whole persistence is kist gets you a long way? Well,
Speaker 1: we'll getting to the end of this. I've got a
Speaker 1: few people who wanted to ask you some questions now.
Speaker 1: One of them was, what's the most coveted thing you have?
Speaker 1: Is it a surfboard, the trophy? Is it just something
Speaker 1: you look back at as like if you if something
Speaker 1: were to happen, like you would want to make sure
Speaker 1: that's the one thing you take out of the house.
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely the family.
Speaker 1: Materialistic yeah, actual person.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Look, I've got some incredible things, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously probably because Bells is on my bells. It's something
Speaker 2: I really love. I've got some surfboards. I've got one
Speaker 2: from Emma, I got to Jerry Lopez there. You know,
Speaker 2: there's just different heirlooms that are sort of collected over
Speaker 2: the years. But yeah, I don't know, I'm sort of
Speaker 2: sort of not like crazy materialist. You've got anything, really,
Speaker 2: it's like you've.
Speaker 1: Got the experience. I feel like you're a man that
Speaker 1: like knows the importance of the experience rather than the
Speaker 1: actual like materialistic thing that comes out of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I'm hopeless of taking photos because I want
Speaker 2: to leave in the moment. And then I gave it
Speaker 2: home at the end of the trip and I'm like,
Speaker 2: so I didn't take that. What did you do?
Speaker 1: It's awesome, tell the great stories the photos, like, don't
Speaker 1: have any.
Speaker 2: Hopefully hopefully someone else took some.
Speaker 1: I don't want me to ask you about the pipeline.
Speaker 1: And while who obviously one of the biggest, most coveted,
Speaker 1: you know, competitions of the year, and you had to
Speaker 1: win that to win the whole competition for the year
Speaker 1: and like be the champion, and they it was phenomenal
Speaker 1: the way you handled it, the way it all happened,
Speaker 1: the pressure he was under it to be able to
Speaker 1: perform at that level. Going back to that day, do
Speaker 1: you remember did you just kind of let it, like
Speaker 1: what offer Doc's back As far as pressure, did you
Speaker 1: feel it on the day of feeling like you really
Speaker 1: needed to live up knowing what was on the line.
Speaker 2: If you don't feel the pressure, then you don't really care. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, it's like streaking into a GF or something
Speaker 2: like that, Like you know what's at stake and you've
Speaker 2: worked your ass off to get there. You've sort of
Speaker 2: built yourself all the way to get to that moment
Speaker 2: in your career, and you know, I was. I guess
Speaker 2: for me, it was like I wanted to go out
Speaker 2: and create my own history. I wanted to be the
Speaker 2: one like, Okay, if I'm going to do it, I'm
Speaker 2: going to do it to the best of my ability.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to go out there and hope because
Speaker 2: that's not going to get you. No, So I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm going to if I get an opportunity to do things,
Speaker 2: I'm going to try and do it the best of
Speaker 2: my and and I think that's sort of where you know,
Speaker 2: it all came down to. It was like, you know,
Speaker 2: it's almost like eminem you get one shot at situations
Speaker 2: like it's like you can't rewind it, so just do
Speaker 2: it right the first time. And sort of leading up
Speaker 2: to that day, I had I had feelings I almost
Speaker 2: could have won the World titled of the event before
Speaker 2: and I stuffed up and and I got the emotions
Speaker 2: got too much for me, and I just crumbled, and
Speaker 2: so I was like, all right, we're going in that
Speaker 2: final day, We're not doing that again. I've felt these
Speaker 2: feelings and I know what came out of it, and
Speaker 2: I was not happy, So that's why I just yeah,
Speaker 2: And you know, if you put your best foot forward
Speaker 2: and you do your absolute best, then that's all you
Speaker 2: can do. It might be the right result, might not,
Speaker 2: but you just go and at least if you know
Speaker 2: you've gone and done your best, you can put your
Speaker 2: head on the pillar at night and you don't have
Speaker 2: those two A M nightmares. That's how I look at it.
Speaker 1: Did you have like a feeling of relief like I
Speaker 1: think of whenever big games have happened, when I lose
Speaker 1: and stuff, like whenever you win those big games, and
Speaker 1: in this case, whenever you won that big competition, like
Speaker 1: whenever you finished and you were given that the title.
Speaker 1: Was it just like the sigh of relief of like
Speaker 1: I've done it.
Speaker 2: I don't look at myself as I'm the best surfer.
Speaker 2: I look at it as I was the best competitor. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know when you got Kelly Slater there, like you
Speaker 2: can't really say you're the best surfer, So yeah, I
Speaker 2: was just the best competitor that year, yea. And yeah,
Speaker 2: like that relief, it's like it's heavy when you walk
Speaker 2: into those situations and you've got not only the pressure
Speaker 2: of yourself. You try not to look at media or
Speaker 2: anything like that, but it gets in. And then you've
Speaker 2: got your family and your family sort of tiptoeing around
Speaker 2: you and you can feel it everyone everyone's tense, and
Speaker 2: I think that's what makes those moments so special as well.
Speaker 2: It's like everyone sort of comes together and you're not
Speaker 2: only doing it for yourself, You're doing it for your
Speaker 2: family and your friends and you yeah, you just it's
Speaker 2: just it's like, I don't know, it's almost going to war.
Speaker 2: It's like it's on, and that's that's the beauty of
Speaker 2: it is just yeah, just what are you going to
Speaker 2: do when when when the time comes, it's like all right.
Speaker 1: It's always chasing that feeling again.
Speaker 2: To you feel like oh yeah, yeah, well some people don't,
Speaker 2: like you know, you meet people that you know, they
Speaker 2: work so hard to get one more title or one
Speaker 2: championship or one Grand final, and it's like I'm.
Speaker 1: Good, I'm done. Yeah did the dream.
Speaker 2: Yeah I'll see the pub. But yeah, for me, it
Speaker 2: was always like, you know, after my first World Tole,
Speaker 2: I was almost that person, and it was because I
Speaker 2: just put so much into that first year. It was
Speaker 2: just like I was just exhausted and you have like
Speaker 2: a hangover a fan almost and and then and then
Speaker 2: after the you know, you get your energy back and
Speaker 2: you're like, shit, I don't really like being fourth or
Speaker 2: fifth in the world. It's like, I'm going I'm going
Speaker 2: to fight to get myself back to where I want
Speaker 2: to be. And and that's I enjoy the preparation and
Speaker 2: all the stuff that comes along with it. And yeah,
Speaker 2: just testing yourself in those situations against the best people
Speaker 2: in your world.
Speaker 1: Persistence is key. Well finish out, mate, what's next? Because
Speaker 1: you do you do a lot of things, Mate, you
Speaker 1: do a lot of things, And is there anything that's
Speaker 1: spoking your passion at the moment that you are really
Speaker 1: going to launch into?
Speaker 2: Family always comes first in my world, you know, making
Speaker 2: sure that you know, only work when he's little fellows
Speaker 2: at school. I try and try and be home as
Speaker 2: much as possible. But yeah, at the moment, the probably
Speaker 2: the biggest thing I'm working on is the charity golf
Speaker 2: day that I started last year. So that's that's going
Speaker 2: to be a giant headache coming into that, but it's
Speaker 2: it's so rewarding it and people have so much fun
Speaker 2: and last year was just such a great success. So
Speaker 2: that's that's the biggest thing. And then after that under name,
Speaker 2: we'll see Dombleto.
Speaker 1: There'll be something big on the horizon. I can almost guarantee.
Speaker 2: Oh, who knows, maybe it's just the sun.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. I appreciate your time. I seriously an
Speaker 1: absolute icon of this country. You should be so proud
Speaker 1: of what you've been able to do. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people are proud of you and what you represent.
Speaker 1: And yeah, just a massive thank you for coming on
Speaker 1: and a lot of people would have learned something.
Speaker 2: Good, fine, good fine, good chat man and all the
Speaker 2: best thing you're created too. Thanks Jon
Speaker 1: M.