Competition, relationships and surfing - Washed Podcast - Ep#4

Jack and Albee dive into all things surfing. Competitions, friendships, relationships and more. Hope you enjoy x

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Do you think we're getting better at this yet? A few episodes in, we're doing pretty good, I'd say. I mean, I think this is gonna be the second episode.

unknown 0:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

We're gonna have to lie and say the other one was before. Well, there you go. Or after.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

No one knows. Alright, no one knows.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

We'll be pretty up to date with what's going on in the world.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

What were you saying? Efficient and consistent yesterday, they're the key one.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Consistency and efficiency. Yeah. I like it. That can go for everything in life. Well, just to keep people updated on what's going on in our lives, Jack took me out in our morning heat at Rockies today. Yeah, that felt good.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

To get one back on you.

unknown 0:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

I'm not gonna lie. And it felt better that you were standing on the beach watching me. And you couldn't do anything about it. You couldn't hassle me off the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

That was actually really beautiful. Yeah. It was smooth too. Backside rub. How'd it feel? What'd you give me on that one?

unknown 1:13

Fuck.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

The closer. High seven, low eight. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

And it was proper. Thanks, man. Um I felt good. Hand shape, dude. Board number 10. Hand shape. Hand shape, hand glassed, hand sanded, hand sprayed.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Well, let's jump right into it. Because we're gonna talk about you this this time around. Because last time all we did was talk about me. So are we gonna talk about me and Jaws? Oh. We're gonna talk about you and Jaws. As long as the conversation ends with talking about me and Jaws. Okay, cool. However we get there, we can segue. Yeah, we can segue around it. Okay, wait. I wanna let's start at the beginning. Because I literally realized um I actually have notes for this and everything. I know. I know. I because we talked about a little bit how we met and stuff, but I literally realized I I have no idea about your like surfing origin story. Interesting. Like, is it a parent's thing? Is it like and where where was this?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

So we're gonna dive really deep. We're diving deep. Okay, so diving deep. Origin story, dad's a football player, and the following that part, like I'm trying to get like football? Yeah, I s I I'm gonna give you a spit up version, but um, I was following that part.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

We don't have to, we have all day.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, we do. But it could just take unnecessarily way too long. That's why we have editing then. We were gonna I I was following in my dad's footsteps of being a football player, and uh just watching him, it kind of looked miserable because he went through so many injuries, and I was just like, oh, I don't know. And then like right as I started to be conscious and aware of that, like he introduced me to surfing, and that's just kind of like he took me surfing once, and I just went, Whoa, this is way funner than football. And I like almost instantly I was obsessed with it. What age was that? That was about nine, nine or ten. Okay, yeah. So I guess in the grand schemes of thing, I was pretty late. Yeah, that's kind of late considering. You guys are already like at NSSA is I think John John was like in a video game.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

He was. I was I literally remember playing it with him. Yeah, I was staying with him and playing him as a video game, and I was like, No way.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

I can remember playing him and not knowing. I thought John Jon was like nine years old for like fictional character. I thought he was nine years old for like 40 years. I was like, yeah. But anyways, yeah, I can I I I guess in the grand schemes of things, I was pretty late. I did my first contest when I was 11 or 12. It was the year Geordie Smith was just like the it guy. He came over and did like all the Australian events, and it was just him and Julian were like the crazy guys. And how they they were what? They were like a few years older than me. They were like s maybe 14, 15. Okay, but still young.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

They were like growing. They're still pretty young. They weren't like the pro surfers we know.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, but like at that time, like Geordie was like, oh my god, this guy's gonna win a world title before he's 20, kind of thing. Same with Julian, it was like they were at that area, and I was just like, This is my first event, and they were like, I felt so late, and I was just I can remember watching Geordie in that contest, the HIC. That was the first ever event I did, and I was like, Whoa, I how am I ever gonna like do that? Yeah, he was so far above me, it was crazy. Oh yeah. But then obsession took over, and I think that's what kind of like sparked me into a different realm.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

And then we talked about it a little bit. So did your mom and dad both surf or it?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

No, my dad kind of surfed, but not really. Like he was kind of one he would surf, but he he wasn't like an avid surfer. Yeah. I just got the bug when he took me, and I I don't know, maybe you felt the same way when you started when you got introduced to it, but like uh for me. You can't remember? No, it's too much. Yeah, for me it was like full life-stopping kind of euphoric moment when I look back on it and I'm like, yeah, that was such a it was almost instant, like, okay, I'm obsessed with this. Yeah. Which and at that age, I was pretty young. I was like, I've never felt that with any sport, with anything. It was just like the first time I went surfing, I'm like, whoa, this is the coolest thing. This is the and I was trying to do any we live pretty far from the ocean. So I was trying to do anything and everything I could do. How far? Like 30-40 minutes. And you're you're an only child, right? No, no, I got an older brother, younger sister. My brother, yeah. Yeah, my older brother. See, dude, I don't know that why don't I know any of this? Because you've never asked me any questions. That's why I was waiting. I knew I was. Every time I come to George now, I don't even see you.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Because it's just like, I'll see you like for an hour in the morning, maybe. Well, this is because I knew one day we'd start a podcast where I was like, the less I know about you, the better. Yeah, that's so we could do we could plan out take people on this discovery.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah, yeah. You know? No, I my older brother bought he surfed for a little bit until he got a board speared in the back of his head pretty bad and got some stitches and then started. He went he instantly changed into a bodyboarder.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Really? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. But you feel like, dude, you could still get speared by someone else's board and I'll bodyboarder.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

I don't know why. He just from that day on he stopped and then he went into bodyboarding pretty heavily.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Wow. And does he still do it today? No, he doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

No, he doesn't. He he can, but he just doesn't. He probably hasn't. He yeah, he he he went on his life went on a different direction. He went into carpentry and whatnot. Yeah. Moved fairly he he moved north Australia, so there's no waves there. Oh really? But um yeah, younger sister, she didn't like honestly, no one in my family surfed.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

That's trippy. Because yeah, I feel like you get uh with Aussies, you just assume it's all like a surf family. Like every single family is just a surf family. Like, oh your dad was probably like captain of the board writers club or whatever, you know. Like, I don't know. I think I kind of assumed that about you a bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

No, I definitely no, those.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

And then how far from the water you lived, you said?

SPEAKER_01 6:44

I lived so we lived in Balamba Heights, which was like th from where I'd always go to Snappers, probably like 30, 40 minutes. Do you ever think it's like uh um So getting there was not easy?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yeah, there's a handful of stories like that though, but do you ever think it like can kind of like not living right at the beach can kind of weed out the people who like really don't love it? Or like it was it probably was obvious to you and everyone around you that like when you're willing to just even if it is just 40 minutes like yeah to go that little extra to go do it, it's like oh this must be important.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah. I gotta give credit to my mom. Like she was she was badass, like at trying to feel that fire because she was she was a nurse. So she'd work yeah, she'd work graveyard shifts and then still make the time somehow like even if it was just once a week, she'd get me to the sur to the beach. And then I I actually once I started to get into surfing, I found some friends around my area where where I lived, and they also surfed, so I'd kind of jump in on jump in with them too. Oh, nice. Which was really cool. That alleviated a lot of stress for her.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Maybe that's that's part we're bonding, you know, badass nurse moms. Yeah, exactly. That's did we have we talked about that? Yeah, we have. We at least talked about it with your mom. Yeah. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

When she nursed me all the way back from my wife.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

I do remember that actually. Yeah. Okay, so then I remember you talking about how you knew all about NSSA and it seemed like the hype thing for Grums. Yeah. What was like the what did you guys do? We had Because in our mind it was exactly the same shit. We were just like, oh come on, Ashton! Oh god, dude. We had we had No, but like yeah, what was to our minds it was like no no no, those Aussie kids. Oh really? They're they're on another level. Oh really? That's wild.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

See, we have to do it. Well they're surfing snapper, they're like blah blah blah, and it's like I mean you guys were like surfing pipe and trestles and crazy like we had snapper and whatnot, but like Yeah, but pipe and stuff wasn't really as accessible as you expect.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, I know. But you guys like realistically, where like I feel like you could catch a head high wave at Snapper and get a crazy wave that like we dreamed about.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

It was more, it was definitely probably more accessible. Um we had in Australia, I'd say the the most pivotal thing was like the Hot 100. I don't know if you remember that. Um Australian Surfing Life had a magazine and they'd do like a Hot 100 for the kids.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Surfer did that, didn't they, afterwards? Did they copy them?

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Uh there's been three or four different variations.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Surfing did one for a while and they've all was it the same one, just switching mags?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Well, this one's Australian. Okay. It was just Ozzy. Yeah, just Australia. Yeah, so like, and it was like a really prestigious thing. Like if you won the ASL Hot 100, like that. And it was contests or it was just voted, like oh, good question. I think it was I think it was like maybe voted, but then also like it was heavily dependent. Like, I think whoever was managing the editorial stuff and all that, they would almost pick themselves. I think I won it twice, dude. So I was I was kidding. It's because you were good looking. We've been through this before. It's a blessing and a curse. Um but no, in for Australia, for Australia, that's that's kind of like the I guess that was the pinnacle. That was the pinnacle of amateur kind of it was like if you were doing good in the the ASL Hot 100, like you're doing good. Yeah. That was kind of bad.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

And you were able to win it, spice what age was that?

SPEAKER_01 10:11

There was a year I won the world title, like the world Juniors? Yeah. Oh, okay. So this is later. So like, but the years before it, like, you know, it it's you had Mick and Joel and Julian and Owen, like all these crazy talented, like all the best. Like they were so when you found yourself at the top of that list, you're like, whoa, it was really prestigious thing. Like, I think Cruzi maybe won it one year. I was just gonna ask. Um, yeah, I can't I can't remember all the people who've won it, but it's it's sick. It was it was it like a really, really prestigious thing. If you want it, and then like you'd huge incentive from sponsors usually, and then like you'd get the cover of the magazine, which was so sick, and then if I think the top ten of the ASL 100 would go and make a video, and then each get their own individual section, which was so sick.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Dude, see, that's so much. I mean, RNSSA thing was so freaking cool, but like for a kid like me, yeah, that would have been way more what I would want to do. Yeah. Like, are you kidding me? A video part, like something that's not based on just competition results, like more expression. Yeah. Fuck, that's cool. Yeah, it was it was cool. Uh what what age did you start climbing up to like the where you started like actually getting you were like, oh, Jack is uh maybe like around 17.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

I'd say around that age. Like I think it was a kind of late bloomer. I was, yeah, I was pretty late bloomer.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Um Do you remember what what was your first contest one?

SPEAKER_01 11:40

My first contest win was a pro junior. Really? Yeah. It was it was uh WA. I I won like a like a I don't know, what's a junior junior advent? What are they called? Like cadets or whatever. Um like the oh yeah, it's super amateur. Um my first pro junior win was the year I won my first world title. I only won one. It was Trick Point WA. That was the only one I ever won. But I was like pretty consistent, I was always in the quarters, semis. And then I finally won the world.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Wow, so you never won an amateur event?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

No, I won't. The only amateur event I won was that junior, and then I won the world title.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

But that's like the junior pro.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

It's like yeah, so with when I won that, I qualified for the World Juniors. World Junior. Yeah. And then like, yeah, and then things happened and I won the world title from there. And that's where that's just where it went. Yeah, that was when you became Jack Freestone. Kinda, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Well the first iteration, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

The first, yeah, that was the that was the time it just everything just went wildfire.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Just a little sidebar. Have you ever thought that part of your success is just coming from having maybe the best pro athlete name of all time? You reckon? It's actually your surfer, don't you think? Jack Freestone? That is so powerful and fun. You reckon?

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I've always just been like, ugh, I hate my name. I don't know. Freestone just sounds like a good surfer. Well, I've got a friend whose name is Max Action, and I think that's the coolest name.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, but he should be like Tom Cruise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Like it could be a movie star. Um Jack Freestone sounds like a surfer, like all the way through to me. That's cool. It sounds like an Aussie surfer, but I don't know if that's just because I know you. Yeah. That that contributed to your success.

unknown 13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

So the year you won World Juniors, Howardry? Good question. I think I was just turning 18. Oh, this is fun. I'm actually getting to like do an actual interview. Yeah, you're interviewing me right now. But I know, but it's fun. Yeah. This is a bunch of shit I didn't really know. Well, I remember seeing it and it's like. Were you in the world juniors that year? No, you're in the you did the Bali. No, because that was the World Junior we talked about where you did the trick, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

No, that was the second one.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Oh, that was your second one?

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Did you win it twice?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yeah. Oh shit. Yeah. One of three people who's won it twice. Ooh, who are the other two? Joel Parkinson and Pablo Paulina. Oh, what happened to you? You just fizzled. Went up into me there and went on tour and just killed it. That's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah. Um So the first year was the first year they did the two events, Molly and Airbnb. Yeah. And then with the final one was an Airbean, though, yeah?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah. I think it always like for a large part of chunk of history, it's always ended at Narbee. Or it's always just been at Airbnb.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

I hate that wave.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

It can get good.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

It's hard. But it can get good. I think. Was were you the other year? There's a little sidebar that we um that they threw us out in the blue bottles. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

That was I think that was the UR1. I think it was. I was in that year. Yeah, you were in that year. That was the worst thing I've ever heard. That's the one of the only times I've cried from pain.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Dude, yeah, so I freaking. My buddy Jeff, who's best way I was telling you about today, he was there and um he came in to watch me, and I remember he just like showed up and it was like one of the worst days, competitive days of my whole life. Because they sent, remember they sent I remember they started with like girls and then no one was finishing their heats because we were everyone was just getting wrapped by blue bottles and coming in. Did they call it out? You know, they switched to guys. They're just like, oh okay, they're all getting stung, like we'll throw the guys out there now. And I remember like you could watch the webcast and it was like I was watching it because I was like a little later heat, and you just see people paddling and just hand in a blue bottle.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

And you just see like this, like that's that's so funny. I've never told that story. Like the blue bottles at that year at Narrabee. Oh, I'll never forget it. There's a f literally, I think, one of the only times I've ever cried from being in so much pain. And I was I felt so lame because I was like 18 and I'm like going for a world title. And I went down there and I was one of the first and only, like maybe the last time I wore a spring suit. Yeah, I went for a turn on a close out. I went for a turn on a in a warm-up session the evening before the the it got really bad. And as I like I fell off, like when I did the backside turn, and so much water just went into my wetsuit, and then like 10 blue bottles. Oh my god! And I was underwater just getting stung, and my mum like ran, she was like she didn't know what happened to me. And I'm like coming in, I'm running up the beach. I'm taking my wetsuit, and she's like, What happened? I'm just ripping blue bottles off. You can see Jack running up the beach. She had it. But I had it all down, like all over my Jenna Tailia, like everywhere, all around my like I was in, it was so I can't describe to you how much I think it was around 12 blue bottles that I had to rip off me. Oh god! And then I ran back, we were staying really close to there at the at one of the caravan parks, and I just got in the shower and I just turned it on full steaming hot, and I was just absorbing the pain, and just I couldn't absorb it anymore. I just started crying. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Did you get like the where your nodes?

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Every every every single one.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

It's the worst was in the hips when I got it in the hips. Yeah, the ones right by your groin. Yeah. Those are like the worst ones.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

It was so painful, and it went, it lasted about an hour, and I sat in the shower the whole time crying. Yeah. That was the only time I think I've ever cried from pain. Like I broke my arm, I've done all types of things, but that was the only time I can ever.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah, I feel like so much of pain too. It sends you into shock when it gets really bad and you don't like hit that. But like something about a jellyfish sting is some of the worst. Because it's like you know it's not going anywhere for a while. No, this is nothing you can do.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

There's nothing you can do except for just where like just yeah. But yeah, that's so funny that you brought that up because I've I don't think I've ever talked about that with anyone. Okay. But the blue bottles, yeah, that was an Airbnb.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

It was the craziest thing ever, because I remember I I yeah, I had a heat, and um They were horrible in the heat too. Dude, you're the whole time you're like, and there's no like you're like battling, it was like the most competitive contest ever. It was like running like a CT format, so it was Manamon Heat. This is oh I'm I still laugh about this with Nick Von Rapp, he beat me. And that's yeah, it was like second round, but I remember I was like battling, but it was like the funniest thing is we were like trying to like, you know, kind of sit in each other's things, but you're like the whole time you're just staring at the water, looking for the blue balls and like paddling around them. Like a waves, a wave's coming, and you're like, oh, going underwater like this, and then yeah, I caught a wave. I needed a score with like 30 seconds left, and I avoided the whole heat without getting stung. Yeah. And last wave, I'm just like battling to get it, like it was like 30 seconds, and I just put my hand in one and it wrapped around my hand. Oh, and I just like stood up and it was like pretty small. Yeah. And I just worked the wave and like couldn't take it off. I tried to rip it off my hand, but like couldn't, so I had to surf the whole wave, and I surfed the whole wave with it on my hand, and then like finally got it off, didn't get the score.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Oh, and just wore the thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

And then I just I remember the it went from like this gland into this gland swole, this gland, this gland. And I like I remember me and my buddy and my parents were there like running around trying to find Benadryl to like calm down the singing because I started to get like an elevated heart rate and shit. Yeah, no, it fully does it. Like a full like almost like what is it, anaphylactic shock kind of or something? Wow, that's funny. I'm glad you were there for that. That was a traumatic, traumatic contest.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

That was the year that I won my first world title. That was it. That was it, yeah. It was kind of crazy because that year there were so many crazy scenarios because I kind of lost, I think I lost in the quarters, and there was heaps of people right behind me who could have, and there was like a really slim path for me to win.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Oh, so you actually had to like watch it all play out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Wow. Yeah, because like Cruzie, Cruzie was one heat away from within the world. Yeah, he had I think he had Miguel Pupo or someone, Mark Lacamair or something. How gnarly was Miguel back then? So he's still gnarly. I mean he's always gnarly, but like he he's him and Jadsen Andre, they made a crazy splash. Yeah, when they came over and did the juniors and stuff, that was next level.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Was that the year that Jadson did the flips in that contest?

SPEAKER_01 19:56

I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Yeah, and then Medina like kind of started showing up for the first time too.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, Medina was a real late bloomer competitively. Yeah. But then when he came in, it was just nothing up.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I remember like the King of the Groms where he showed up.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

From then on out, he was that was Medina. He was unbeatable in spot. Unbeatable. But yeah, that year there was like Nat Young could have won, Mitch Cruz could have won, and all these crazy pass could have happened so easily with someone just making one more heat, and it would have been a different story. And like this, there was the slimmest path for me to like win the world title, and everything just fell into place, and I did.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Really, like everyone flossed when they should have, and you made it exactly as far as you needed to.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yeah, I did everything that I was needed to, and I did just enough to get the job done. Oh just kind of like this morning at Rockies. Just like this morning at Rockies, literally. Um, but yeah, how did that feel?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Like, what did that did you like was that your aha?

SPEAKER_01 20:53

I actually didn't know. I hated it because I was just like, I don't feel like I deserved it. Really? Yeah, because I didn't I didn't feel like I earned like I might have won an event, but I felt I don't know, for some reason I felt like I never earned it, the first world title. I felt like I never earned it because I'm like, I wasn't surfing for it. I was letting other people lose for it for it. And I'm like, I never felt like I deserved it. Like I was stoked to win, don't get me wrong, because it Yeah, I'm sure Kelly and Andy feel the same way all the time.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

But you know, like I it was uh it was cool to get the second one because that's when I actually felt like, oh yeah, I I earned this one because I How many junior events did you have to do to qualify for the finals?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Um did you guys have? Because we had like two.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Well, it was funny from there on out I never did another junior again because I Well after you won the second year. After I won the first year, you mean it I think you Oh you get a wild card. Yeah, you get a wild card. So and I think if you make it there's another rule, like if you're the top three, so like three years in a row I went first, third, then first. Like in the you know, I think yeah, 2011 I got third, and then 2012 I won again. So you never had a If you're in the top three, you automatically get like a wild card to the next year World Junior if you're young enough and you qualify for it. So um yeah, so the first year I won it and then I was like cool, I'm never doing a junior again. And I didn't, I just went and surfed and And you were seven 18?

SPEAKER_00 22:17

First year?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, I was around that. And then uh I then I went I think I was 17, turning 18 or something like that. I can't I can't even remember. Um then I got third the following year and then won it again the next year. After that.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Damn. Did you like were you immediately drawn to competition then?

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Not really, dude. The funny thing was I didn't know what a QS event was. My first ever QS I did, I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know what a QS was. You didn't know it was a Q.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

It was at Burley. Really? Didn't know what a QS event was.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I was just like, oh, this is the next thing. I'll I'll there's this after world junior.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Because don't you get a wild card and or you get a seeded into like the primes, right? Or you did at one point.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's what I did. I instantly went from like an 18-year-old winning world juniors. Yeah, like barely doing good on the fuck on the junior series, and win the world title then on the primes. And I was just a fucking grompy. Yeah, and then I can remember. Yeah, one of the honestly, dude. What a rude awakening that was going from juniors to QS. But like, um I can remember, I I think it was one of the team managers at Billabong was like, oh now you gotta do the QS's, and I'm like, what's that? Yeah, I have no idea. Like, I'm I'm still like a junior. I don't know. Is that one and then someone explained it to me, it's like, oh now you're in the primes, and this, that. So I went from like juniors, didn't do another one, just straight into primes, and then because I qualified for the juniors the next year, I was just like, I'm just gonna do primes all year. It got absolutely demolished, and then um, probably made doing the world juniors like a lot easier. Because I kept doing good in the world juniors, I kept getting entries into primes. Because if you even if you're top three, you qualify for not only the pro the world juniors, but you get a uh wild card into the primes.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

So I was just for three years I just kept going into the primes. Whoa, what a trip. Okay, so then the you're 19 turning 20 the last year you won. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Um that was when I kind of figured a little what the the cutoff for juniors. That was a cutoff for juniors. So I finished it and then I was like, okay, now it's time to kind of like take the QS seriously.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Alright, and by then you're like kind of like seasoned a little bit into it. Yeah. Three years of getting your ass kicked as a Grom? Ho ho, big time. Or you think two at that point.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah, I like I there was only a handful of vents I made a few heats. Like I was it was so nuts, like the the level of competition.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

What about this the um not just the level of competition, but like the the characters on it of that era? Because we're talking like what early like 2009-ish. So who was I already like who was I surfing against? Yeah, well like what was the vibe like on the QS then? Because I remember the primes being a pretty wild thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Cutthroat. Like it was so cut. That's what I thought when I got into it, I was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Was there priority?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

No. No priority. Dude, do you ever just sidebar? I had some of the most like awakening heats. Like I would get I think I had uh I think I had Chris Devo, Carto Christie, and Nathan Hedge in one of it, and it was like the most ruthless heat I think I've ever surfed. Yeah. Just no one could get over four, but everyone was just sitting on you, and it was just like the I yeah, I was like, this is this is a rude awake. When priority came, I was just went.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Dude, you know, it's I just trip on like how long it took surfing to figure that one out. Like especially four-person priority, like no shit you can do for priority or four people, it's not that big of a deal. Yeah, um, but just like it was because my the little bit of competition, I just had a couple heats like that where I was just like I was like, oh, like I know I fucking surf better than you idiots, but like now strategy matters, it's surfing.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

And I was just like And like no one know like some some people's strategy literally was to get two fours in the first like two minutes and then sit on you the whole time. The whole time.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

I had that had that. Yeah, and it was like and they yes, and I remember people telling me like you should be flattering, like they know you rip. And I was just like, go fuck yourself. What do you mean by flattering? There's nothing flattering about that. You're ruining my chances at a career I want by being a fucking dickhead. Yeah. Um it worked for a lot of people though. That's what I mean. I I don't know about you, but uh you probably have this even more because you were actually in the contest when this happened. Yeah. But when priority started to become a thing, like just as a viewer, I just watched all these people disappear that I was like, goodbye, you fucking pricks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Yeah, that that that aspect definitely changed. Yeah. And I feel like it definitely leaned to more like the entertaining surfers were starting to advance. Yeah. Like a lot more.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Yeah, and what what year was that that the the priority in the US?

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Yeah, I think it was like 20 around 2013, 2014. Oh, it was late then. Yeah, it wasn't. There was a few years where it was no priority and it was horrendous. Yeah. You know, the only time it got to priority was when you get to the quarters and it was man on man. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

That must have been such a trip. Dad, it's such a flawed system. Like, how could they not fucking figure that out?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

No, evolution, every I don't know. It takes time. People took too much time. Too much time. Well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

They got there in the end, which is all that matters. Yeah, think of all the good surfers that just went by the wayside because they got sat on and were just like, oh, I'm not actually an asshole, so I guess this career in surfing's not for me.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

It's part of the game, man. Don't hate the don't hate the players, hate the game. I hate the players and the game. I love it. So many good guys who, like you would say, who were really hard to compete against. Like, a lot of them were actually really good humans. They just they're not.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Do you ever think they did that because they like knew they were assholes in the water and deep down they're actually assholes?

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Oh well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

It's hard. Maybe, I don't know. Because I knew guys that would like do that and then come in and shake your head, like, sorry, you know how it is. I'm like, no, I don't fucking know how it is. Fuck you. No, I think that's I just think it's part of competition. See, I don't I don't strongly disagree with that. You reckon? It's surfing competition, it's about fucking surfing. I don't give a shit about how good you are at sitting somewhere. Well, is it about surfing or is it about winning? No, it's about surfing better than the other person. I know, but sometimes strategy can come into winning. Yeah, yeah, but strategy shouldn't it shouldn't be like, yeah, you could. It's just not nah. Fuck no. Okay, let me give me a second to articulate my answer. No, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

I I think I think strategy is a huge part of competition and that and No, I'm not disagreeing with that too.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

But that's like just as simple as wave selection and that kind of thing, where you sit, what tricks you try, like that's the strategy that matters to me. How you can building your own self up in strategy is a different thing than cutting your competitor down.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

And I think like those surfing. But both important aspects, man. Yeah, in a fight, not in fucking surfing.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Well, it's kind of hard. Like if you had two eights, would you ever want to let your competitor get back in a heat or something?

SPEAKER_00 29:20

I mean, dude, if you get the two same waves as me and you surf better than me, then you're the better surfer. That's how I think. But if you have a way to interrupt that, would you? I mean, if it was like exactly you would.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Like if you were if you're winning, if you had a way to interrupt the person performing at the best, you would.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

I trust me, I didn't. Yeah. I had chances to.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

I remember. Well that's why I did the QS and two and you didn't.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

That's why you own a home and I took one.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Well no, so did you qualify before the priority rule or did you No, I think I qualified like around my first I qualified in 2016. Okay, so like I qualified for two after. It benefited you greatly. I 100%. I got g I got close two years in a row. When the priority came a thing, I got really the the in 2015 I missed out by one spot. Um that was brutal. Yeah. Yeah, I was out on your brain. And then 2014 I was coming into Hawaii with a chance, but um didn't do that good. And but yeah, 2016 I got second. I think I tied f for first in the QS with Kaio Belly, which is pretty cool. Um and no, it was second. I got second, he won. And then yeah, I don't know, it's just on tour after that.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Okay, that's that's that's where we're getting to. That's where we okay, yeah. Because okay, so I'm running for this. I well, dude, it's it's something that's very interesting to me. It's so funny because yeah, I think I mentioned this before. It's people assume, like, oh, you're a pro surfer, you know about pro surfing. I was like, I know fucking nothing about the tour. Like those people are aliens to me. Yeah. I because the my only experience of the tour is with you later on when we did the Red Bull air shows. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, this is the tour? Yeah. I was like, this is how these guys get treated year round. Yeah. I was like, no wonder they have such big egos. Yeah. No, I'm just standing. Obviously, I love a lot of my really good friends who are tour servers. I'm being a little facetious, but it's it's it was crazy to me, and I don't know if that event was an outlier or but in my experience. No, everybody's like that. Just FYI. Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask you. Because like in France, like the whole town shut down and it was just all about the contest. There were signings every day, and I was like, I was like kind of a part of him, and it was like that was the most I've ever felt like a pro surfer was being a sideshow at a CT event. Yeah. And that was like the biggest I ever felt. I was like, whoa, like, and I we were the sideshow. Yeah, you know? But um yeah, I'd like I'd never had random kids run up to me from my other or not never, but like besides like movie premieres, where it's like obviously my movie or whatever. Yeah. But it was just trippy, and I was like, but it did give me a whole it gave me so much to think about. I was like, whoa, like, so this is these guys is it's it's like you can look at it two ways, like, oh yeah, that like builds up your ego and it feels great, but it's also like the most fucking stressful thing ever. And then it was crazy to sit there in the competitors area and watch losses up close. Uh-huh. And I was like, whoa, this is gnarly. Like, it matters to so many people, the losses. Yeah, well, it's not just like, and you're not just losing for you, like a lot of the best crews like have a fucking camp with them and their f or their families, like if you're a little bit older and stuff, and I was just like, but just like, yeah, let's let's just go your so first year. I just want to know your expectation compared to reality. That's like the main thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yeah. My expectation like about like the my perspective on what like what the world tour was like, or like how I performed. Both. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Well no, like what it was like first. Let's go with what it was like first.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

I at that stage it it because man, I don't know if you've been to a primes or like QS 1000s, like they were not too far apart.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Really? Yeah. So I felt like it was I've been I surfed ones.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah, even a lot of juniors. I've never been a one. Well juniors are similar in ways. Um it just felt it just felt like kind of. I'm just staying with my family and not talking to anyone. Like, this is fucking weird. Yeah, it's just like a more glorified event. Um, I didn't feel too different from the QS in like a s spectacle way. Oh, okay. Yeah, um, I think there was just a little bit more eyeballs on it. Yeah. And um the outside perspective comes from.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Wait, as a sidebar, were you your first year on tour, were you and Alana already together?

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Yeah. My first year on tour, yeah, Alana and I were together, but I hurt myself after the first event. What? I hurt myself after the first event. Oh shit. I think I actually remember watching that. I tore my MCL like really bad and then um had a uh assist in my patella. Like a a like a kind of a tear in my patella. And it was horrible. Like that whole year. I I missed the first three or f after that I missed three or four events.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

And you serve so you serve snapper and then just four? Yeah, like three or four events. How'd you do snapper?

SPEAKER_01 34:19

I'm not going at second round.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Which was so I was I every time Snapper event would come around, I was so excited. Because I'm like, I'm getting to sleep on my own bed, I got like all my friends and family, like this is so sick, and then I just wouldn't ever do good. Really? Yeah. And I'm sure you're just fantasizing about that. Just Joel and Dingo days of like. I mean, my first heat at Snapper was Joel and John John. Really? Yeah. And it was a really close heat, like we all we all battled really. It was a really sick heat. Um, but Joel ended up winning. But it was yeah, I don't know. I just never really did good because the waves were always kind of like funky, but I mean, I always had the most fun for that event. But that after that event, I was doing an air at D-bar. And oh, was I doing an air? Yeah, I was doing an air, and on my backside, and I just tore my I just blew out my knee. Missed missed the first few events after that and came back, and I was wearing this big ass knee brace for Brazil and I got second, which is kind of crazy. I can remember that. Yeah. That was so weird because I I felt like I was surfing the worst I've ever surfed.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

And I got second. Okay, this this brings up a perfect point. Yeah. Do you think, because I remember how exciting you were to watch surfing. Do you think that that almost proves my theory that you have to surf worse to do better on tour? Um not like worse in an overall sense, but you like someone who's as exciting as a surfer as you. Because I watched it happen to John John in the biggest way ever. Like you just have to dumb down your surfing almost to communicate it to each other. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. Less is more. But that's like a perfect example. It's like, oh my knees hurt, I can't go for huge airs into the flats. Like, oops, I got second.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

I think it was just like a divine accident. I I felt it felt like a divine accident, but I was just like, yeah, it was. I was just less is more. Like anything, like in golf, you know, if you try and murder the ball, you your shot's usually way worse. It just kind of felt like that with surfing. I was like, oh yeah, like I barely did any. I felt like I was stuck in like I was literally could only get the third gear and I got to the finals. I was like, this is so wild.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Did that give you pause at all that the format for judging surfing should be changed? Not really.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

No, because I like even in that, like when it because I was only plateauing, I well, I wasn't plateauing, I don't know. It felt like to me I I like I could have done more, but I was just like, my body, my body wasn't allowing me to do more.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Did you watch the photos and be like, oh, I actually was surfing better than I thought I was?

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yeah, 100%. Like the turns I was doing were I felt like were pretty cool or pretty critical. And I was like, yeah, I uh I wasn't surfing bad, but I was just like, for me, the when when I got to Brazil, like a beach break. I grew up like surfing D bar on beach breaks, I was like, I felt like I definitely could have done more, but I didn't have to. That's just a trip. Who won, by the way? John. Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Oh I remember that! Yeah, I fucking remember that. Yeah, wasn't that like one of his first wins?

SPEAKER_01 37:13

I think that was a year he won his first world title. Yeah, it was his first win. Yeah. I gave it to him. Like it was just charity. Yeah, so it's like, you know, I'm just coming back from injury, it's alright, you got this one, did like, yeah, we need we need you to win, it'll build up surfing.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

You're not making a lot of money.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Dude, but that was crazy because in the semis, it was a year that um, so this is an interesting story. In the semis, I had Gabriel and the shift had focused to himself. This is when Gabriel got mega like beaver famous that year. Yeah. Because Brazil had lost in the World Cup, or the World Series, or whatever it is in football. World Cup. Yeah, World Cup. And Brazil, I don't know, they're very supportive bunch of people, so it was just like it kind of the shift focus.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

I remember watching that World Cup because Neymar, who ended up being Medida's boy, broke his he got his back broken in the like semis, and then they got absolutely owned in the final. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

So they they lost, and then I think Brazil, like everyone was looking for a thing to turn it off. Cheer for it. Shift. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And Gabriel at that point was leading the world title race. Ooh, that's super interesting. Yeah, so he was just like, he was. I think at that stage, uh no, Adriano had just won the world title before, so Brazil had this like like the Brazil storm was incoming. You had all like Gabe, Philippe, all those guys, Italo, they were like just starting to blossom. That was the beginning of the story of Brazil. Dude, this is the funniest story. I had Gabe in the semis, and the beach was I have never seen a beach that full. Like we were at Baja uh uh Bara and it was um in Rio, and it was just like the beach, you couldn't see a spot of sand. And it was so crazy when I was looking back, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is so wild. Felt like I was in a stadium, like it was just so many people. And um Gabe starts off with a nine, he does it, and I'm just going, oh god damn, like this stuff, and then I was just stuck with it, stuck with it. I got an eight like right behind him, and I'm like, okay, I'm in it, I'm I'm in it. The waves are tricky, and I was like, Oh, but Gabe's kind of been doing like tricky search, like he's I'm like, this is gonna be, I'm gonna need another good wave. And then, like, as soon as I got off the ski, boom, I got like another eight. And I was like, whoa, all of a sudden I'm like, Gabe needs like a seven, and I'm just gonna go like sit next to him and put pressure on him, and then he just couldn't get the score. And then there was like counting down in like the last like 20 seconds, Gabe went away and it was a bad one, shifted to me, and I had priority, and I was like paddling over to him the way it's all flat, and I can just remember looking in at the beach and it just went everyone left?

SPEAKER_00 39:54

It's so many people have left. Oh, that's better than the like alternative though.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

No, but the alternative was yeah, no, but so that was waiting for me on the beach, dude. I came up and I had to have so much security. I had like 20 security guards. Really? I was getting beer cups thrown at me, like everyone fella puta, fella puta! You know, like people. Oh that's awesome in a way. And I'm just I was loving it.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

I'm like, yeah, like there's more than the age.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Oh, that's so sick.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Um and that was first year on tour. First year on tour.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

And that was like basically your second event. That was your second event ever. Whoa, that's so nuts.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

And then I came and then uh yeah, um, came and then final happened, lost to Jun John, but it was like this experience of that was so wild. And it was funny because I dyed my hair blonde that event. I remember. Yeah, and everyone thought I was John John every free surf. Really? So I'd go for a free surf and I'd be way down the beach, like not trying to see anyone, and it was the Brazilian fans was so like intense. Yeah, I'd come in and there'd be 40 people standing on the beach. Be like, John John, John Oh my god, so good. And then I'd be like, I'm not John John, I'm Jack, and they're like, good enough, like, yeah, that's okay. But that was wild. Yeah, Brazil surf fans, man, they're very passionate folk.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Oh gosh, that would be scary. I'd be so scared to take up Medina in Brazil.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

It was nuts. That was a very cool thing I experienced. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

And then what how'd you end up finishing that year?

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Um, I had to re-qualify in the QS.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

Oh really? Yeah. You fell off.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

I fell, I yeah, I got to a point where I yeah, I fell off.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

And then you weren't gonna get the wild card, injury wild card? No. Who did?

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Someone waiting for that. I can't remember at that time. I put my hand out, I was trying to get it, I think, but I think they gave it to I think maybe Kelly got it. I think it's just it sat out for the year. He was just tired. Yeah, he was just tired. Who knows? Yeah, he broke a rib. No, I think he did get the wild card because I was so mad because he was like, he he didn't go to Brazil and he said he hoped. He went to Fiji and I was there.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

I was fucking there. And I'm like, yeah, right, he broken rib. Yeah. And it was like the super swell, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah, and I'm like, how does how does the WSL not pick up on this? Like, yeah, he's always like, oh I heard it.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

I remember sitting with him and I was like, Aren't you supposed to be in Brazil? He's like, I'm not gonna see.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Yeah, everyone, I feel like a lot of the top guys would just never go to Brazil. Yeah. It was probably so nuts for him to go to Brazil. Like fans would just go crazy. But um, yeah, I ended up falling off that year, falling off the tour, but I re-qualified on the QS. And then Yeah, no shit. Um and then I was kind of on for another two years after that, re-qualified, I fell off, re-qualified, and then was on for like another, I can't even remember, like another two years or something. And then fell off again.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

What was like the best you ever did? Did you ever event?

SPEAKER_01 42:52

14. No, I got second, I got third, never won an event. That was the closest I got. Was John Brazil first year. Oh, trippy. No, I never I got a bunch of thirds, um bunch of quarters and stuff, but never never won an event.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

And then, yeah. So yeah, I guess that was a little bit about what it was like. But what were you expecting? What what was like the most surprising surprising thing about the?

SPEAKER_02 43:20

I think the one I think it was just so isolated.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Like it was everyone, I think at that stage, um That's when the camps became a thing. That's when camps and trainers and coaches became a real heavy thing.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

So that's your boy McFanning's fault.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

Yeah, a lot of the yeah, kind of uh well, I don't know, but yeah, it was. 100%. Maybe. But then I don't know, I feel like surfing progressed so much because of it, so I'm like, I I know you we'll we'll have that debate one day. But yeah, anyway, um not gonna fare well for you, but anyway, yeah, it was actually the funny thing was Mick was probably one of the most welcoming. He was the one who like every now and again he'd be like, come stay with me, like let's go stay in an event. We stayed, we did trestles together. I think we did another. Yeah, we did Europe, we did France, and then I think he we we went to After an event, we went and did um Munich, we went and did October. It was sick. I love him. Oh, that's so love him like a a brother. But yeah, he was he was John was pretty inviting, but like when I was coming on, those guys were phasing out, and um there wasn't that much camaraderie, which is one thing I thought there would be way more of. Yeah. Yeah, everyone was pretty isolated. It was a very good idea. Yeah, my expectations were not like oh my goodness, the dream tool is gonna be something crazy. Because I've kind of at that stage I when I got onto it, I kind of experienced a little bit of it. So I'm like, I know what to expect. It's just like a QS, but just a little bit more. Like real. You can't you're just gonna be simply against way better surface. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Until uh I was Were you exhausted by it? I um like how exhausting was it as a like a grind?

SPEAKER_01 45:01

It was pretty exhausting because my second year ontour, we decided to have a kid. Ooh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

Your second year?

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Second year.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Was she still competing at this point?

SPEAKER_02 45:10

She was she competed and I think she wasn't doing she was like kind of any more into like modeling and stuff. Yeah. And then um we decided to have a kid. Yeah, that happened really fast, fortunately for us.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

And we were born with a we we gave birth to our first beautiful son, Banks, and um yeah, it was kind of difficult like because it was like my second year on tour, and I I was like, oh, we decided to have a kid, so that was a really hard juggle mentally. And then Detroit.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

When did she because how many did years did she spend on tour? She spent a fair year.

SPEAKER_02 45:42

I think she I want to say like eight years on tour?

SPEAKER_00 45:44

She was there for a while.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

She qualified when she was super young. She was one of the youngest girls to ever qualify.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

Like 17 or 16? Yeah, something like that. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. That's something I want to talk to Alana about all the time. Yeah. Is like how her being hot overshadowed how good she was at surfing, I felt like.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

She does rally.

SPEAKER_00 46:05

She did not get enough credit for that.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

The narrative was always that, and that really that bummed her out because she was a surfer first and well no, I remember I grew up with her 12th.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Like she always won all the NSS or like was in the top like three of NSS.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Yeah, she still does man. I know I watched it. I watched her once in a while and called me out and like work harder than every guy out there.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Did you okay? Well, this is did you feel a lot of pressure to get on tour to like? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

No!

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Shut up!

SPEAKER_02 46:35

When I won the second world title, dude. I literally met her three days later I won the second world title.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

Yeah. At that time. Oh, okay, that makes sense then. Good job. Yeah. Way to crush that one. Good timing.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

It was great timing.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

Romantic life is all about timing.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

It was really when I met Alana, it was really natural. But yeah, going back to like phasing off the world too, it was a really easy decision because we had just like we had I was having Alana was about to have our second child. COVID had hit, and it was just so incredibly hard to travel and be away from family, and then we'll have into like quarantine every different place, and you never know. The world was in such an unstable spot where I was You didn't know what was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

I didn't know if crossurfing was gonna be another thing.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Yeah, I didn't even know if it was gonna be a thing at that state. And it's not I would have to, yeah. But I'd have to go, like I'd go to an event. Yeah. And then like why it's gonna give birth. Oh yeah, fuck that.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

So it was like, this sucks. Like I almost and then I was also dealing with a really bad back injury at the same time, so I was just like, you know what, this is like an easy I'm just gonna veer off this.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

I was kind of in like looking surfing, like competitive surfing. But then once I had my second kid, I was just like, and I really separated myself from it. I was just like, I just don't know if I can ever get back. Because I know mostly what it takes to be there, and I don't know if I have that. Yeah. To be away from my two kids.

SPEAKER_00 48:10

Cutthroat, selfish.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

Cutthroat, selfish. Like there's like 32 weeks of the year away. And I'm like, ugh, there's an unstableness, I don't know if the world's gonna collapse again. I'm dealing with an injury, I've just had my second kid. I'm like, this, uh I don't want to be away from them any more than I have to. And then I just shifted priorities. I was just like, yeah, I mean, I've got two beautiful kids and a beautiful partner, and I'm just like, there's my friction.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

Damn, okay. Well, I want to take a pee break, but when we come back, I want to discuss your Alana relationship and your phasing out of pro surfing as gracefully as anyone I've ever seen. Or like the you know, the center of spotlight pro surfing vibes, because I think that's the thing we a lot of us suck at. Okay, we're gonna go out of a P break. We'll come back.