In the midst of the chaos that was the Corona Open JBay, we managed to get a few moments of Jordy Smith and Shaun Tomson’s busy schedules to chat a little about life, the universe and everything.
One of them won his world title in 1977, and the other seems destined for his first world title. Both surfers are relevant in the frenetic pace of Championship Tour surfing 2017. Jordy’s surfing is on-point, with speed, power and flow, while Shaun’s sage advice and critical thinking is a fresh yet knowledgeable point-of-view of our sport. Here are some of the more important quotes from the two.
On Supertubes, JBay:
“The thing about JBay is that you’re always going to hear the crowd roar. Sometime you might not hear it while you’re riding, or you might not hear it as you do a turn or you’re in the barrel, but when you slow down, or kick out, you can hear the cheers, and it’s an incredible thing. You don’t really get it anywhere else like you do in JBay.” — Jordy Smith
“You know, coming back to a place like JBay is always going to make you feel good. It’s going to make any surfer feel good, even just watching these waves. That we get to watch the world’s very best at such a wave is a treat and a privilege. The CT has great waves. They have Fiji and the have Pipe, and other wonderful venues, but there’s nothing quite like this. An event like this is the apex of professional surfing right now.” — Shaun Tomson
“It is a great wave to surf, but it is a challenge to surf well. You need to know which ones to get. During times like this (Corona Open JBay) when it’s so perfect you need to slow it all down, stay calm and focused and make sure you get the right ones. Some of them might have too much of a bend on them, and although they’re still good waves they might not offer enough opportunities to get the good scores. You need to find the ones that are going to hit the reef just right.” — Jordy Smith
On Performance:
“In my opinion, the way to judge a great surfer is how they carve. John John’s approach to Margaret River was pure carving and it was great to watch. It was the classic power surfing, it was surfing derived from Hawaiian greats. If you can carve, with power, in waves of consequence, then you have the quintessential elements to be a great surfer. There are many surfers out here (Supers) doing radical surfing, incredible moves, but not all of them are doing full rail carves. You want to watch the guys that do.” — Shaun Tomson
“I had this wave during a heat and I thought was a great wave. Looking back, I did two carves that felt similar, and I did two hooks that felt quite similar. I scored 8.5 for the wave and I was a bit surprised, but looking back, there wasn't enough variety. It’s vital to keep that in mind when the waves are perfectly running all the way down the point. It’s easy to do similar moves. To get the big scores you need to do everything, you need to have a full repertoire of moves, all the way down to the gully.” — Jordy Smith
