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T H A T A U S S I E
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"IS THIS THE END OF SURF AS WE KNOW IT? NO. MAYBE.” “I’M JUST GLAD IT WAS US, FOR ONCE. I SWEAR IT’S ALWAYS SLATER THAT SCORES WAVES LIKE THESE.” “YOU JUST HAVE TO GO MASSIVE
FOR A WHILE AND SACRIFICE THE SAFE WAY IN ORDER TO DO IT.” "I WOULD NOT SWIM OR SURF IN THE PACIFIC NEAR JAPAN, AND I’D BE DAMNED IF I ATE THE FISH FROM ANYWHERE IN THESE
AREAS.” “YESTERDAY LUKE COINED THIS THE PHOTO-TRIP VERSION OF A WQS EVENT: A GRIND. NOW, MAYBE HE’LL RECONSIDER.” “AFTER ALL THAT ORGANIZING, THE LONG FLIGHTS AND EVERYTHING
ELSE, IT WAS AMAZING TO BE IN THAT SPOT TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY ‘YES’ OR ‘NO.’” SFGP-140500-COVER-CN1.indd 1-2
blackyellowmagentacyan
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PHOTO: JULIAN MARTIN
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Higher Learning with Mitch Crews
Mitch Crews entered 2013 with a clear plan: qualify for the WCT or quit. Move on. Go to college and get a GHJUHH :KDW WDOHQWHG \HDU ROG SURIHVVLRQDO VXUIHU LV ZLOOLQJ WR PDNH VXFK D VDFULÂşFH" $ VPDUW RQH apparently. His all-or-nothing approach saw him transcend the ranks of ‘QS grinder and become a member of VXUÂşQJÂąV LY\ OHDJXH :KLFK PHDQV FROOHJH FDQ ZDLW  OLNH PD\EH IRUHYHU $IWHU DOO KHÂąV DOUHDG\ JUDGXated. —Zander Morton
MITCH CREWS: I did the ‘QS full time for three years, including last year when I qualified. It was taxing. People do it for 10 and 12 years and I don’t know how. If I didn’t qualify this year, I wouldn’t have done it again. Seriously. I made that decision before the start of the tour [in 2013]. I didn’t want to travel from country to country and have to battle it out with all the same guys. The ‘QS can be a weird place. Certain people glare at one another and get mad if someone else progresses. I don’t like that part of it. I love surfing, but I was at peace with going to university and moving on. Once I realized that, everything fell into place. People save for months and months to travel to the places the ‘QS brings us and yet we’re just pingponging around. You can get caught up in it all. Meeting girls, going to parties. Getting stuck places, getting food poisoning, losing in knee-high slop one week and then surfing a heat in 8-foot surf the next. Having bad boards, the wrong boards, it’s a crazy roller coaster. But it’s an incredible life experience. It’s taught me discipline. And it’s a job — as hard as that is for people to understand. It’s not a big holiday. Going into 2013 I was a lot more disciplined. I changed a bunch of things. Routine worked really well for me. I had a routine every day. Breakfast, hang on the computer, read the news. I’d go to each event a half-hour before my heat,
do a little warm-up, surf my heat and then leave. I set a goal to be one of the last 12 surfers in every event, and if I made it there I was happy. Then I won Japan and finished third in South Africa. It all started by setting realistic goals. And when I wasn’t competing, I’d take in everything and be a fullon tourist. I treated the event like a job and took my emotion — good and bad — out of it. And that was the hardest thing, because I’m an emotional person. I hate when people don’t like me and I really hate losing. I traveled with Mitch Coleborn a lot this year. After he won the Brazil Prime, he was beaming with confidence. We were certain he was going to qualify. And you know, he might have gotten too confident. If I’d won a Prime I would have been in the same position. I only had a 4-Star win, which kept me hungry throughout the year. I kept getting thirds and they kept driving me to get a Prime win. Qualifying while Kelly Slater is still on tour is special. That’s always been a dream of mine, to compete with him. Everything is only just beginning for me now. And you know what? I feel like I’m ready. The timing could not be better. If this happened two years ago I would have been too irresponsible to deal with the sacrifices you have to make for this tour. I realize the job is not done yet. I want to be remembered. I want to be a name that people want to watch.
M A Y
2 0 1 4 0 8 5
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How do yo u q ualif y for the WC T? For Mitc h Crews al l it to ok wer e r e al i s ti c g o a l s a n d t h e t h r e at o f s c h o ol b o oks . M it c h , c ra m m i n g f o r t h e b i g lea gu e s, Au st ra lia. PHOTO: DUNCAN MACFARLANE
“I love surfing, but I was at peace with going to university and moving on. Once I realized that, everything fell into place.”
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M A Y
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