The Sunny Disposition

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NOV E M B ER 20I2 ISSU E 506

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SUNNY GARCIA

SUNNY DISPOSITION

THE

S U R F E R , D E D I C AT E D FAT H E R , W O R L D C H A M P I O N , E X - C O N A N D H AWA I I A N E N F O R C E R .

SUNNY GARCIA IS ALL THESE THINGS AND MUCH MUCH MORE. I N T RO A N D I N T E RV I E W B Y DAV E S PA R K E S

On first impression, Sunny’s height is a surprise. In photographs and footage, his solid physique implies stockiness, but at 5’10”, you instantly realise that he has actually a very imposing physical presence. A young Muhummad Ali, circa his Olympic gold medal era, comes to mind. There is a bristling charisma, an unmistakeable aura. “Gladiatorial” is a word that might come close to conveying something of his physicality. He is superbly fit; relentless running, surfing, and weight work have combined with his natural physiology to create 90 odd kgs of muscle. All of the imprinted memories - at least in my own mind - of his violent hacks and explosive gouges, make sense when you see his sheer mass. I immediately think of that patented semi-layback (only semi, because a full layback would result in a slight loss of power through the back end of the turn; unthinkable in Sunny’s paradigm).

He is heavily tattooed, with the usual impressive effect that tattoos seem to have on those with both a shredded rig and an island ancestry; call me biased, but ink on flabby white boys? No. His almost intimidating real life vibe is tempered with an incongruous laugh. It is at once conspiratorial, contagious and almost goofy. It immediately puts you at ease, like he’s opening his heart to you and explaining, non-verbally but unmistakably, that he’ll take you as you are, and the ball is in your court. It is very endearing, and makes you like him more the moment you hear it. It feels like he’s including you in his life.

He is surprisingly articulate, switching easily from classic Hawaiian pigeon with the Westside boys, to eloquent spokesman with this Australian writer. If his 18-year old son, Stone, is any indication, Sunny is a fine dad, because Stone is a great kid, with wonderful manners and a lovely, respectful demeanour.

Sunny has a record 22 WQS wins, a record six (should have been seven) Hawaiian Triple Crowns, nine WCT wins, and a bunch of Hawaiian event victories. He was the 2000 World Champion, and is the reigning ISA Masters World Champion. He has won the coveted Bells contest in Australia three times, famously all at venues other than Bells itself, which is weird because he surfs Bells incredibly well. He is 42 years old.

The following interview was recorded in a hotel in Jakarta in August 2012.

NOT THAT HE CARES, BUT WHETHER YOU LOVE OR HATE SUNNY GARCIA YOU CAN’T DENY HIS JOURNEY FROM THE UNFORGIVING WESTSIDE OF OAHU TO WORLD CHAMPION IS AN INSPIRATIONAL ONE. SPARKSIE

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Tracks: Your given name is Vincent, but you’re known far and wide as Sunny.

How did that come to be?

Sunny: My grandfather was Vincent Sennen Garcia, my dad was Vincent Sennen Garcia and then, obviously I became Vincent Sennen Garcia, but my mum didn’t like that name so she called me Sunny. She said I was born on one of the stormiest days ever on Hawaii. I started off as “Sunshine.” She said I was her sunshine, but I got a little too big to be a Sunshine so she started calling me Sunny.

to good locations at the wrong time of the year, basically because there’s a holiday or whatever it was, you know they were just looking for an audience.

And somehow it worked. They made it work. I can’t believe that ... I think there was only like one event that never got run, in France, because it was during the middle of summer. Now that I look back, as much as I was complaining, I had a really good time in France. The waves might not have been the best, in the early part of summer, but we got to hang out, and being young and seeing all the naked women and all that kind of stuff (laughs) it was a great experience!

What are your earliest memories of surfing?

Sunny: I can still remember catching my first wave, having my two friends Elden and Elroy paddle me out. I remember being freaked because I didn’t know how to swim, I was scared of sharks you know, it was right around the same time that Jaws had come out. Maili Point was notorious for being one of the sharkiest places on the Westside, so ... I remember them pushing me in, standing up, riding a wave all the way in but not quite getting to the beach. I was so freaked out about sharks I just turned around and paddled back out, ‘cos it was closer to paddle back to my friends than it was to paddle to the beach!

(Sunny is laughing now). So I just kept going back out.

I’ll bet! How was life growing up in Waianae?

Ah, you know, it was a rough place, I got to see a lot of fights, I got into a lot of fights, won a lot of fights, lost a lot of fights. It’s a dog eat dog world, your friends help you, and it just depends on who your friends were. I had great friends, all my friends were great ... but I had the real conservative friends and I had you know, the friends that were just on the complete opposite side of the law, and they all took care of me.

You know I had a group of friends that straight up didn’t want me to fight, they didn’t want me to get hurt, they just wanted me to surf. They knew I surfed good, I was already doing good at a young age and they used to get pissed when I got into fights, they were like: ‘We don’t want you fighting! We want you to surf, not get hurt.’ But you know I was one of the boys, I didn’t mind fighting and getting my hands dirty.

How old were you then?

I was only seven years old.

So you pretty much stood up first wave?

Yeah. I had this one red board, I think it was like 8ft, it must have had about 15 inches of rocker, it looked like a canoe, with the nose really rockered out.

You couldn’t pearl that thing if you tried.

How soon did you feel like you had natural surfing ability?

Day one. I don’t know, I can’t say exactly day one but right off the bat, you know? I remember going to surf and always trying to be better than my friends that were around me. And seeing some surfing on TV and in the movies and always thinking: ‘I can surf better than him!’, kinda thing. I always just had that drive to be better than, you know, just about anybody.

Which surfers inspired you?

My first hero was Gerry Lopez, you know, watching Big Wednesday, and then obviously - we were talking earlier about Free Ride - MR and Shaun, Rabbit.

Dane Kealoha was always my favourite surfer. I don’t know, being from Hawaii I’m pretty fortunate because the guys back then, we had Michael and Derek Ho, Hans Hedemann, Mark Liddell, Buttons, Marvin and Kalani Foster, you name ‘em. You’d see ‘em every day, you’d see ‘em at events, you know as much as being my heroes, they were my friends and mentors. So I was pretty fortunate to be brought up at the time I was, because I think my first trip out to the North Shore I must have been like 10 or 11 years old. I went and stayed at what is now the Billabong house, it used to be a friend of a friend’s house.

I got to stay there with Buttons and a bunch of the other guys for like a week, and surfed Backdoor, Off The Wall, Pipe and Ehukai and so for me that was a huge deal.

How about Westside surfers?

The Keaulana family were always good to me, Brian Keaulana always picked me up and took me surfing, Rusty and Jimmy, Uncle Buff, guys like Guy Pelago, Willy van Winkle. There was one older guy, John Lopez, he was a really good friend of mine, surfed really good, he used to take me everywhere when I was a kid. But probably the most influence was from a white guy, his name was Kelly Rhode. He was a marine, a military guy, a long boarder who just kinda cruised, liked hanging out with the boys. He used to come and pick me up all the time when I was a kid and take me surfing, mainly at this one place called Barber’s Point, probably THE worst wave in the world. But you had to be in the military to get in and there was always waves, it’s on the southwest corner of the island.

We used to go there all the time and just surf this shitty wave, and it taught me how to surf in mushy, flat waves, how to connect the dots.

I think that was the biggest help of anything, knowing how to surf those kinds of waves, because obviously back in the early ‘80s to ‘90s the tour wasn’t held in good surf. I mean we went to Japan, we went to Brazil, we went to cool places but we were surfing the worst waves in the world. Anywhere someone put up money we would have an event. And back in the day we were going

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Did you ever feel at a disadvantage growing up on the Westside?

Not necessarily being from the Westside, I felt like it was a disadvantage being from Hawaii, period. You always had that side that when you travel it was like: ‘Oh you’re from Hawaii, I heard they just fight, that’s how you guys solve your problems, you guys are the bad guys in surfing.’ You know, that stigma.

And I noticed that at an early age. When I was, I think 13, I went undefeated.

I won all my Menehune events, all my Boys events, I think I even surfed in a couple of Pro-Ams and stuff, and pretty much won everything. I was sponsored

by Quiksilver back then, and I think I got, all up, three pairs of shorts that year. I remember going over to California that year for the NSSA Nationals, and ... I think O’Neill gave me a used suit that had big holes in it and stuff.

I was freezing! And then I had friends like Jeff Booth and Doug Silva and all those guys and they were like the top guys at Quiksilver, and they got shorts and nice wetsuits and great boards and all that stuff. You know I just noticed that if you were from California you were getting photos in the magazines and the best sponsors, and the sponsors were paying for everything, you’re well taken care of. And then, here I was, the top Hawaiian kid coming up, winning everything and smoking all those guys from California but yet I was still not getting taken care of.

Did that make you more determined?

That drove me. You know I didn’t let it beat me up, it led me on; fuck those guys I’ll go out and kick their arses even harder. I noticed the same thing at a young age when I went to Australia. I was blown away when I went to Australia: ‘Fuck these guys fucken’ absolutely rip, and they’re not even on tour!’ You know like Ralph Pullinger was one of my best friends. I met him when I was 14 in Japan. I met him and Luke Egan, Billabong had sent us all over there to surf in the event and we became really good friends.

So I think when I was 15 I went over to Australia to hang out with Ralph and Luke, and I was just blown away at the amount of talent that Australia had that never got on tour. They weren’t getting paid or anything, so it’s a similar thing.

If you’re from the US, you’re set.

Huge Makaha Point surf was once the Mecca of big wave surfing, have you surfed it much under those conditions?

Yeah! When I was a kid I got to go and hang out with Brian (Keaulana) and you know, me and Rusty were always fighting over Brian’s smaller guns when the waves got big. Brian always had a couple of boards that worked better than others, so me and Rusty were always fighting over ‘em to get out and surf the Point at, you know 8ft, 10ft, 12 ft, at a pretty young age so, I got to surf it quite a bit when I was younger.

Most people think of the Westside surf scene as Makaha with a bit of 3rd Dip thrown in. Without giving too much away, is there more to it than that?

There’s a lot more. The very first part, right near the power plants, we have

SUNNY, PHOTOGRAPHED ON A RECENT BOAT TRIP TO THE MENTAWAI ISLANDS, STILL POSSESSES ALL THE RAW POWER THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN HIS TRADEMARK ATTRIBUTE IN THE WATER. PHOTOS: SPARKES

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“IT WAS A ROUGH PLACE, I GOT TO SEE A LOT OF FIGHTS, I GOT INTO A LOT OF FIGHTS, WON A LOT OF FIGHTS, LOST A LOT OF FIGHTS. IT’S A D O G E AT D O G W O R L D . . .

Tracks, which when the rest of the island gets big, gets like 6-8ft, it gets really good. Then you move down and you have Huliawa, which is in Nanakuli just before Maili Point. It’s like a 3rd Dip kind of a wave, it just needs to be even bigger and north. It takes the same swell as 3rd Dip but when 3rd Dip gets too big, Huliawa gets really good, and it’s a longer version of it. Then we have Maili Point, and further down you have Green Lanterns and Sewers, which is a really good peak, a really good right, and then you go down further and there’s a couple of little spots. Then you get to Makaha and then Free Hawaii, which is right around the corner from Makaha, and then you have Ranches, then Yokahama, and then 1st, 2nd and 3rd Dip, which are all really good waves.

And pretty localised?

For the most part, I think the Westside isn’t today what it used to be. It can be very localised, it depends. If you pull up and there’s one or two of you in the car, more than likely you’ll just blend in but ... if you pull up (laughing now) and you’ve got like five or six boards on the roof and a bunch of guys in the car, you’ll get vibed for sure. For the most part it’s a pretty mellow place, if you do pull up with a lot of guys you might get a few dirty looks or whatever but you really gotta be doing something wrong to get more than just dirty looks.

When did you realise you were good enough to mix it with the best in the world?

I think from a young age. I just kept telling myself: ‘I’m gonna be World Champ, I’m gonna be World Champ!’ I remember watching a video - I think it was ‘83, ‘84 - of Martin Potter and Occy in the final in Japan, really small waves, and just going: ‘Fuck, I can surf better than you guys for sure!’ I was like 13 or 14.

And at that age, that’s what I believed, I knew at that age that I could beat those guys. I mean I think I won my first Pro-Am event at age 11 in ‘81 or ‘82 at Haleiwa, where I beat all the top Hawaiians. It was really small - I mean REALLY small - but nevertheless, those guys were already travelling and doing it, so ... I was winning Pro-Ams at 13, 14 years old. By that age I already knew. I was already really cocky, really hungry, and like I said, with my friend Kelly Rhode, we always surfed Barber’s Point, and between that and surfing Diamond Head, which are two of the worst fucking waves in the world, I could surf those waves like no tomorrow, beach waves no problem. So I was just honing my skills for the tour you know.

You had a couple of near misses for the World Title before you won in 2000.

That must have been frustrating?

Yeah, it was, ‘95 mainly, I was leading going into Hawaii, going into Pipe I would have never fucking guessed I’d have lost, all I had to do was make one heat.

It was humbling, you know, but I guess ...

Were you feeling extra nervous?

No, I didn’t feel that. I know exactly when I lost. It was the morning before they ran the contest. The waves were like, 6-8ft, Backdoor was perfect, I remember getting up, talking to Randy Rarrick and he’s like: ‘Ah, no, we’re going to wait.’

I’m like: ‘Fuck man, the waves are perfect!’ I mean it was as good as Backdoor ever gets. He’s: ‘Oh, there’s no lefts’ and I’m saying: ‘Fuck, the rights are going off.’ I was staying with Gerry and I remember fucking running back up to the house and telling Gerry: ‘Get up! Get down there and tell him to run it!’

And he’s like: ‘Oh it’s perfect, they’re gonna run it.’ And I say: ‘Randy just said they’re not gonna run it!’ And by the time I got Gerry up and down there to tell him they should run it, Randy has already put up the sign: “Contest Off”. And at that moment, I knew I’d fucken’ lost.

I woke up the next day and Gerry’s like: ‘Don’t worry about it, we’re good, we’re good.’ The next day was big, the swell had turned west and Pipe was good.

I still felt pretty good, you know like: ‘Fuck, ok’, I’ve got Occy, I know what Occy’s capable of doing. So, no problem, I know how to ride Pipe ... and it just seemed like everything that could go wrong, did. Like just before our heat the wind kinda came a little onshore, and the backwash started going, and it became like ...

More of a lottery?

Yeah, like if you’re a goofyfoot you can sneak barrels, you know, but when it goes onshore it becomes a little harder backside. I don’t know ... so I went out, got a couple of good waves, ended up breaking my leash and swimming, and ... poor Occ! (laughs) I felt bad for Occ, I mean, I really wanted to win the World Title and I’m sure Occy really wanted me to win, but you know, he was my team mate and I didn’t expect him to sit down and let me win, you know, even though he tried. Like he went out, took smaller waves, he gave me any wave I wanted, and it was one of those things. He wanted me to win but couldn’t give it to me, and then he got in the lead, I lost my board and fucken’ swam and you know, poor Occ ... I remember swimming and he’s in the channel and he’s going: ‘Take my board, take my board!’ And I’m going: ‘I can’t take your board, no fucken’ way!’ I remember looking in and seeing Kelly trying to paddle my board out and it was good sized surf and Kelly’s getting washed down to Ehukai, and then I think Kainoa McGee ended up getting another board to me. I went out, caught another wave and didn’t get the score I needed.

I remember a lot of my friends were pissed at Occ, you know, they expected him to sit down a little more and I was like: ‘Fuck you know, he’s my friend, you guys most definitely can’t fucken’ give him a hard time.’ I mean, how can you not love Occy? He felt bad ... and it was weird ‘cos I left, I didn’t really talk to anybody, I just kinda went off in my own world. In hindsight I should have stayed and made it a little better and talked to Occ. I know he felt really bad for a long time. But I never really had that much time to reflect on the whole thing, and that time was right where my marriage went wrong, and that whole next year I was going through my divorce, I’d just lost a World Title, and having to get ready for the next year and compete I didn’t really have time to reflect on anything, I just kinda moved on.

Did the heartbreak of missing out like that add pressure to your World Title aspirations?

No, I just felt like that was my big shot and I’d blown it, but to me, as much as that was a let down, I went through like a whole bunch of things you know.

Like I was telling you earlier, I’d been riding for Billabong and they’re fucken’ sending me off to do the Billabong Challenges and all this other bullshit stuff that I didn’t really need to be doing. I should have been just at home, concentrating on trying to win a World Title rather than off with Jack McCoy jerking off and doing the most fucked up things ever, you know walking around trees, and camping in the middle of the desert. You know, I was really fucking bitter at Billabong, like really bitter.

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“ I D O N ’ T R E A L LY G I V E A F U C K W H AT A N Y B O D Y T H I N K S , B E C A U S E N O M AT T E R W H AT I T R Y T O D O , P E O P L E A R E E I T H E R G O N N A L O V E YO U O R T H E Y ’ R E G O N N A H A T E Y O U .”

After losing the World Title I quit, I left Billabong and went to No Fear, where the environment was a lot better for me, because those guys were into car racing and dirt bikes and fucken’ having fun, and that was more or less the environment I needed to be in. I didn’t have to go out and do fucken’ promos in Timbuktu. You know, I understand that whole side of doing promos and stuff but man, riding for Billabong was a fucking curse, I mean that’s all they fucking do. That’s all I remember doing when I was at Billabong - promos! Just bullshit stuff. For a long time I was really bitter at Gordon and Bob for not taking care of me like they should have been ... I was gonna bring them their first World Title, and they should have been making sure I was comfortable and feeling good.

But rather than doing that they fucken’ were just beating me like a dead horse.

In the years after that did you ever get negative thoughts that you may end up a perennial bridesmaid, like Elko or Cheyne Horan?

No, I never really dwell on things a lot, you know I was just really bitter at that first part, and then I quit and had a lot of animosity over that whole thing, but for me it was always about: ‘Well ok, fuck that’s done, now time to get back and try to win me a World Title.’ I went back to Bells, went back to Queensland and did good, it was just a matter of moving on. I think I finished 3rd again the next year. I didn’t have a great year like I did the year before but I definitely went back to where I belonged, and I don’t think I dropped out of the Top 5 for a couple of years.

You made it clear you were there to win a World Title, not just make up the numbers.

Yeah. Every event I was there to win, I was never there to just do good.

How did it feel when you did win the World Title?

It wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be. (Laughs in a “go figure?” sort of way). It was weird ‘cos I was in Brazil, and I really wanted to kinda just sit down and soak it in. Watching Luke (Egan) surf his heat ... I just had to keep making it, and those guys had to win. Basically I had to lose, so ... I’d made my heat and I think I’d made the quarters, and if I made the semis they lost, there’s no way they’re gonna win. So I’d already made my quarter and I was just sitting, and you know Luke was not doing good in his heat and he’s one of my best friends. So it was kinda like a bittersweet thing. I’m watching my good friend who I really wanted to be cheering to win, but hoping that he lost!

So I took my wife upstairs to sit in the stand, in a little area where there was no media, and they’re fucking freaking, the media was flipping out. Like Brazil, I love ‘em death, they’re totally into it, but I just wanted peace and quiet, just wanted to soak it in. But they dragged me out of my little area, they brought me downstairs and I had all these people around me, and ... I don’t know, I didn’t get to really absorb it. By the time I got home to Hawaii I just felt like, yeah, I’d done it.

I always thought ok, I if win the World Title, you know they’d make a really big deal about it in Hawaii and I was just fucken’ kinda let down. Our governor threw a parade for Benny Agbayani. Benny’s a baseball player and Benny’s team (New York Mets) had just lost the World Series, but he’d made it to the World Series. Our governor was Filipino, and Benny’s Filipino. I’m Filipino - but Benny’s baseball. They threw him a fucken’ parade, but I won the World Title and I didn’t even get a fucken’ mention! So it was a bittersweet thing ... you know, surfing IS Hawaii! Right? So it was just ... I guess in the end, to me it was just something I’d set out to do and when I finally did it, it was like: ‘Done,

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it’s over. I won. Cool, now what do I do?’

It seems almost like a running theme in your career that you haven’t been treated fairly.

No. And you wanna hear the topper of all? I won the World Title, I come back, and my sponsor, No Fear, throws me this huge thing. I got to California and it was gnarly, they had everybody that worked for them there. It was a tight knit group of people. I pull up and everybody’s in the parking lot and there’s fucking champagne, there’s this big old party, my friend Jeremy is running the team, he takes me to Vegas to party more for a couple of days, and I went back to Hawaii, won the Triple Crown, and then I go back and meet with No Fear.

We’re re-doing my contract so I’m thinking: ‘Well at the very least I’m gonna get exactly what I’m getting now.’ I mean I wasn’t looking for a raise ... They picked me up in 1995 and I had a five-year deal, and they pretty much paid me the same salary that they’d promised at the time they’d thought I was gonna win the World Title in ‘95. Of course I didn’t win, but they still gave me a huge signing bonus and they paid me the amount that they’d promised, all the way through to 2000. So I figure: ‘Ok I won the World Title for them in the end, so it washes every thing out, I’ll probably get the same amount ...’ (Laughs disbelievingly) They offered me half of what I was getting! Basically I was like: ‘What the fuck?’ This guy was my really good friend and I go: ‘What’s going on?’ And my friend tells me: ‘Well, you won the World Title, but it’s all downhill from now.’

That was his big speech, you won the World Title, you got nowhere to go but down from here. So I quit. I was like: ‘I’m not gonna go backwards with you guys, I’d rather get paid nothing than to stay with a company that really thinks that.’ And those guys are my friends! They were the owners of Life’s a Beach, and started No Fear, I rode for them for a while, I lived with them. So I quit, moved back home, and signed with DaHui. By then I was already going through all my tax problems and stuff, but I signed with DaHui and soldiered on.

You’re part of a select group to have had an intense rivalry with Kelly, did his presence drive you to get better?

No. You know, I’ve been friends with Kelly since we were like, 13, he was younger, 12, 13 somewhere around there. I was always stoked for Kelly, watching him come up, watching him come to Hawaii and learn the ropes. If you weren’t from Hawaii and had to follow a path of what to do, take a look at what Kelly’s done. At a young age he was coming to Hawaii every winter and staying a long time, getting to know the people that he needed to know in Hawaii, and really working on his spot in the line up. He did all right, you know, he’s from Cocoa Beach - it’s probably even worse than what I surfed! (laughs). So he got to surf really bad waves and really good waves and by the time he came on tour we were already starting to go to really good places, and man his surfing just excelled. But I never felt the need that I had to raise my surfing, I was always a little older than him, and by the time he came on tour he was just flat out incredible.

So it was a matter of trying to beat him - you weren’t gonna out flash him, because as a young kid he was already super flashy and doing all those airs and surfing really crisp. So it was just a matter of going out and getting three better waves than him and trying to beat him that way. But you know, Kelly’s a weird one, I always felt like the guys that hung out with Kelly, that he almost ... sucked the life out ‘em! Like Shane Dorian, Ross Williams, Rob Machado, you look at that whole Momentum crew that all hung out with Kelly, they all surfed great, but they never out shined Kelly. It almost felt like Kelly was just

ABOVE: CONTRADICTORY TO THE HARD-MAN STEREOTYPE THAT HANGS OVER HIM, SUNNY POSSESSES A GENUINELY WARM DIMENSION TO HIS PERSONALITY. SPARKES BELOW: VINTAGE SUNNY, LAYING IT DOWN BACK IN THE BILLABONG DAYS. BOLSTER

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“ I ’ V E H A D A L O T O F R E A L LY G O O D T H I N G S H A P P E N I N M Y L I F E . F U C K , I CAME INTO THIS WORLD BROKE, I’M GONNA LEAVE BROKE, BUT I’M GONNA LEAVE WITH A LOT OF GOOD MEMORIES, RIGHT?”

sucking their energy to become that real bright star of the group. Kelly’s my friend and I always tried to stay away from him, keep that rivalry where it was just, you know, competing.

When Kelly arrived on the scene with his ultra low volume boards, you probably saved the collective sanity of thousands of surfers worldwide by continuing to rip on wider, thicker boards. Was there any more to that than the fact that you’re just a big guy?

No, I’m a creature of habit. I’ve been riding 6’3” x 19” x 2 1/2” or 2 3/8” since I was 16 years old. I’m 42 and I still ride the same dimensions. My weight has fluctuated the last couple of years, I was going up to 2 3/4” (laughs). But I always stayed in the 19”, 19 1/2” area. I’m just a bigger kid, I was always really wide in the shoulders so riding those super narrow boards takes a lot of work.

You’re one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, surfers ever. Did you consciously work on that aspect of your surfing?

I think I just ended up being that way. When I was younger I used to do a lot of airs, and did that whole thing, and blew out my knee, blew out my ankles and just kind of got over it, and thought, I’d rather just fucken’ take the lip off a wave, rather than be up above it.

I’m a fan of great surfing, regardless of what it is. For a while I was like: ‘Fuck airs!’ It’s not so much that I don’t like the aerial thing, but if you take a look at the surfers from my generation, and the surfers now, in my generation you could tell who was who. Now they fucken’ all look the same, they all look like a bunch of fucken’ fags doing cheap, weak turns. You know, there are very few guys that look impressive. Jordy and Dane were like the first of that new generation where they’re throwing huge powerful turns as well as airs that are just incredible. But a lot of these kids, they waste a wave. You see ‘em going down the line and ... one cute little air. I don’t know, not too many guys that impress me. I was pretty impressed with Julian Wilson’s surfing at Huntington this year. Julian does some pretty impressive turns as well as airs, and when those guys are doing airs they’re projecting up and over and out, and the other guys are just ... you know, you really watch and you can tell when guys are doing like power airs, whereas some guys are just like forcing it, it just looks forced. Having said that I think that the judging ... watching some of these events, the judges really need to figure out what is actually really hard to do and what looks cute, and really start judging surfing the way it should be. Like being judged on guys putting in the work and the performance rather than just doing an air because they can, kinda thing.

You’ve won six Triple Crowns, several more than anyone else, which clearly makes you the most successful competitive surfer ever in Hawaii. Considering the likes of Andy and Bruce Irons, Dane Kealoha, the Ho brothers, Gerry, Johnny Boy, Larry Bertlemann and a host of other great Hawaiian surfers, as well as MR, Shaun, Rabbit, Kelly, Curren, Pottz, Carroll, Elko, Parko, Mick and on and on, it must be a satisfying feeling.

I’ll be happy when I get number seven this winter!

That was gonna be my next question. So you plan on winning more?

I still feel I can. The other year - two winters ago - what a heartbreaker. To show up at Pipe a little late, which was my fault, and not be let into the event just through a technicality, was pretty heartbreaking. It could have been number seven right there.

How well would you have needed to do to get the Triple Crown?

Just show up and paddle out. So that was kind of a heartbreaker. But I still feel like my surfing in big surf is quite capable of doing it. Obviously every year that goes by, the skills diminish, but I still feel if the waves are 6-8ft, I’m just as dangerous as anybody else, if not more dangerous. So who knows?

I’ll continue to train, and this year so far as been a good year for me. I have a very eccentric partner/sponsor who doesn’t really care if I surf in events, so this year I’ve been able to spend quite a bit of time at home, and doing other things that I really enjoy that are good for my sponsors; couple of surf trips, I went to the ISA Masters Championships and got to surf and hang out with the boys for a week, and that was pretty uplifting to go there and get a win. So now it’s just training and getting ready for the Triple Crown.

Are there any spots you feel strongest at on the North Shore?

I feel good everywhere. Obviously Haleiwa is my favourite spot, but ... big Sunset, Pipe, I feel the same.

At 42, you are in great physical shape. What’s your training regime?

Basically just running, I have a couple of weights in my garage, so I lift and run and I do spin. I’m pretty fortunate to have a wife who’s pretty health conscious. I’m a creature of habit so I get up in the morning and run, do weights, and then I’ll go do spin, and hang out for the rest of the day then run again in the evening, or do yoga. But my wife’s about trying different gyms and different things. She wants to do the cross fit thing. I did a little bit of that last winter with Kai and the boys but the one by our house is way more gnarly! My wife has already signed me up so I’ll be straight into cross fit. I’m sure by the time Hawaii rolls around I’ll be ready to go.

Surfers like yourself, Tom Carroll, Tom Curren, Occy and others seem to be surfing almost as well as you did in your prime. Is that because of continual surfboard design refinements, or are you guys freaks?

You know I think that whole deal is that ... we’re like the first group of guys still getting paid to do what we love to do well into our 40s and even 50s, so most guys at 30 or whatever, they start to slowdown right? And like everything else, if you don’t practice, you don’t do it as good, so I just think it’s not so much that we’re freaks, it’s that we’ve continued to do what we love to do, and being as competitive as we all are ... well I sure as hell don’t wanna go out and surf bad! So if you’re gonna do it, you wanna be able to go out and surf relatively good. I mean I don’t surf as good as I used to, but I know on any given day I can give any young guy a good fucken’ run for his money.

I think if anything it’s just the competitive thing, like Tom Carroll is one of the most competitive guys you’ll ever meet as well as Tom Curren you know, Occy, Pottz, all those guys. But once you get comfortable and you’re ready to move on from your career, your surfing skills diminish, and I think we just all still have that drive.

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“ I S E E S O M E F U C K I N G G U Y A S S A U LT M Y S O N , A N D T H E N S TA R T F I G H T I N G MY FRIEND, FUCKED IF I’M GONNA BE JUST: ‘OH NO, LET IT GO’”

How long have you lived in California, and why did you move there?

I’ve been living in California off and on since I was 18. I think the reason my career has lasted so long is, you’ve kinda gotta be seen, if people don’t see you then what’s the sense of paying you, right? So I think living in California, I’m close to my sponsors, I’m always in the mix with everybody. You can get a lot more stuff done. When I live in Hawaii, I tend to get into a lot more trouble (laughs sheepishly) I get lazy. You become a product of your environment, so in Hawaii all you do is surf and hang out and eat. Whereas in California, my friends don’t just surf, they ride dirt bikes, they ride mountain bikes, everybody’s pretty fit, and I’m closer to my sponsors, so if they need me to do anything it’s just down the street, they can just call and go: ‘Hey we need you to go to so and so to do a promo.’ They’re happy about it, I’m happy about it and I continue to get paid good money to basically live the dream.

And you’ll end up back in Hawaii?

Oh yeah for sure.

You lived on Kauai for a few years, how did that come about?

I went over to hang out with Bruce and Andy, kinda liked it, found a place, and just moved over. Worked out really good, you know my wife at the time, her dad used to live on Kauai, and it was something different. I got to hang out with Bruce and Andy, which was probably the best thing I ever did. I was at what I thought was the end of my career, and Bruce and Andy were a shot of adrenaline for me. Getting to surf with two of the best guys at that time pushed my surfing a lot, because the whole time I surfed with them I was just like: ‘You fucken’ kidding me?! What the fuck was that?’ So the more they were doing tricks the more I was just trying harder to do bigger turns, ‘cos obviously I wasn’t gonna be doing no airs or floating over fucken’ sections like those guys did, my knees were bad so fuck that!

Those guys were like super lazy, trying to wake those guys up early in the morning was literally impossible. Poor Bruce, he didn’t have a say in it ‘cos he lived with his dad, and I could get to his house, so every morning I’d just fucken’ pound on his door the whole time ‘till he opened it and he’d be: ‘Fuck, go away, I wanna sleep.’ Andy on the other hand, he started locking the door, and then I ended up finding a way. I used to scale the back of his house, I could hold onto the wood and scale all the way to where I knew his bed was and I’d just slam the wall until he woke up. Those guys would be like: ‘Go surf and come back, we’ll surf with you later.’ Sometimes I’d have two, three surfs and come back at 2 or 3 o’clock and then they’d be like: ‘Ok let’s go surf.’

What’s the reception generally like for Hawaiians visiting other Hawaiian islands?

It’s always been mellow, we all know each other so more times than not if I’m going to Kauai I’ll call Bruce or Kai or Chava, if I go to Maui I’ll call Kai Henry or Tai van Dyke, go to the Big Island you’ll call somebody different you know.

You’re usually travelling with somebody from that island anyway. But if I go to Maui, the vibes I do get are always from somebody that’s not even from Maui!

All the white guys that moved there! Local guys never really vibe me anyway.

Visiting, you never get a problem, but when you move there, then of course you have the guys that are the bulls on that island that you try not to rub wrong, and I’ve had my fair share. It’s an unfortunate thing, but that’s human nature,

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you get it no matter where you go. The guys from Queensland don’t necessarily get along with the guys from NSW, vice versa. You gotta put in your time, and once you do that and get your spot you’re good to go.

You had kids at quite a young age, how did you reconcile family with life on tour?

I was pretty fortunate in that I brought my wife, I brought my three kids, I brought my mother-in-law, father-in-law, my two brothers-in-law, I brought the whole family with us back in the day. It’s probably why I don’t have any money now! I don’t really care, you know, I came from a poor family so for me, making all that money was like ... tomorrow I could fucken’ die, I can’t take all that money with me, I might as well use it to have fun. So I brought my whole family, and everywhere we went it was like home.

Eventually that was my biggest downfall; I was so used to having the family there, and then my first wife started to really freak out about flying and planes crashing. You know: ‘What about the kids, what would happen?’ And eventually it came to a halt, she didn’t want to travel. I went from travelling with my whole family to nobody. I fucken’ hated it, I didn’t like being by myself. Travelling with the family was always a big thing and I was really fortunate in that my first wife is a great mum, a great family person and even though they weren’t with me, I knew that she was taking care of them and it made it a lot easier for me to travel. She was the mum, she took care of the kids, I was the dad, I took care of business and made sure I had money for them. So that’s kinda more or less how it worked out.

Over the years you’ve developed a bit of a reputation for having an intimidating presence, and maybe occasionally even an angry presence. Are there some misconceptions you’d like to set right?

No. It is what it is, I’m not here to make anybody happy for any reason, I don’t really give a fuck what anybody thinks, because no matter what I try to do, people are either gonna love you or they’re gonna hate you. And people who love you are gonna love you no matter what, and people who hate you, no matter what you do they’re still gonna fucken’ hate you! So my whole deal is, I don’t give a fuck, they don’t fucken’ pay my bills, so why should I care! Right? I mean ... what did you think? You had this conception that I was this guy and now you’re like: ‘Wow, he’s pretty mellow!’ (laughs).

I’m exactly how it is, if there are things that I don’t like and I have an opinion about it, sometimes me voicing my opinion is a lot stronger than most people would, but I’m a pretty passionate person. If I’m involved in something I’m involved in it, there’s no: ‘Kinda in, kinda out.’ I’m all in or all out. I just fight for what I believe in you know, right or wrong. But to me, whatever I’m fighting for is the right thing, right? Or why would I be fighting for it? (laughs) You know, it’s got me into a lot of trouble but if you don’t have any kind of passion in life, you’re not really living are you? So, I don’t know, it could be wrong, but to me it’s right.

Have you ever felt hard done by from the surf media?

Of course, but I’m not gonna cry over spilt milk, it is what it is, if that’s what they think, so be it. Just remember, for every action there’s a reaction right?

So ... there’s a few guys in the media that might eventually - one day - get their fucken’ heads slapped. (I laugh nervously) You know, somebody said the

ABOVE: DISMANTLING AN INDONESIAN LEFT IN TRUE SUNNY STYLE. BELOW: SUNNY’S 18-YEAR-OLD SON, STONE, WHO WAS UNFORTUNATELY CAUGHT UP IN HIS DAD’S WIDELY BROADCAST CONTROVERSY AT BURLIEGH HEADS LAST YEAR. PHOTOS: SPARKES

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“ I ’ D R AT H E R J U S T F U C K E N ’ TA K E T H E L I P O F F A W AV E , R AT H E R T H A N BE UP ABOVE IT”

pen is mightier than the sword, you might say that while you’re writing with your pen, but that sword will fucken’ stick you pretty good. I believe heavily in karma, and I’ve been dished out a lot of karma. Whatever, I take it like a man, I believe that I’ve done a lotta shitty things in life, that a lot of people probably didn’t like, and a lot of shitty things have happened to me. But I live my life the best that I can possibly be. Of course I have faults, yeah, but I do the best that I can. But in saying that, I have a lot of downfalls. I try and make lemonade with the lemons I’ve been dealt.

The incident you were involved in at Burleigh in early 2011 created a fair bit of publicity in Australia. What happened?

First and foremost, I love Australia, I love Queensland, I love going to Burleigh, I’ve been going there since I was 15 years old. I’ve got into quite a few hassles at Burleigh. In Australia, Burleigh is notorious for localism. It’s like going to Hawaii, if you’re going to Burleigh it’s the same thing as the North Shore, you know the guys are heavy, you’re gonna get into hassles.

So I bring my son, Stone, he’s finally surfing so I wanna bring him to Australia, show him what a fucken’ great place it is. We go to the Burleigh event, I’d just lost my heat; no big deal, the waves aren’t that good, so Jeremy (Flores), Coco Ho and Stone are going to go surf Burleigh. My famous last words to Stone were: ‘Watch out when you go out there, the guys at Burleigh can be dicks, so watch what you’re doing.’ I just came in, I don’t wanna surf, the waves are shitty.

So I’m hanging out with the contest director and a couple of other Burleigh Boardrider guys, and I look over and there’s a kinda scuffle going on. I see Stone in this scuffle and I see this guy swinging at my son, you know kinda slapping my son. I look over and I’m like: ‘Nah, that can’t be Stone’ and then I see Jeremy paddling over and that’s when I knew it was my son, ‘cos there’s only a couple of other guys out. I see words exchanged and then I see the guy go from Stone to Jeremy, and attack Jeremy! So they’re having a full scuffle, and I’m standing there with these guys from the ASP, and I’m like: ‘Fuck, you guys aren’t gonna do anything? Look, there’s a full on scuffle in the water!’

No security guys ran down, I’m like fuck that’s my kid and Jeremy, and they’re fighting.

So the contest guys see me running down and they’re: ‘No, no, no, let it go!’ Like I’m gonna let it go! I see some fucking guy assault my son, and then start fighting my friend, fucked if I’m gonna be just: ‘Oh no, let it go’. So I go running down and Jeremy and the guy get to the beach first, Stone in tow, and they’re near the beach on the rocks in front of the Surf Club. I’m in front of there trying to get across the slippery rocks, the guy and Jeremy are fighting, and Jeremy’s doing alright but the guy was bigger than Jeremy, like, knew what he was doing - throwing some good punches. I get there and I’m already fucking stewed, like this guy’s hitting my kid, beating on my friend. He sees me and tries to do the fucken’: ‘No Sunny, I’m sorry!’ And I’m: ‘You fucken’ hit my kid!’

I’m sure people have seen what happened next, but I’m a father and when you see someone do something to your child you want to do everything you can to protect your kid, and then some.

So, it is what it is. I remember seeing him the day before, punking everybody out in the water, you know, he was looking for trouble. Obviously he found my son, who’s small, and then didn’t want anything to do with me. I’ve never

fucken’ hit a kid, you know. I’ve hit guys ...

I sat in Australia, I knew I’d probably have some trouble so I went and hired a lawyer, had the lawyer call the police and ask if they had any questions. I stayed in Australia for like two weeks. I talked to Adam (the guy in the scuffle) and told him I’d pay for his lawyer, but I wasn’t gonna give him a fucken’ dime. His parents had hired a lawyer, he didn’t fucken’ need a lawyer, but he probably said he didn’t hit my kid or whatever, I don’t know what the fuck he told his parents but they felt the need to go hire a lawyer, so I hired a lawyer.

I offered to pay for his lawyer so his parents didn’t have to come up with the money, everybody went away easy, but their whole deal was, they wanted me to pay for the lawyer and give him 15 grand to drop the charges. I said: ‘Fuck that, file the charges’ I sat and waited for two weeks, he’s like: ‘No, we’re not gonna file charges.’

The ASP had already suspended me indefinitely until the whole thing was settled so I wasn’t allowed at the events, I wasn’t allowed at the banquet, basically I had to turn around and leave Australia. I kept waiting and waiting and nothing happened, so I called the police again, and they gave me the ok to leave, so I left. And then right after I left they fucken’ filed the charges, ‘cos I wasn’t there to reply.

As it stands right now, the last time I talked to the lawyers, they’re trying to get me to pay the lawyer five grand and 10 grand for Adam. So I just said no.

I’m not gonna be bullied into paying him fucken’ money, because he hit my kid!

I’d rather not go back to Australia than have to pay that fucken’ punk a penny.

You know, two wrongs don’t make a right, I understood that whole thing. It was bad for everyone, where it happened, but I don’t give a fuck where it happened if you’re assaulting my son. You could be in the front yard of the White House, you’re still getting your arse fucken’ kicked.

While we’re on the subject of legal hassles, you spent some time in US prison for tax fraud. What led to such a drastic outcome?

Not so much a drastic outcome you know, just ... basically I hired people to take care of my business and they didn’t, and you know, shit ... I’m an athlete man, I’m not an accountant, so they give me papers to sign, I sign them, and then they go and file them. I’d just say it was bad counselling, and I ended up spending three months in federal prison - which was like a vacation basically.

Were you scared or stressed about going in there?

I was more scared when they initially said they were gonna give me five or 10 years. So I hired a lawyer, and ended up doing a plea bargain, saying I was guilty, and they then said they’d give me a year. The judge that I had was actually a super cool judge, he felt really bad for me. He was like: ‘If it was up to me I’d just slap your wrist and let you go, but under the federal law I have to give you something.’ So he gave me three months in federal prison and seven months of house arrest. The three months in prison wasn’t so bad, the seven months house arrest was what drove me crazy. I went from being in this huge facility with a bunch of friends, I had a job, and being able to work out and run, you know, a lot of things to do - to being stuck in a fucken’ house. Well, you’re not in prison but if you have to stay in your fucken’ house for seven months; that becomes a prison. It’s not like you can surf. You can’t go down the street.

No, you’re stuck in a house, so I fucken’ went crazy.

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“ T H E Y T H R E W H I M A F U C K E N ’ PA R A D E , B U T I WO N T H E WO R L D TITLE AND I DIDN’T EVEN GET A FUCKEN’ MENTION”

You had no idea you were doing anything wrong with your tax?

No. My first accountant, the one that got me into all the trouble in the beginning, he had access to all my accounts and stuff and I thought he was paying my taxes. We’d fill out all the things, we’d go over all the taxes, da da dadah, he didn’t pay my taxes; didn’t even fucken’ file the things. So that’s what got me so far behind, and then I hired the new guys. I’d moved to California when I got remarried, and they basically had to go back through everything, re-file it all.

What I personally think happened, was that they were rushing to get everything filed, and they forgot to put in prize money. Because they put in prize money all the way up to this certain point, then all of a sudden there’s no prize money!

And the accountants said I’d told them not to; that’s what they were saying I said. Why would I tell them not to file, when it’s public knowledge? Everyone knows what we make through the ASP. It was just weird, so it went from tax evasion to tax fraud.

By then, they already had a hard on for me, like: ‘Ooh, Sunny Garcia, bad boy of surfing, World Champion, president of the WPS, we’re gonna make an example of this guy.’ That’s what the district attorney told me: ‘We’re gonna make an example out of you.’ They didn’t want to give me any kind of deal, nothing. I almost had a good laugh, like they’re gonna take someone like Sunny Garcia and send him to prison as an example? Someone like me would be going to prison no matter what, for one thing or another. If they wanna make an example for people to pay taxes, take someone like Pat O’Connell - if he screwed up on something - and throw Pat into prison. Then you’re gonna get all the rest of the guys going: ‘Oh fuck they threw Pat in prison? I better take care of my taxes!’ But they threw Sunny in prison - isn’t that a moot point? (laughs disbelievingly) They’re gonna have to pick someone a lot cleaner cut than me to make an example!

You’ve had some bad luck.

Like I said, karma. You know I’m real passionate, I fight for the things I believe are right, they might not necessarily be right but in my mind they’re worth fighting for. You can sit here and cry about all the bad shit that happens to you in life, and before you know it your life’s done, and all you did was cry about all the things that went wrong. I’ve had a lot of really good things happen in my life.

Fuck, I came into this world broke, I’m gonna leave broke, but I’m gonna leave with a lot of good memories, right?

What’s the plan for Sunny Garcia now, as of August 2012?

Everything’s icing on the cake, right? I’m gonna just live the dream as long as I can. I’m trying to get into coaching, but I just don’t know where to start, you know? I feel like I have a lot to offer to a lot of kids, especially the ones going through a hard time. Anyone can take a kid that’s destined for greatness and say: ‘Oh I coached this kid!’ Those kids are gonna make it no matter what. I wanna coach the kids that are going through a hard time, you know that need that extra work. Those are the ones I wanna try and help, I want to try and keep ‘em on the straight and narrow and get ‘em to where they need to go. They’re the ones that actually need the help.

SOME 12 YEARS AFTER CLAIMING HIS WORLD TITLE, SUNNY STILL DISPLAYS THE STEELY-EYED FOCUS THAT GOT HIM THERE. SPARKES

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Those who can, do, those who can’t, teach!

You have to practice what you preach, right? It’s hard to preach something that you’ve never fucking done! How do you preach winning when you’re not capable of winning? These supposedly great coaches, they’re coaching all the guys that’d be there anyway. That’s why all these guys are coaches; jump in on the guys that are destined to be there. Those guys would make it whether you were there or not.

I had a lot of great coaches, and I don’t think they were so much coaching me as they were guiding me. I was gonna make it no matter what. But I had great advice, good things to pull from. Derek Hynd was a good coach. I fucken’ hated his guts but he had a really good insight to a lot of things. Also, in the early part of my career, I was driven by hate, being mad at the whole world. That drove me. The more mad I was before a heat, the better I was gonna do. And Derek Hynd was the perfect coach (laughs), that guy would just piss me off the whole time! So it worked out pretty good. Ben Aipa was a great coach, he was always really good with numbers; there’s this many waves coming on this peak, and this many waves coming on that peak, guys are getting scored this, you know, really good with information. And the good thing about being coached by him is that he would always give me all of the scenarios, and I’d always take the worst peak, take the worst waves, and try and come out with the best outcome - just because he said I couldn’t make it that way. So I’d go to the one area where he said it wasn’t possible, just to piss him off (laughs). But I got to hang out with guys like Hans Hedemann, guys who were really good with strategy. Mike and Derek Ho, those guys were driven more than anybody I ever competed against. Rabbit was a good coach ... I had a lot of really good people put in my life.

It’s really easy to look at me and think I’m unappreciative. I’ve had a great career, a great life; I appreciate everything. Am I angry about a lot of things? Yeah, but I’m still living, I can still smile, knowing that I did everything I could humanly, possibly do to enjoy my life. The misconception is that a lot of people see me at events ... and I’m not a happy fucker at events! I don’t know anybody that’s a happy fucker at events, if you’re happy at events what the fuck’s wrong with you? I’m there to compete, I put my fucken’ game face on, I go down to the event, I kick, scream, do whatever I can do to win. There’s only one winner at the event, and more times than not, it’s not me. So if you see me at events it’s really easy to judge, like: ‘Oh look at him, he’s a fucken’ dickhead, he’s always pissed.’ But people don’t see me outside the events, when I’m hanging with my family, my friends, I’m going on surf trips, when I’m smiling and stuff. I live a great life, I’m not complaining at all.

Of course Kelly Slater comes off as being the nice guy - fucker wins everything! (laughs hard). What’s he got to be upset about? You can approach me at an event, I’ll sit there, I’ll talk to you and sign shirts and whatever, but a lot of people don’t see that side.

They don’t see Kelly secluded and not wanting to do stuff, they just know him winning and stuff. He’s a great guy, I’ve got nothing bad to say against Kelly but you know, it’s easy to label me as a bad guy, but nobody gives me praise when I’m sitting around signing autographs, or going to hospitals taking kids with cystic fibrosis surfing. It’s just: ‘Oh that guy’s a fucken’ dick.’ I only try to live my life to make myself happy, and I live my life to make my kids happy. x

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