THE NEXT BEST THING TO MICK FANNING
MARCH 20I4 // VOLUME 03 OF 12 // GAVIN BESCHEN A LONG WAY DOWN. FRIEDEN
L I Q U I D P Y R A M I D S AT P I P E . D E F I N I N G M O M E N T S O F A N E P I C H AWA I I A N W I N T E R. P L A N E T D O R I A N . H O W M I C K FA N N I N G B E C A M E A B E T T E R M A N . WA T E R M A N S C H O O L
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Like mountains to a climber, waves will always appeal to that part of our nature that makes us wonder 'maybe I can find a way'. ||
JOLI
ISSUE Nยบ 522 // TRACKSMAG.COM // 071
While some big wave surfers throw themselves blindly over the lip Shane Dorian prefers to contemplate his conquests. ||
KIRK AEDER
w h at ' s d r i v i n g s h a n e d o r i a n - i n t e r v i e w b y l u k e k e n n e dy
S
hane Dorian's ascendancy to the mantle of world's best big wave surfer didn't come about easily. Dorian grew up on the big island of Hawaii with a single 'mom' who struggled to support him and his sister. From a young age Shane realised that if he wanted something he'd have to work for it. As a teenager his daily routine was surf, school, quick surf, work at a restaurant and then homework; before waking up to do it all again. "It was one of those situations where I became an adult at a really young age. I had a car, a job and my own shit going on," reflects Shane. His dream was to move to the North Shore where friends like Ross Williams lived and already had plans to become pro surfers. At 15 Shane had sufficient financial resources and self-confidence to leave home and relocate to the North Shore. This was back when there was no team house or team manager to collect you
from the airport, cook you dinner and deliver a reassuring pre-bed speech. Instead Shane moved into a house with established North Shore chargers Brock Little and Todd Chesser and fended for himself. While Brock and Todd spent their days chasing waves and building major big reps Shane, who was five years their junior, had to finish high school. However, in such an environment it was inevitable that a young Dorian would eventually acquire a taste for waves of consequence – even if his natural inclinations gave him no indication that he would one day become the world's premiere big wave surfer. "I was such a pussy when I arrived on the North Shore," Dorian now concedes. In the expansive interview below Shane Dorian traverses everything from being part of the high-performance Momentum push to abandoning the tour to chase swells, and what it is exactly that drives him to paddle into the most formidable waves on the planet.
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What was the scene on the North Shore like when you moved there as a 15 year old? The only kids who were on the North Shore then were the kids who really wanted it. I wasn't obligated to be there. Now the kids have it in their contract that they have to be there and their sponsors fly them in. I was extremely motivated to be there. There were no real kids out at Pipe and Backdoor in the day. There was just us – like Ross Williams, Jason Magallanes and a few others. That was when Dane and Johnny Boy were running it. Derek and Michael Ho were out there all the time and a whole bunch of local legends. Sometimes I would sit out the back at Backdoor for two or three hours and just catch a wave or two.
"IT WAS A COMING OF AGE THING WHERE WE WERE ALL TRYING TO OUT DO ONE ANOTHER AND PROVE THAT WE WERE CUTTING THE MUSTARD." While Teahupoo plays both beauty and the beast, Dorian drops in for a cameo. ||
When did you get the big wave bug? It happened my first full winter when I was 15. One day Waimea was 15 feet and I had one big board shaped and it was like 7'10". Now that's a huge board for a kid now but back then not so much. I was with Ross Williams and a couple of other kids my age and I didn't even want to paddle out and they were like 'come on let's go'. So I paddled out and sat in the channel while those guys went straight to the peak and just started whipping it. Ross had been surfing Waimea since he was 12 on pretty proper days. Those guys were pretty inspiring to me because they were my age. They were already at a high level but I was sort of playing catch up. But it happened really fast. Every time the swell got big that first year Brock and Todd would drag us out to the outer reefs. I remember the first year we surfed reforms. There was a wave out the front of the house where we lived. It was about 20 feet and perfect out the back and we'd be surfing this wave that was head high out the front – me and Kelly and Ross and a couple of other groms. Eventually Todd and Brock got sick of seeing us surf the reform and said 'next time you're coming out with us'. In addition to the big wave push that was coming from Todd and Brock, there was also a lot of pressure on high performance from the crew that later became known as the Momentum generation. Among our peer group there was a crazy performance thing going on as well. It was cool because we would all post up at Backdoor and Off The Wall when it was on and there would be like a pack of 15 of us… It was a coming of age thing where we were all trying to outdo one another and prove that we were cutting the mustard. Everybody was on the same wavelength with equipment and there was a lot happening with the boards we were riding – they were a lot different from the generation before. Our whole approach was so different from the older guys. Guys before us were like four years older than us. They had that flowy, round house style – doing big slashes and surfing like Pottz. How did your competitive career evolve? As soon as I graduated from high school I moved to San Diego. Todd Chesser was living there in the summers and invited me to go and live with him. That was when they had the Bud pro tour. It was a regional American tour that was really popular. I was doing those events and the next year was the first year they introduced the WQS and I started doing them. I qualified for the 'CT after my first full year on the WQS. Was there a time when competition was the primary focus for you? When I was young, I was really hungry. It was a short window but between the ages of 20-24 I was really fired up and focussed on competition. I actually had my best finish however when I wasn't that focussed on competition, but for a few years I would totally froth on competition but then I became disenchanted I guess … bored with competing.
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POMPERMEYER
“I’VE FLOWN TO MAVERICKS BEFORE AND HAD ONE WEIRD LITTLE VIBE AND WASN’T FEELIN’ IT AND JUST SAT ON THE SHOULDER AND WATCHED IT.” 076 // TRACKSMAG.COM // ISSUE Nº 522
Main: Mavericks is the wave that scares Shane the most. Obviously he has no problem facing his fears. Inset: Flossing the plaque at Jaws. ||
POMPERMEYER
Were there times on tour when you missed hunting bigger surf? I loved surfing big waves but I was so busy being full time with the tour. Back then there were so many events and I would always do the QS and the CT. I was away from home so much. If Mavericks was good or Jaws was good, or the swell was good I couldn't really chase it because I was always so busy. But when I was on the North Shore I loved surfing Waimea or the outer reefs like Himalayas. Was there a kind of epiphany moment for you when you decided you wanted to relinquish your focus on competition and spend more time chasing big waves? I remember seeing Laird's tow wave at Teahupoo in 2000 and I was just baffled by it. At the time I had just lost in a contest in Europe where the waves were shit. Someone showed me the photo of Laird's wave on a computer in the ASP trailer for the contest the day that I lost. I remember going to collect my prize money and asking them 'when was that?' And they were like 'this was yesterday'. I remember that really putting the nail in the coffin for me. Immediately I was thinking, 'I don't want to miss that shit anymore. I'm bored with what I'm doing and I really want to push myself'. I didn't feel like I was surfing my best in competition and I felt like there was a performance level that I wasn't hitting. Guys like Joel and Mick can do their best surfing in a heat but I could only surf at this 75% level and it would really frustrate me. So you really felt like you weren't getting the best from yourself in a pro surfing context? That's right. So I started thinking about a way to get out of competing and stop doing the tour. But it was kind of weird because I didn't really have a precedent. I didn't have anybody to go, 'I want to do what that guy is doing'. Back then it was a big call because anyone who had quit the tour then just vanished into thin air – you were done. Fortunately Billabong were actually really cool. I told them I wanted to chase big waves and work on rad projects with friends that were making films and stuff like that. Is that part of the drive for big waves – to be in a situation where you are getting the most out of yourself? For me there are two main reasons I love to surf. One of them is that it's a sanctuary for me … it's the place I have always gone to in my life when shit was going on. If I was stressed or angry I could always go surfing and get myself straight. The other reason was more of a performance thing. I always wanted to surf my best and learn and get better – that desire to surf at 100 percent of my potential. It's so rare but it always feels so good when you surf at your best. I felt like I wasn't doing that on the tour so there was this empty feeling on the tour … I knew there was something missing. You don't seem to take lightly the decision to chase big waves now. You'll go big but it's not something you do as a kind of crazed hellman… It is so dangerous and I think at this point in my life the most important thing is my family. I love surfing big waves but it's nowhere near as important as my family. For me to be able to justify it I really want to minimise my risk by not doing it too much. If I go out on a big day and get a good wave off the bat then I'm done for the day. I don't try and one up or get a bunch. If I get a life-changing wave – one that's going to be in the memory bank forever then I'm good. So you know not to be greedy? Yeah, that's really what it kind of comes down to. And that helps me justify what I do. I try not to chase every big swell. Is that because it feels like a selfish thing to do? Yeah, it's a selfish thing and it's an ego thing on some level and I don't want to make choices out of ego.
So you are careful to restrain that competitive instinct when you see another surfer take a big wave? I love seeing people performing well; if Mark Healey is out at Cloudbreak having an epic session it really fires me up but it doesn't push me to make choices that I wouldn't make on my own. I try and choose swells and waves based on what's happening in my little bubble not what's happening around me. Sometimes I'm on and sometimes I'm not. If I'm not I will just sit on the shoulder. I've flown to Mavericks before and had one weird little vibe and wasn't feelin' it and just sat on the shoulder and watched it. You mentioned that Mavericks is particularly spooky for you? Yeah, it is. I've had two close friends die there – Mark Foo and Sion (Milosky) – and the wave is just particularly deadly. There is a lot of factors that go into making that wave more dangerous and life threatening than other waves. And also I'm from Hawaii. I don't feel super comfortable in booties, gloves and a thick wetsuit. I feel clumsy and therefore like it's difficult to surf at my 100 percent best. You had one really bad experience there also? I had an extremely bad experience there in 2010 and the first trip I ever surfed Mavericks I had a pretty close call. So I try and not go there very much and when I do, I try and make sure it's like the swell of the year. What about when someone you know well from the big wave surfing world dies. Is that a real jolt to the system and something that gives you a heightened sense of your own mortality? Yeah, it is. 'Cos the majority of the swells people get pounded, scratched up or have gnarly wipeouts, but usually they come up okay. They might get spooked a little bit, or they get held under for two waves, but when someone dies it's kind of jarring. Everything seems like fun and games and then somebody dies and it puts it into perspective how dangerous it really is. It could be the biggest swell of the year or it could be a normal big swell and that's why I try not to chase too many big swells or to get greedy. Ego aside is there still a wave you dream of or do you have some kind of number in mind when it comes to wave height? No, I'm after just pushing myself. I don't have some number in mind. Like, I had the record for the world's biggest paddle wave and in 2013 Shawn Dollar caught a wave at Cortes Bank that is now the world record and I have no sense of, 'Oh now I need to try and get a bigger one'. That means nothing to me at all. It's cool that I had the biggest paddle wave for a while but for me it's more of a feeling I get at the end of the wave. Like, I caught one at Jaws last year and at the end of the wave I just had this insane, euphoric feeling just like my heart was exploding out of my chest – just insane fun. It felt like the ultimate accomplishment. It felt like in order for me to make that wave it was such an intense ride that all the thousands of waves I've ridden over the years and all the hours I've put in the water all came to that climax. And it's so rare that you get that feeling and those are the ones that I remember forever – those super technical ones where you felt like you've really met your performance potential – it's cool you know. What was really technical about that particular wave? Ahh, Turning around and deciding to go. [Chuckles] How is that moment when you decide that you are going? Seeing it and everything that's logical about you and everything in your nature and your instinct is telling you to just look the other way and just paddle right over the thing. And just trying to shut that thinking down and turn around and go is hard.
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The Jaws wave that made tow surfers want to slit their ropes. Suddenly Shane was paddling into things previously considered unrideable without a ski. ||
POMPERMEYER
It's like the ultimate battle with the fight/flight mechanism? Yeah, it is and that's what's cool about it. It's neat when you can manage that feeling and not make a bad decision because your ego made you feel like you're supposed to – because everybody's watching or this could be the new record kind of crap. Instead it's like 'this could actually be the best wave I've ever caught in my life', it's worth me actually putting my head down and giving it a shot. That Jaws wave was definitely one of those moments where I was scared shitless and the wave itself was super technical too. It was giant, there was a steep drop and there was a giant boil in the middle of the face and I almost went over the handlebars. I bottom-turned and there was a giant barrel, and I'm on a thick-ass 10'6" that I'd never ridden before and all the water's sucking up and it spits and there was a lot going on… I caught eight waves that day and that was the one that was redlining. It was like driving a Ferrari and redlining as fast as you can possibly go. All the other waves felt challenging and fun and a little scary but that wave was just straight up fuckin' terrifying. How much extra confidence do you draw from having the inflatable suit? Umm, confidence that I'm coming home safely at the end of the day – a lot. It's easier for me to justify going and chasing these swells knowing that I have something in place that makes me safer than I was in the past. And that translates into pushing my performance level a bit. It's human nature, you feel safer so you push it harder. That wasn't my goal with designing the suit, it was to be safer and not to push harder. I try not to say to myself – 'Okay now I've got the suit I'm going to go huge'… I've never surfed big waves because I get a kick out of risking my life. People think that and for sure there are guys out there who get a kick out of risking their lives, but for me it's more like a performance thing – about stepping up and performing my absolute best and pulling it off. I look at Jaws when there is 50-60 foot faces and I think to myself, 'I could actually surf that'. For me it's about overcoming fear and trying to surf my absolute best in that moment. It has nothing to do with risking my life. I'm cool with having a safety device, having the vest doesn't make me feel any less pure.
"I CAUGHT ONE AT JAWS LAST YEAR AND AT THE END OF THE WAVE I JUST HAD THIS INSANE, EUPHORIC FEELING JUST LIKE MY HEART WAS EXPLODING OUT OF MY CHEST – JUST INSANE FUN." The inflatable suit Shane helped design has helped him and other big wave surfers feel more confident about their chosen path. ||
POMPERMEYER
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While Teahupoo gets most of the attention, Tahiti has other treasures. Shane plunders a secret right after paddling in.||
stacy
Shane's interests in big waves and bow and arrows make it easy to pigeon hole him as a serious guy but spend a little time with him and you discover that most of the time he is hunting laughs.||
KIRK AEDER
Is it really down to about three waves for you now? Yeah, it's like Jaws, Mavericks and Cloudbreak. But Jaws has gotten so crazy lately. I surfed it recently with 60 guys out there and that's hard for me because I know a lot of the guys are out there because they have the inflatable suit I designed on. There are guys that wouldn't want any part of it without it. It's hard to look out and feel like you are part of the reason why it's so crowded but then also I've had five people come up to me and say they would have drowned without it on. Like a couple of guys in tears about it. Pinned to the bottom at Jaws, and there was no way they were coming up unless they had the suit. I guess it's like when the leash came in … it's evolution in the leash and the suit. What separates the big wave surfers from the guys on tour? Obviously the guys who surf best in big waves have a serious technical ability – Ian Walsh, Makua Rothman, Mark Healey, Greg Long and Mark Mathews for example – the name guys. The thing that separates them from the guys on the tour is that they have tremendous psychological strength – they can harness fear and embrace it. I think that surfing big waves; a lot of it is a mental game – like not panicking in gnarly situations and all that kind of stuff. Long story short, the thing that separates the guys on tour from the big wave crew is mostly psychological. What else do you do in your life to give you that sense of being prepared? I'll do a visualisation where say I'm going to Mavericks I'll imagine what it's going to look like on my plane flight over. I'll imagine what the water's going to look like, what it's going to look like over by the cliff. I'll imagine all the boats in the channel, I'll imagine myself out in the lineup and I'll imagine that one wave that is going to give me the opportunity to blow my mind. I'll imagine that wave and what's it's going to look like, what my heart's going to be doing and what my mental state is in the moment. That way I'll feel like I already did it and then so when it happens I'm ready. What about specific physical preparation? For me training like a madman and blasting myself physically every day builds
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mental toughness. Way more than the physical benefits it's mental benefits. I can't believe that people actually surf big waves without training. It gives me so much more confidence and so much more of an edge. I just feel mentally prepared if I've been training like a madman for months and months and months and a big swell comes. So what do you do to blast yourself as you put it? I mainly do cross-fit. It's something different every day and it's extremely intense and straining … you feel flattened after each work out. There are thousands of cross-fit gyms around America and a lot of the workouts are the same. Some of the workouts are named after fallen soldiers and they're called the hero workouts and they're all real fuckin' gnarly. So with the one I did before I came here is called the Murph workout. You run a mile and then you do a 100 pull-ups in a row, no matter how long it takes you and then you do 200 push ups and then you do 300 air squats and then you run another mile for time. That's not your typical workout but one that I'll do a lot. I'll usually do cross-fit four or five times a week and a lot of times I'll do open ocean swimming or I'll do sprints. And when I travel I always take my jump rope and I'll run and do callisthenics and plyometrics. For me I love training, I love physical activity … I thrive on it. How is Hawaii different from the mainland for you? Hawaii is part of America but it's also like another country. When you are in Hawaii, you are so far removed from the rat race that is the typical American society. In Hawaii no one gives a shit about what you drive – I mean they like monster trucks and shit like that – but I love Hawaii because what matters is how you respect people, how you're kind to people, what your values are and not what car you drive or where you go to school or what job you have. Where is your place on the Big Island? I live on 20 acres at 4000 feet, so way up in the mountains. It's a big rainforest with trees that are 60 feet high. Everyone's like mellow, mountain people. I live at 4000 feet but I can be surfing in 20 minutes. It's perfect, just far enough away to feel like you are on another planet.