Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: My name is Raja Barrow. I'm from Indonesia, Sumbawa Lakey Peak. I like big barrels. And you're listening to barrels surf podcast.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: I'll tell you what, summer's upon us, and the cheeky monkey beers are going down beautifully. What do you boys reckon?
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Mate, I'm on the hard ginger beer right now. It's a ripper. Got to love a bit of ginger beer in summer for those hot afternoons. And they're stiff. They taste real good. You can get 10% off if you go into vass in the industrial area. Tell them barreled surf podcast sent you and you'll get 10% off takeaway sales. Get it in you.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Yeah, cheeky monkey.
[00:00:42] Speaker D: G'day, everybody.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: It's bugs here, and you're listening to barreled surf podcast. I like to drink forester wines. They taste fucking good. They're made on Wildwood Road. It's one of the best places in the world, southwest of Western Australia. And if you go online, type in barreled to the coupon in the sales department, you get 25% off. It is a really good deal. Type in barreled and save yourself some hell money. Get some hell wine.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: These days, Hatzy. What about you, t bone?
[00:01:17] Speaker C: Oh, t bone's mate, he's in that good a nick. He just doesn't even need to go to the physio. He's an absolute weapon. But for the rest of us down south physio, go see Trev. He's an absolute surfing specialist. He's been doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things in the world of surfing, traveling all around the globe, because everyone knows you can't froth harder than a Trevor frothensbrown. At down south physio.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: He's on the wazzle. He's on the tools back at Dunsborough. So get down to down south Physio. I don't know about you guys, but I've been absolutely stoked with my sharkeyes wetsuit. Best in the business.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: Yeah, they're pretty sick. So comfy. And they're bringing out a new range. It's a more affordable range, I believe it's going to be direct to consumer online. It's called the Mungrill range.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Oh, the Mungrill, yeah.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: Which could be good in summer when you just want to really cover up from the sun a bit and not be too hot.
[00:02:03] Speaker E: Barrel surf podcast.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Barrel Surf podcast.
[00:02:05] Speaker F: Barreled surf podcast.
[00:02:07] Speaker E: Barrel surf podcast.
[00:02:08] Speaker D: Barreled surf podcast.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Barrel surf podcast.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: Barrel surf podcast. Yeehaw.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Here we go, everybody. You are listening to Barrel Surf podcast Namu here with you in the wilds of Western Australia. And we have a very, very special episode for you today. We have got the surfing Western Australia crew stoked to be bringing these boys and girls to you today. Before we introduce everyone on the panel, to my left, t bone. Hello, mates.
[00:02:46] Speaker G: G'day, Namo.
[00:02:47] Speaker D: Good to be here, budy.
[00:02:49] Speaker G: Pale ale in hand. Another great day in the southwest.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Go the chicken monkey, God's country. All right, introduce our guests to. Your.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: Name'S t Bone, and this is my mate Adzy, over here to the left.
[00:03:02] Speaker D: Oh, good day, adsy.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Yes, good to be here. Very hot run of weather here in the southwest at the moment. Another 38 degree day. Been a few in a row, but we've got a nice veranda just around the corner from the shedquarters in the lovely yelling up valley here. So bit cooler than the shedquarters. Got a nice veranda, so thought we'd come here and. Yeah, we got a guest panel. Take it away, Nama, who we got?
[00:03:27] Speaker B: All right, to Aziz, direct left, we've got smiling Billy James, the surfing Wa commentator extraordinaire. The voice to the stars, the honey tontled indonesian guru, smiling Billy James.
[00:03:44] Speaker D: Pretty good. I like that.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Hello, mate.
[00:03:46] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:46] Speaker E: G'day, guys. Good to be back here. And it's great to have my little mate on the left and my old mate on his left. I can't wait to hear from them.
[00:03:55] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Well, let's introduce Rajo Barrel. Let's hear about it, Billy.
[00:04:02] Speaker E: This little grom, I've known him since he couldn't walk, so he's really young. I remember the first time I ever met him. His dad, Joey Barrel, and rat boy here, we took him surfing at Lakey Peak. So he couldn't quite stand up, he couldn't talk, he couldn't walk, but got him on a surfboard and pushed him into some whitewater. And by the fourth run of the whitewater, he was asleep on the board. So he has grown up surfing Lakey Peak. You probably won't that, but I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life.
[00:04:35] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:35] Speaker E: Little Rajo Barrel. Say hello to everyone, mate.
[00:04:37] Speaker B: Hello, mates.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Hello. My name is Rajo Barrel. I'm from Lakey.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah, mate, how long you been surfing, Roger?
[00:04:44] Speaker A: I've been surfing for all your life. Ten years. Yeah, all my life.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: How old are you now?
[00:04:52] Speaker A: I'm 1414. Yeah.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Heard you're a pretty good barrel rider, mate. Loves the big juice.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: We got some photos which we'll put on the podcast socials later on of you getting in some incredibly thick barrels over in samba. We won't tell them where it is, but yeah.
[00:05:08] Speaker G: So just quickly, Namir, Rajo, it sounds like you actually surfed before you walked.
[00:05:13] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:05:14] Speaker C: Or talked.
[00:05:14] Speaker D: Or talked.
That's the first. Right.
It's pretty cool.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: And also joining us from surfing Western Australia, also commentator to the stars. You know his work. It is Mark Bonger.
[00:05:28] Speaker D: Cliff.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: G'day, mate.
[00:05:29] Speaker D: Hey, good afternoon, guys. Nice to be here. Thank you. Thanks for having us.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us. And before we do proceed with a bit of a chat about.
You guys have had some pretty incredible exploits over the last couple of years in the islands. What are you guys all down here and yelling up for?
[00:05:44] Speaker D: Tar. Small fries. The 19th version. And I brought one of the smallest fries with me. That's what Raz doing here. His first trip to Australia.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:05:51] Speaker D: It's been a great event over the years. Love it. Tars soire, surfing wa for putting it on. Huge effort and it's a really big deal for a lot of kids. It's cool. Sure is.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: It's become one of the biggest, if not the biggest junior surfing event in Australia, if not the world. So 19 times. Good on Terry Tajborough for putting it on and look forward to the next few days. Now, when this comes out, I think we'll be putting this out on day one of the competition. Starts in a couple of days.
[00:06:20] Speaker D: Yes. Starts Thursday the 18th.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Thursday the 18th. Looks like I've got my workout work cut out. Editing in the next couple of days, but looking forward to that.
Let's wind it back a bit. You guys obviously spend a lot of time in Indonesia. Tell us about what's been going on over there, mate.
[00:06:38] Speaker D: Well, for both of us, Billy, and for this little fella, it's his home. It's our second home and it's turned into kind of a six and six. Six months at home. A bit of a stinger. Stinger half. So six months at home for us. Six months in Indonesia. No winters anymore. Winter at home sucks. It's way too expensive. It's way too cold. So we both do indo and it's probably become a seven and five for me these days. I do a little bit more than a six and six, as does Billy, because he's just got his first full time job. Billy. What? Yeah.
[00:07:10] Speaker E: Official.
[00:07:11] Speaker G: It's all grown up on us, Billy.
[00:07:12] Speaker E: I've got a working visa. I've got a tax file number and I'm paying tax in Indonesia. So it's actually legit if any immigration people listening, this is my first ever paid job in Indonesia.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: I don't think you can go back through records and get you retrospectively can.
Let's hope not.
[00:07:34] Speaker E: No, babe, it has been probably the end of COVID was the last time we spoke to you guys.
Mark spent the second year of COVID in Lakeys and all up and down. The first year I was down in West Timor. It's probably the best surfing year of my life. There was just nobody surfing. And I was going to quit surfing when I come back because it wasn't going to get any better. But we haven't seen you since then. I suppose we should kick off when Jack won Margie's because that was a pretty special year for us, wasn't it?
[00:08:08] Speaker D: A couple of years ago now, wasn't it? Yeah.
[00:08:10] Speaker G: That dream came before gland, wasn't it?
[00:08:12] Speaker E: Right before, right.
[00:08:13] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:08:14] Speaker E: So we're super happy with that. And then the WSL packed up and went to Java and Mark and I were lucky enough to work in the judging tower down below there.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: At gland?
[00:08:25] Speaker E: At gland, yep. Just to make sure everything ran. And Mark was calling out the scores to the surfers because there was no crowd, it was only on the Internet. But it was a great, fantastic event. And of course our boy won, which was epic.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: He did.
[00:08:40] Speaker D: The cool thing about that was me and Billy were the first two to know because the judges upstairs were crunching the numbers. Jack gets a wave in the last, like, I don't know, under a minute, 30 seconds, whatever it was.
Had Toledo out there in the water. He's losing, needs a score. Sat there for ages. Waited, waited, waited. Gets the wave. The numbers get crunched. The hooter goes, the event's over. And then the score. Everybody's waiting. The score comes through right in front of Billy's eyes and we're like, wow. Two west Aussies sitting there that knew that our boy had won. And then it was my job to tallyman. It was like, far out. What a moment, mate.
[00:09:19] Speaker E: It was so crank and all the presos were on the beach and we're out in the tower at g land and we had like about half an hour of work to do after the contest finished. So we're probably going to miss the presos. And Justin Magics and Pascal and Perry Hatchet were there. There's a good west Aussie crew. So I thought we'll get the result and then we'll probably miss the know, it looks like Toledo is going to and we'll just have to miss out on the good times. As soon as that score came through, we've just chucked everything in the air. Ran down. By the time Patama, the head judge, had poked his head down the second level to thank us, we're halfway.
Screw the work we got there. Justin's at the preso area. He's got a carton of booze on ice already.
It was so cool.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Just logistics wise, how'd you get out to the tower and back?
[00:10:08] Speaker E: Had a boat or we walked at low power walk, man.
[00:10:13] Speaker D: Power booties on quickie revent. They gave us all a pair of booties. So we walked or we ran it because we're pretty thirsty. Not only that, our boy won. Went back to back.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: Barangi's g land ran in Bintang, left at that point.
[00:10:27] Speaker D: By the time, no, we weren't drinking. Bintang was Corona. It was corona event.
So we would have had six beers before Jack walked off the stage. We're half whipped, but it was a worthy moment in our life for sure. And Bronte got a third.
So it was really cool.
[00:10:44] Speaker G: It was a pretty long. A lot of late days in that comp, if I can recall. But what I could see, and it was well publicized, it looked like one event where all the surface came together and really had a good time. Is that what happened, boys? By looks of it, yeah.
[00:11:01] Speaker E: It was the case, if you remember, that Margie's was the first year of the cut, so things were quite tense. My favorite Surfer ever, owen Wright, got knocked.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Oh, dog.
[00:11:11] Speaker E: And so, you know, it was a bit upsetting like that, and things were still. There were a little bit Tense, and the field got chopped in half.
And what they'd do there, because no one could go back to where they're staying. They'd just go, we're on hold for 2 hours, so you go back to where you're staying, and you come back and we're on hold for another 2 hours, so you couldn't go out and do anything.
And that afternoon where they said, all right, we're off till tomorrow. And you could almost hear the Beer Tops popping. But I was out surfing, and you could hear the duff going, what the hell is that? I might go and check that out. And just as I was thinking of that, tom Carroll and Rozal Tanjung paddled out and everyone else had gone into the Party. I'm like, I'm not going anywhere. So I just stumble across one Wave and sit there and watch Riz and Tom Surf. And then they paddle out, and the sun's going down. So there's no way I'm going anywhere. So I just sat there for like an hour watching those two Legends surf g land. By the time we did get back in there, everyone was rotten, weren't they? But it was a big Stress Reliever because everyone was really tense from that cut. And this was the first time anyone could really get Together, mate. Leading the Charge of the Brazos, weren't they? Sorry, leading the Party Charge was the.
[00:12:29] Speaker D: Brazos, kind of, yeah, a couple of them actually took. When it got discovered that the forecast was pretty crap for the gland event, they got really unlucky. There was a really good Swell just before it, and there was a Banging Swell just after it, but just before it, a big old Swell. But the Swell forecast was no good for g land, basically, so everybody knew there was going to be days off. A few of the boys, when they heard and they looked at and they went, realistically, we're not running for four days. A couple of them went back to Bali, helicopter the Brazos back to Bali and surf too loose because it picks up. They got more swell or more waves or party time, whatever. But it was not a good forecast for gland mate.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: Surfing Wa had a pretty big role in the G land comp.
Is that right?
[00:13:17] Speaker D: Or Justin Majex. Steve McGough, who was.
[00:13:22] Speaker C: Justin Majex is the head of.
[00:13:24] Speaker D: He's our event organizer in surfing Wa. So he does 26 events at home every year. Steve McGough, WSL guy who is basically Justin's role at the WSL level, knows how good Justin is. So he got him up there and Justin was on site for about three weeks helping him set up and do everything. He was his go to man. So Justin was there. Me and Billy were there. Pascal was there as a filmer. Perry Hatchett was part of the water patrol team. A couple of the video guys that were on.
[00:13:53] Speaker E: Nathan Hader.
[00:13:54] Speaker D: Nathan Hader, who basically leads up the production team for their webcast. He was there.
Bronte, Jack. There was a couple of other filmers that were there. There was about ten or eleven West Aussies there and a West Aussie won. It was freaking amazing.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: Sounds about right.
[00:14:12] Speaker E: There was a bit of a special time there, though, because like you say.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: It was straight after Jack Robbo won.
They sort of just kept the WA team rolling in terms of. I mean, Indo is our first cousin anyway, here in West Australia, isn't it? So it made sense to get all you guys to come up there and all the rest of it.
[00:14:31] Speaker E: It's the western island.
[00:14:32] Speaker G: Just remind me. Who did Jack be at Margie's? I can't remember.
[00:14:35] Speaker C: John.
By going to the air. Yeah, it's wicked. Pretty iconic, wasn't it?
[00:14:41] Speaker E: But there was a little bit of a heartbreaking thing happened at G Land.
So Nathan Hader was there and Dutsy was on his way to meet Nathan after the contest. So he was going to get there a day after or a day before it finished and hang out. But as we all know, that Dutsy had a horrible accident in Bali and left us. But it was a bit of a big decision because Jack's known him for most of his life.
Do we go tell him?
Because he's got finals to surf?
[00:15:16] Speaker C: Yeah, right.
[00:15:17] Speaker E: Or do we just. Well, he's going to hear on social media anyway.
[00:15:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:21] Speaker E: So I went and told him and grabbed him and got him at Bobby's camp there and told him.
It makes you really proud when you're amongst all these kids from Wa, because even Jack Thomas and Benny Spence and all these guys see at the QE five thousand s the way he conducted himself, Jack through G land, and dedicated his heat wins and he dedicated his final wins to Dutzie. That was super cool. And we had a paddle out for him, didn't we?
[00:15:47] Speaker D: Ten or eleven of us all got together and stood on the point and had a moment. All paddled out, did the ring, did all that. And Jack and Perry and a few of them paddled out and surf ways and a couple of us came in. But we had that moment, a bit of respect for Dutsy. And there was a band of West Aussies there. So it's like, let's get together. There was a pole of us. It was pretty cool.
[00:16:06] Speaker C: Dutchie was just like a ding repair board.
[00:16:11] Speaker D: Repair a boy. Yeah. He spent a lot of time at G Land. All the staff knew him, you know what I mean? The staff at the camps. And he was a regular when he did his Indo visits. That's where he went, man. And he knew that way pretty well. And there was a lot of respect for Dutchie there amongst the Indos. So it wasn't just us, it was his second hood. Yeah. Cool.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: Fair enough.
[00:16:32] Speaker E: Yeah, it was super cool.
[00:16:34] Speaker C: And then obviously, with the new set up with all these regional comps, the way the challenger series all set up now, it's given a bit of street cred to some of these.
What are the comps in Neas and Crewey and stuff like that. So no doubt you guys have. Because for those that don't know, I'm sure they do. But you guys are the beach commentary team for the Margie's pro. You probably were doing the same thing at G Land from the sounds of it, as well as maybe helping with the judging. And no doubt you've been roped into all these challenger series sort of stuff in Indo. Is that right, mate?
[00:17:18] Speaker E: Roped in. I couldn't put my hand up fast enough. It's that much fun.
[00:17:21] Speaker D: And then they're not actually the challenger series doesn't come to Indonesia. I don't know why.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Sorry, the qualifier.
[00:17:26] Speaker D: But they're the 5000 events, so they're the next biggest. So the three tier thing is CT Challenger and then 5000. So we do a bunch of 5000 through Indonesia and sometimes they dual sanction them. Like Nias dual sanction. Which means it's not just the asian region. Japan, Indonesia, Philippines and your other indonesian countries. They'll invite Australia, New Zealand when they do that. My God. Like Neos this year you're watching a 5000 and you're watching the afternoon surf sessions and you go, these have got to be the hardest 5000 in the world because they freaking are. When you put the Aussies and Japanese and the Indos and all the best of the other nations, it's bullshit. Basically. The surfing that goes on is ridiculous.
[00:18:13] Speaker G: Which Aussies caught your eyes over the last couple of years at the QS 5000?
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Well, just quickly. Sorry, Tim. While you're on the Neos one, we had a pretty good result from a local west australian surfer, didn't we, Jack Thomas?
[00:18:26] Speaker D: Yeah, Jack's been doing the rounds for a little while and being a big strapping lad and pretty much his real weapon is his backhand. And he gets to Nias and he's had some so so results over the years and him and Benny Spencer have been a bit of a team coming to Indonesia for a while doing our events. And then he got the waves he wanted on his backhand in these know, little Gundru Bay waves and got some confidence through his heats and we were in his ear going, man, you just keep doing that. Trust us. And he did. And he got a third result and he put out Jarvis. I think maybe even Jord. Was he the Jarvis or happened at Nias? It was apart from Rio. The goofies kind of took line on us, really. But apart from Rio, Rio wider taking.
[00:19:13] Speaker C: Coaching advice from the great Anton, Duchy, king of the point, goofy footer from.
[00:19:18] Speaker D: Nias, kind of Anton's the lady came and had a chat with us. He's a full warrior as far as big wave guys go. On their back end. He's the man. He's the Lord at Neas. Anton dark. Yes.
[00:19:30] Speaker E: I'll tell you some really good thing about those Qs. Five thousand s is guys like Toro Wantanabi.
He's what must be 2021. And you get kids like this who are 14 and they're surfing against him. So it's such a good experience and.
[00:19:46] Speaker D: Learning tool for Rajo. And ask Raja, because he came to Nias, if there's a 14 year old, he'd never been there before. What were your impressions of Nias? The surf contest? Ra impression. What did you like?
[00:20:00] Speaker A: I like about the wave. And then a lot of people from different countries surf so good. I can take a little bit learn, maybe a lot of learn.
[00:20:12] Speaker D: Who is your favorite cookie cook?
[00:20:13] Speaker A: My goofy footer?
Jarvis.
Only Jarvis.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Jarvis.
[00:20:23] Speaker E: L. Yes.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Former world junior champion.
[00:20:27] Speaker E: Yeah, mate, he has really caught our eye. 2022.
That's another good thing about this 5000 is these kids you've never heard of. Kind of heard of him. And then we see him in the flesh. Is incredible. But Winter Vincent this year, never heard of that guy before, but holy sweet chocolate Jesus. Winter Vincent.
[00:20:46] Speaker D: Yeah, right.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: There you go.
Addsy and I were lucky enough to do some interviews down on the stairs at the Maggie's comp this year. Somehow blagged our way into the media area and we had a bit of a chat with Jarvis and his mum, didn't we? You were sort of chatting Jarvis's mum up a bit.
[00:21:07] Speaker D: He has got a microphone.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: All right. So, Rajo, sorry, mate. Go ahead. You're asking about the.
[00:21:18] Speaker G: Okay.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: You might have even answered it maybe, yeah.
[00:21:22] Speaker G: Stand out. Stand out.
[00:21:25] Speaker D: Apart from.
[00:21:27] Speaker G: Actually, no Ben Knight, obviously. Nias and crew are two different ways. We'll start off with Nias, who are some of the surfers that really stood out for you, Mark?
[00:21:37] Speaker D: Well, obviously, Tully Wiley backhander, made the final. Really strong up against Rio. He was leading the charge. Big, strong, heavy, goofy footer from Torquay. Surf's only winky and bells. And as soon as he got to Nios, you could see, you could see. He just applied that with no wetsuit.
He was really good, Winter Vincent. Every free surf, he was getting waves he wanted. And amongst 80 crew that were all high powered, that name. There's something about him, because Billy, in a crowded lineups, even at Crewey, he gets waves, he destroys waves. He's off an injury, so nobody's really heard of him before, but Winter Vincent, huge standout.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: How old's winter?
[00:22:18] Speaker D: 1818 out of manly.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: He's got to be some confidence there to take waves off. A whole bunch of professionals like that. So good on him.
[00:22:23] Speaker D: It's like he didn't. He's a big dude and when he paddled, people just backed off. And for some reason he got so many good waves and he does. He's a wave magnet. He's really got a good, solid competition act, Billy. Good touch of the smarts and the skill set to match.
Remember that name, Winter Vincent Siblick.
[00:22:42] Speaker E: As know some world class surfers there. You get some older guys there. And was it Billy Stedman was there as know you got those guys to compete against and that they weren't out of their league. That's for, you know, Jackie Thomas and Benny Spence and all those wa boys. They're not that far out of the league from those two elite surfers. It's really cool to see. Really love it. And another thing I kind of put to bed was because it's Asia and Australia and New Zealand is the know sitting in the front bar and it's, ah, if a japanese surfer come up against a couple of Aussies, they'd absolutely smoke them. Well, mate, that is not happening. The japanese kids, I tell you what, Manojo Yahagi is an absolute weapon. And they're precise, they're methodical, they're killers. And watch out for a little while, especially the women were saying, aren't we, that they're coming?
[00:23:41] Speaker G: I got a question for Rajo. I mean, obviously Rio. Wado won Neos.
[00:23:45] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:47] Speaker G: Apart from Rio, who's your favorite indonesian surfer? Anyone you looked up to as you were surfing Lakey Peak?
[00:24:01] Speaker A: Bronson Maddies. That's one of my favorite surfer from Indonesia.
[00:24:06] Speaker G: Who's that, mate?
[00:24:07] Speaker D: Sorry.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: Bronson Maddie.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Now, there was a film about him a couple of years ago, wasn't there? I think Binzi was involved. You guys were probably involved, too.
[00:24:18] Speaker D: We grew up with Bronson and so did Rajo. Bronson's only 18 or 19 now. Lives with Rizal in Bali.
Can do everything at ten to 14. He was an amazing young grom who the world caught up with eventually. But he was doing crazy stuff. Blanky peak. Bit of a breeding ground for hotties. There's a lot of talent that comes out of there that will never be identified because they can't travel, no money, whatever. Bronson got identified early.
Red Bull jumped on board. Hurley jumped on board for a little while. Rizal took him under his wing. And he lives in Bali with Rizal and his son Varun. But for sure, that's a good call, Bronson. Anyone else? Ra?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Yep. He's from Bali. Made Balon.
He's such a good surfer from Bali. He's my friend. He come here with me with my friend's family. Yeah, he's such a good surfer.
[00:25:13] Speaker G: So this is your first time in Australia, right?
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Yes, it's my first time.
[00:25:17] Speaker G: How are you finding wearing a wetsuit? I heard you had fun trying to.
[00:25:20] Speaker C: Get a wetsuit on.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: It's very hard.
So hard to take it off.
[00:25:27] Speaker G: No rash yet.
[00:25:28] Speaker D: No rash around the balls on my neck.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: You might have to train with a wetsuit back at home to get used to it.
[00:25:35] Speaker C: You need to get in a sharkeye's wetsuit, mate. You don't get any rash in them. They're the best ones going rash in.
[00:25:40] Speaker D: The shark eyes wetsuit.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Nice little sponsor plug there from Adsi. Well done.
Who else you got, mate? Maybe give me one more. Who are some of the girls that are going really well in the indonesian islands?
[00:25:53] Speaker A: In Indonesia?
Suri. Jabrik.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Hannah Suri.
She's going pretty good.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: Who's the next indonesian guy that's going to qualify for the tour, do you reckon? Rajo.
[00:26:08] Speaker D: Rajo.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Rajo.
Love it, love it.
[00:26:16] Speaker D: Wow. There's a deep pool. As we've known. Indonesia has been knocking on the door for a long time. Rio's opened the door.
Geez. For me, Rio has been a standout for a long time and he dedicated himself.
There's a big difference between what Rio does and everyday Indo guys do. They all rip. He dedicated himself to training in between Surf sessions, going to gyms. His mum videoed every surf session he did. He was been super motivated for a long, long time. And all the hard work over a long time he's turned himself into a pro. It is no surprise to me and Billy and other people in Indo that Rio wider has made it because he made himself make it. He knew where he wanted to go and he knew how to get there. And he did what it took to get there and he made the cut and he's still there. Watch this space. He's a focused human being.
[00:27:09] Speaker E: And his impact on indonesian surfing, I think let's fast forward 20 years. It really can't be overstated because you look at our good mates like Garut and bowl and all the lads. So they're in Bali, they're getting a good wage. They can get any wave they want, pretty much get any chick they want.
Let's do that. Or go surf two foot onshore, manly and try and qualify.
[00:27:35] Speaker D: So back to your question, there are other people on the horizon, but there's a lot of them. But who steps into Rio's commitment is a big thing because they're all really good. But to train hard and to go to events and put wetsuits on and do all that is so left of center, it takes a huge life commitment. And so I can't put one name at you because there's a lot of them. It's who does that and who follows in Rio's shadow will be the next one. So no names right now, but there's a big pool of them.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Yeah, massive pool. I mean, every time I go to Indonesia, you're just pretty much stunned by the level of surfing.
[00:28:14] Speaker E: Like Mark said, he's shown the way for the last 20 years or so. The way was to go a few beers and be a rock star in Bali. He didn't do that. He didn't follow anyone's path. He's just like, no, I'm going to train. And I think a couple of years ago Mark interviewed him. He goes, so what's your goals for the next couple of years? He goes, I want to be on tour, want to be a world champ and I want to be in the Olympic gold. Yeah, he's achieved already.
[00:28:39] Speaker D: I want to win a gold medal, want to be world champ. And first of all, I want to be on the CT. I want to be world champ and to win a gold medal straight up.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: And you're just sitting there like, yeah, right.
[00:28:48] Speaker E: Yeah, right. And you did one of them already.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Yeah, done one of them. Well, I know what you're saying, billy, like your mates bowl and those other guys that you mentioned.
Why wouldn't you want to get a good income, get any wave you want in Bali?
[00:29:02] Speaker B: Get all that.
[00:29:04] Speaker C: Have a chrome tailpipe on your and, you know, have all the cool stuff. Why would you go surf two foot manly? Because I know me, T bone and Namu work our asses off all year round just to try to get two weeks over there to not get any wave. We want just to get some of the like. It's pretty understandable why the indos wouldn't want to have that.
[00:29:25] Speaker E: Yeah, but now kids like Rajo can see that and they're like, well, actually that's more appealing than like he really has. And I'm going to put little Marte balloon out there. Balloon. Who's here competing at small fries? He's the most impressive junior I've seen since Rio.
[00:29:45] Speaker D: Okay, there's another name I'll put out there. And I'm sure you'll agree, Westonhurst. All right. Big, strapping lad. He's exactly one year older than Ra.
My good mate, Troy Hurst, his dad, he's right in the surf industry. He's a board builder and that, but his son, Weston, and you grew up with him. How good is Weston?
[00:30:07] Speaker A: He's pretty good.
So good.
And then he do pretty good compete.
Such a nice guy.
Yeah, he won.
Yeah. He's such a charger.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: Such a charger.
Hey, Raj, if you made the world tour, what would be the three waves that you'd really want to surf on the tour?
[00:30:36] Speaker A: On the tour?
[00:30:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: On a surf pipeline.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:42] Speaker G: Big barreling. Less for the sounds of it.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: What about cloudbreak, g land?
[00:30:46] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: Where is that cloudbreak in Fiji? Looks pretty good. Looks really good. You love those big barrels, mate.
[00:30:52] Speaker C: You love it.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: I need more.
[00:30:54] Speaker E: Raja's favorite wave at his favorite, but the one he dominates in is Lakey Pipe.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: That's my homebreak. I always shift that wave all the time when I'm at home. Yeah, I think that's the most favorite wave I ever had.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: Less crowded than the maybe. Like, I like pipe, too.
Good.
[00:31:17] Speaker E: We can't forget Katutagus either, can we?
[00:31:20] Speaker D: He's an agus. He's already doing the challenger, Keon Martin. There's a few guys knocking on the door, but let's get back to pipe. Lakey, pipe. This little fellow, guys, he gets so many barrels every day.
Takes something, an exceptionally good barrel before he gets a little bit excited. That was all right. In fact, it's that easy at Lakey. Pipe. He goes, switch. He'll take off behind it. Pig dog, straight into these things, get these amazing long little drainers, and flick off. And I'm sitting in the restaurant, fat Mars, watching, and there's a table load of crew over there watching.
How's that look? How's that tube? How's that tube? I'm like, you guys do know that guy's a goofy, like, no, no. That guy that just caught that wave. I said, yeah, he's actually a goofy. No. And I said, hang on. Watch this other way. And then you'll get another one and go goofy. And they're like, oh, my God.
[00:32:13] Speaker E: Getting bored now. Rajo, I've got a question. Is there a difference between a tube and a barrel?
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Yeah, for me, it is. Barrel is when you do stand up barrels. Tube is when you do, like, shampoo. When you're sitting down on the board.
[00:32:32] Speaker G: That'S a tube or a barrel.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: That's a tube.
[00:32:35] Speaker C: I don't think I've ever had a.
[00:32:36] Speaker D: Barrel in my life.
We had this conversation at supersuck one day. Little fella's got this amazing long tube in front of my eyes at supersuck while I was still putting my leg rope on and paddling out. And he gets his thing at night. I'm like, ra, did you get any good barrels today? He's like, nah, not really. I said, what about that first thing I saw when I was still putting on the beats? That was like 7 seconds. He goes, that wasn't a barrel, it was a tube.
Like, enlighten me. He's gone. A tube is when you crouch down and you've got to get small and you got to weave. And he goes, a barrel is when you stand there and you put your hands up.
So now we all know that.
[00:33:17] Speaker C: I remember that famous saying in australian surf culture, that burly barrels and Kira Tubes. Sure you've heard that one before.
[00:33:25] Speaker D: Right on.
[00:33:26] Speaker C: I don't know, but, yeah, I don't know what the reasoning behind that was. I just remember reading it a few times back in the day in the magazines. But, yeah, sounds like Rajo's cleared it up for us.
[00:33:39] Speaker G: So, Rajo, you've come over for the Taj small fries. Before I ask you about the small. Like, Taj, have you done much competing, like, in Indonesia?
[00:33:48] Speaker A: Yes, I've been doing grom search, grom patrol, some like, Koreas. Like junior pro. Yeah, it's pretty fun. Yeah. Lucky boat riders.
[00:34:03] Speaker G: Nice, mate, nice. And obviously first time here. You've been getting some waves since you've been here.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: I just come back from tree bird. The wave was pretty fun.
[00:34:15] Speaker C: Bit average, wasn't it, mate? Bit short, was it really?
[00:34:19] Speaker F: Barrels or any tubes?
[00:34:20] Speaker A: I get tubes.
[00:34:24] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:34:24] Speaker C: Classic, mate. Enter the chat one Justin Magix, the big dog from surf and wa. Welcome back to Barrel Surf podcast. How are you, mate?
[00:34:32] Speaker F: Well, thanks for coming to us, boys.
This is way better than sweating it up in the shed.
[00:34:38] Speaker C: I know. Yeah, it was definitely pretty sweaty in there today.
Still sweating it, but not as bad. Yeah, for sure, mate. Back in town. Well, you're in town every three weeks for one comp or another, but this is definitely one of the big ones for summer, isn't it? Give us a lowdown.
[00:34:54] Speaker F: Yeah, it doesn't get any bigger than this. The 19th Taj's small fries is not far from kicking off. And, yeah, it is truly one of Australia's biggest and best grommet events. It's just one of five that's rated as a 10,000 event this year and the kids are coming in droves. Whether it's Indonesia, the east coast, they're all here to be part of it.
[00:35:18] Speaker C: What sort of money does the winner take away? Is there money?
[00:35:20] Speaker F: No money but 10,000 rating points. So surfing Australia has implemented a national ranking system and, yeah, it's a really cool thing. I was a bit skeptical a few years ago but, yeah, to see Taj recognized as one of the best junior events in the country.
[00:35:38] Speaker D: Sick.
[00:35:39] Speaker F: Yeah, there's a fair bit on the line and no prize money just yet. A swag of prizes. We've got a whole van full of amazing stuff and, yeah, I think to put yourself on the honor roll of prestigious winners that have been here in the past. Yeah, I think that's enough to take home, mate.
[00:35:56] Speaker C: It's a pretty big van down there. The learn to surf wa van. Lucky it's not learn to drive van. It's a few dents in the back of that thing.
[00:36:02] Speaker D: Well, that's. Jerry.
[00:36:08] Speaker C: What'S the 10,000 points go towards? Like give us a lowdown on that whole junior system. I don't know anything about it.
[00:36:15] Speaker F: Yeah, it's only been in play for a few years, but essentially there's a national rankings. There's probably 50 plus events around the country that have ranking points.
But at the end of the day, this is like a day by day sort of rolling seating for the best junior surfers in the country. Surfing Australia looks at this quite heavily and they actually pick members of the Irigangi's junior team to go away to the world. So you can either win an Aussie title, you can be a wild card, or you can be on top of the junior rankings at the end of the year. So, yeah, it's a pretty cool pathway and I think all junior or competitive surfers want to know where they sit. Not only in your local board rider events or state events, but now there's a way to measure yourself nationally against the best juniors in the country.
[00:37:07] Speaker G: That is awesome. So 19th year this year, so how many years you've been a part of the small fries? It sounds like there's been a lot of work to be elevated into the 10,000. So that's a great accomplishment and a lot of hard work, I guess by all the team.
[00:37:22] Speaker F: Yeah, 100%.
We thought the event had ticked all the boxes. World class waves, an international surfing icon. Boys, girls, divisions from under twelve through to under 18. So we've been lobbying with surfing Australia for quite some time last year, it was a six and a half thousand, so sort of middle of the road. But this year we sort of put our foot down a little bit and said, come on, guys, we've been doing this for nearly two decades, and I think it finally has the attention and the recognition that it deserves. So we're stoked, man.
[00:37:53] Speaker D: The first couple of years it started judo. I don't know. Were you with the scene, running it then?
[00:37:58] Speaker F: I've been at every single one.
[00:37:59] Speaker D: Well, there you go. And you'll remember, like, tarz was still on tour. Absolute rock star. He was a freaking lord, right? And Billabong used to send over a bus. They'd drive a bus over from the east coast, Billabong, right across the side. You could go in it and check it out. It was like a rock star's home. There was couches and bar and there was like a.
Was like. It was like what you'd expect out of Hollywood, right? So they'd drive that know, and the presence on the beach and to start with that, and Tarz come down, who was still on tour winning events and all the rest of it was know. It grabbed everyone's attention. Not just grommets, mum and dads, us just what, just landed in WA. What is this junior thing? And here's Tarz coming down. And all he did all day was sign posters. We barely got him on the mic because he was too busy doing other rock star stuff. But it was huge and says, testament to the people, judo that have gone through this. As in a Ryan Cullinan, a Jack Freestone. Jacob Wilcox won. Jacob Wilcox. Jack Robinson, Bronte Flick.
There's so many names. Who else have Maddie banting?
[00:39:09] Speaker F: There's the one I always pull out.
[00:39:10] Speaker D: There's so many that have come and beat.
[00:39:12] Speaker C: Robbo level winner Josh cat. Jack Robbo won three in a row.
[00:39:16] Speaker F: Josh Catlin. Finn Cox won two. We've got an honor roll of past winners sort of in the blue ribbon divisions, but it is a serious rite of passage for young australian surfers. And to do the trip over the nullabore for the east coasters or jump on a plane like Rajo's done and come down and compete in WA for the first time, there's something really cool, and Taj's name still holds a lot of currency. And we just love this event. So 2006 it started and it's been going ever since, so it's pretty crazy, epic.
[00:39:48] Speaker G: So is there more competitors in the event this year?
[00:39:52] Speaker D: Justin.
[00:39:53] Speaker F: So we've expanded the event to four days. And we've got 178 competitors across eight divisions.
[00:39:59] Speaker E: 178.
[00:39:59] Speaker G: And what has it been previous years?
[00:40:02] Speaker F: So each year we set new records. Last year was 130 ish in the 130s. But adding an extra day, obviously having the 10,000 rating points, it just being as big as it gets.
[00:40:17] Speaker E: So no early knockoffs in, boss?
[00:40:20] Speaker F: We've got 113 heats to do in four days, boys. So do the math. It's about 28 heats a day to get through.
[00:40:28] Speaker D: That's nothing easy.
We got that.
[00:40:32] Speaker G: Give me a comparison to a CT. How many heats over a CT?
[00:40:38] Speaker F: Not that many.
[00:40:39] Speaker G: Not that many.
[00:40:40] Speaker D: About 51 heats in a CT. And men's, a men's side of the drawer. It's not that many. This is huge. It's double that in about a third, a quarter of the time. Third of the time?
[00:40:50] Speaker F: Yeah. So it's hard. So the process to get into the event, we open it online, there's a waitlist and then people are pretty much seeded off their national rankings. So you got to be, for the under 16 boys, our biggest division, you got to be in the top 48 essentially on the waitlist.
[00:41:07] Speaker C: You can't even just go in. Even if you're just a yelling up local, you can't even roll in.
[00:41:12] Speaker F: We're doing our very best to get as many West Aussies in. But yeah, there's a process and procedure and it's pretty cutthroat. But the good thing about it is, like other events, like the yelling up shred Fest, which is a 5000 rated event nationally, it gives kids a proper pathway to get into the small fries one day. So whether it's the state titles or local events, yeah, it's crazy. But Taj's is one of five events on this ranking. So it's a big boy and Taj is stoked about it.
[00:41:42] Speaker G: Sick.
[00:41:42] Speaker C: How many rupees did Rajo have to grease bunga to get him into the comp?
[00:41:49] Speaker D: I just got to get an outline and put a huge bunga sticker on his board because I'm basically one of his sponsors.
Rajo's dad changed the subject. Rajo's dad was the very first beach marshal at the task. Small fries. Wow. Probably about three or four or five years in a row. And it was so hectic his first year because it was that much of a cool event that everybody wanted some of the merch. There was hats and t shirts. Every dad was coming up and hassling Joey. Just give me one of them. And he's come help because everybody's trying to take the t shirts and my son's in it. Just give me a hat. It was super hard for Joey then because he was the first guy. He was young like you, probably only about 18, and he's the guy handing out the stuff. But everybody wanted some stuff and no one wanted to pay for it. Yeah.
[00:42:41] Speaker C: Trying to deal with a bunch of six foot two Aussie dads who are all fired up going, standing over him.
Johnny Barrel was about four foot eight at the time, wasn't he? He's not a big dude. I remember him kicking around the Margie's comps with. I think you guys had him beach commentating a little bit on some of the Margie's comps when it was a qs.
[00:42:59] Speaker D: He did. But his role at those events was he had the best job. He got put in the surfers area and he had to give out the drinks. He stood behind a table like this and the proservers were sitting in front of him. Hi, Joey. Can I have a Coke? All right. And he ate a pretty good job, but he was a cool dude.
Your name's not Joey Barrel. Yeah.
[00:43:18] Speaker C: You need a name like Joey Barrel to get those gigs.
[00:43:20] Speaker F: One really cool thing I remember about Joey Barrel at the small fries was we used to do the expression session. Remember that? And he would hang out all day, just be looking at waves, handing out rashes, t shirts. And I think he actually won the expression session a couple of times.
[00:43:34] Speaker D: He dropped it on Tarz.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: He did.
[00:43:37] Speaker D: He dropped it out of anyone in the waters and he dropped it on him.
[00:43:41] Speaker G: Like father, like son. Are you going to drop in on Taj, Raj?
[00:43:45] Speaker A: I might, maybe. Let's see what's going on.
[00:43:53] Speaker F: Has Taj ever come up to Lakey Peak?
[00:43:56] Speaker D: Yeah, you might have been.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: I might. Didn't born yet.
I might forget because so young that time.
[00:44:06] Speaker D: You'll just have to drop in on him here, mate.
[00:44:10] Speaker C: I see you got a bit of a scratch up your arm there, mate. Is that a bit of tiger tracks from your local break or what's that one? Fresh one?
[00:44:20] Speaker A: This from my local break, Lakey pipe.
[00:44:22] Speaker C: Oh, yes.
[00:44:22] Speaker A: Sweet surfing when slow tide.
[00:44:25] Speaker C: You've made. One of my favorite questions to all our guests is worst wipeout. That looks like just a mere flesh wound for you there. Give us the worst wipeout story you've had so far.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: My worst wipeout.
[00:44:42] Speaker G: He's had a few, but looks like.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I get a few on my body.
That's the worst one.
My lack.
[00:44:50] Speaker C: That was a big chunky scar. He's just showing us on his quad. Gee, did Bonga stitch that up or something? Looks a bit rough.
[00:44:57] Speaker D: I probably would have done a better job. The local clinic did that job. It got infected and they had to reopen trauma. That's just a standard little village fin shop or what? Tell us what happened.
[00:45:11] Speaker A: Fin shop?
[00:45:12] Speaker C: All right.
[00:45:13] Speaker A: Yeah. From the crazy girls.
[00:45:18] Speaker C: Who are the crazy girls?
[00:45:19] Speaker A: I don't know where she from, but it was crazy.
[00:45:23] Speaker C: That's the worst wipeout ever so far. You got to be careful of the fin chops. Yes, for sure.
[00:45:29] Speaker D: Crazy girls.
[00:45:30] Speaker G: So what I did want to ask why you guys are here. I know back in December, I think we had the Aussie junior titles over in Victoria, if I remember correctly. Justin and I know Wa came second overall and we had a lot of surfers do really well in each of the divisions. Did you go over. You went over with that, mate.
[00:45:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:52] Speaker F: So that's probably one of the great parts of my role. I get to travel a lot and I get to go to the Aussie junior titles in particular. And that is just the absolute bit like this Taja small fries event. You just get to see the best country's best talent, and for WA to beat either New South Wales or Queensland, it's pretty much like winning a gold medal for Wa. So we finished second.
Local talent maverick Wilson won the under 16. Boys, is that a nail biter on the buzer beater? Like on the beach waiting for the scores to drop? I just almost got goosebumps just thinking about the moment there, because it is so rare in surfing that you see that buzer beater moment. So he was in third priority, needed an 85 or something and just tagged the absolute bejesus out of this little running Woolamai ride. And his backhand is really impressive. And to have the team of 30 plus grommets down on the beach waiting for like five minutes, and the score finally dropped. He got a nine five, I think, from memory and just erupted. Cheered him up. Willow Hardy, the defending under 18 girls champion, she won the under 18 girls junior title, and I think her star is on a very sharp and steep trajectory to professional surfing, for sure. And we won a couple of schools titles.
Yeah, to finish second was really cool, but it was cold, it was wet, it was windy.
[00:47:16] Speaker G: So I think pretty hardcore.
[00:47:17] Speaker F: I think those conditions sort of favored the west Aussies. So Queensland won. We were second, new South Wales third, vico fourth in their home soil. And, yeah, there's always a battle for the wooden spoon between South Aussie and Tassie, but they're a young surfing sort of state and it's pretty cold and pretty miserable in some of those states at. Yeah. But WA did really well and great team spirit this year.
[00:47:41] Speaker G: We got some bloody good junior talent coming out of WA to come second, you know, Mav and Willow and I'm sure young Cruisey. I think it was a couple of.
[00:47:52] Speaker D: Others that I. Ruby Berry, Macklin Flyn.
[00:47:54] Speaker G: Macklin Flyn. Such a healthy bunch of young west australian surfers.
[00:47:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:47:59] Speaker F: So two individual winners, two school titles, and then a bunch of finalists. So, yeah, crews really performed. The under fourteen s was super impressive as well.
Yeah, Macklin Flyn got second in the under 18, boys. So this little southwest corner, don't deny it the quality of the waves, but the quality of the talent coming through the ranks is super impressive.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: Who are some of the imports, shall we say these in states? Kids that are going to sort of go for the win this weekend.
[00:48:28] Speaker F: My goodness, there is so many. So Miller Brown is the top rated under 18 girl in the country right now. She's coming. Ocean Lancaster is another one. There is so many names. I sort of don't know them because. Yeah, Maxi McGillbray has been over here and I'm pretty sure got sponsored by Billabong on his maiden trip over west.
Oh, my goodness. If you look through, I really don't know them all, but I'd say we'd have probably 60 east coasters really coming over. Wow. Yeah. So there is a lot and 10,000 points and the first 10,000 of the year, if it can set you up in a good way to get into all the other highly rated events throughout the year.
[00:49:12] Speaker B: What are the other 10,000 events?
[00:49:15] Speaker F: Ockies, the Philip Island Junior pro. There's one up on the sunny coast and the skull candy at Lennox and small fries are the 510 thousand, of course.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: Okay. We've just had the world junior champs over at Oceanside in California. To catch much of that.
[00:49:31] Speaker F: I did. I tuned in. The time difference was a little bit od, but was it? Yeah. Not ideal, but it looked sort of. Okay. A little bit cold, but yes.
[00:49:44] Speaker G: Was it oceanside or something?
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Oceanside pier. Yeah, it's sort of, I guess, between San Diego and trestles, isn't it?
[00:49:51] Speaker G: Any surprises? Who took that out?
[00:49:53] Speaker B: I don't think Sierra Kerr winning was a surprise.
[00:49:55] Speaker F: No, definitely not.
[00:49:58] Speaker G: He did really well on the challenger.
[00:50:00] Speaker D: Right. He was pretty knocking on the door. Yeah, he's been around for a little while. He's one of those that posse out of the 2% club that are all doing the rounds and they seem to be making a bit of a charge.
[00:50:12] Speaker B: Isn't that funny how all the Aussie boys and girls get behind each other in the Challenger series and then all of a sudden the american 2% club just do the same thing?
[00:50:23] Speaker D: Well, I think that Brazos started it, to be honest.
[00:50:26] Speaker B: The Brazilians probably saying the same thing about the Australians, so.
[00:50:28] Speaker D: Yeah, well, yeah, it's just a recycled thing that if it's working, go with it. Why not? You can do better as a team than you can individually. You've got mates and you drag each other up, so why not? If it works, do it. Yeah.
[00:50:42] Speaker B: That's one thing that I noticed at that time that I was down at one of the Bullworth state titles is the junior groms from WA were just so supportive of each other, cheering each other up and high fiving and, yeah, it's good to see that camaraderie.
[00:50:56] Speaker D: Well, and same, like, know, like we're over here in the west side and we're miles away from any other state, right? So we do our own thing. And when you go away and you're doing Aussie titles and blah blah blah events, it's kind of us against the rest. Because that's kind of what it is, isn't it? Justin, we're stuck over here. We got barely any of the big surf companies or any of the real media hype, but it's the west against the rest.
[00:51:21] Speaker F: The west is best. But you're so, you know, like between New South Wales, Queensland and I guess, Vico, most of those same kids are traveling up and down the coast competing in the same events. But over here in lonely Wa, yeah, we go over or the kids come over and we get exposed to this new level. But it was just so exciting to see the WA surfers really step up to the plate over there. And I'm sure they're going to fly the flag on home soil this next four days when small fries kicks off.
[00:51:50] Speaker E: We are on the right track, I reckon, because those QS 5000, all the West Aussie kids that were there, they all hold themselves in such good stature and you never hear anyone from around the world like, oh, that guy from west australian or that girl from west, they're all like, yeah, great people, great people.
[00:52:10] Speaker D: TB's legacy, Jake Patterson's legacy.
[00:52:14] Speaker E: I think it's Mark Lane and Justin Magic's legacy, to be honest, because they all come through the system and they all come out really good humans. Willow Hardy and Gene's always hanging around. So, well done, Jazzo. I think you're on the right track, mate, because all our kids are. They got good names in the international scene.
[00:52:33] Speaker F: It makes me very proud to see the kids grow up. And I've been at 18 of these small fries so far, 19 about to kick off. But I guess in WA, we produce good humans and we're sort of salt of the earth sort of people on Widandy country. But, yeah, thanks, Bill. And, yeah, I get a little bit choked up. I got a bit emotional over at the Aussie junior title, seeing kids getting chaired up.
I've been doing this for a while now, but you won't ever lose that sense of, I guess, pride or respect for your home state. And I think surfing has come so, so far since the early days and everyone was a piss head or a pothead, and now it's a fully formed sport. You can win gold medals. Exactly. You can do so much in it. And I think that the athletes now are doing such a good job to promote it to the young crew coming through.
[00:53:24] Speaker G: And there's a good defined pathway for the young kids through all the different types of qs and challenger and CT.
[00:53:32] Speaker D: And all the junior and small fries.
[00:53:34] Speaker G: And small fries.
Speaking of people going through the ranks, I mean, Jacob Wilcox obviously finally made the CTO.
[00:53:43] Speaker D: Yeah. JW.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Is he around at the moment, do we know?
[00:53:48] Speaker F: He's done a couple of trips to Wa, but I guess he's probably packing his quiver and heading to.
Yeah, two weeks away from bouncing down. But he did make a few trips over with Callum Robson. Spent Christmas at home with his family. And I guess you got to position yourself on the east coast to really make your presence felt and be in the eyes of the brands and probably surf snapper and get yourself recognized a bit.
[00:54:16] Speaker G: It's got to be better for your small wave, high performance surfing, surely. Is that the main driver going over there? What do you think?
[00:54:23] Speaker F: I think you see it in Indonesians, like people like Rajo, they have perfect waves on their back door, and Jacob, much the same. And you go to the challenger events or the QS events, and sometimes they're in pretty marginal waves. So, hey, if you get a cyclone swell and all the points are lighting up. Yeah, amazing to live on the Gold coast, but you got to think it's not that big and it's pretty northerly for most of their summer.
[00:54:45] Speaker D: Got to be the most dog eat dog spot in the world. It is. So you want to learn how to grind it out.
[00:54:51] Speaker G: So, question for Mark. I mean, chipper next this year. Where do you see what events do you really look forward for him to?
[00:55:01] Speaker D: I've known him for a long time and I've seen how gnarly he is as a competitor and we were all seeing this for a long time coming that he's on the CT, so he gets his opportunity.
And for him, I think good things are you start at pipe for most people, it's probably a bad thing. For Chippo, I see that as an event he could target because we've seen what he can do and I've seen him the first couple of times he did the Padang event and got second and he was killing it. He's a born tube rider. He's a West Aussie, let's put it that way. Nalu, hello.
That as an event. I can see that with the first few events and then he comes out of the first five know he's got pipe and then sunset. He's done really well there. All right. He's made a bit of a name on his back end of those sort of ways, sunset and Haleva. But sunset's a rated event. He's got Margaret river. So out of those first three events, PG is one of the first five. Okay. I haven't seen.
I don't think it is. It's the other side of the event. So the first five events I'm seeing is that he starts a pipe, sunset on his back and he's got Margaret's out of the first five.
[00:56:13] Speaker F: Bells.
[00:56:14] Speaker D: Bells. He's had event like wild card events there as well. So it's a matter of him just stepping up to the pressure and now being on the big tour. But what he does is good enough. So I think if he could just level head and just trust himself and he's been through our system, world juniors, Aussie titles, he's done everything in our systems. Juddo, to be where he is now. He's one perfect example of the pathway that has been laid out and he's there now, but I reckon he's a good chance to a make the top 22 and beat the cut at Margie's 100%.
[00:56:51] Speaker F: I think as a CT rookie, Jacob holds some sort of semi crazy little record because he's already, as a rookie, he's already competed in 13 CT events as a wild card, I believe. Incredible. Wow. Through the trials at Margaret river, I'm sure you remember he beat Kelly at the Ripkill Pro in Portugal as a 16 year old.
He's been awarded the opportunity at Bells a few times. So I believe it's 13 times he's been a wild card in CT events.
[00:57:18] Speaker E: Already and I'm calling the best tube in small fries history.
Can you remember where it was? It was Bianca and I was on a left hander at yelling up.
I was calling with Jake Patterson. He lost his bananas about it. Who is this kid from Margie's?
[00:57:34] Speaker F: Do you remember that swell, Bill? I think you might have been doing water safety on the reef just to catch the grommets on the reef.
[00:57:41] Speaker E: Ogram.
[00:57:43] Speaker F: That looked like Nalu on the left hander of yelling up.
[00:57:48] Speaker E: Yeah, it was Yalawatu.
[00:57:51] Speaker F: Yalawatu.
[00:57:52] Speaker D: Yeah, we were calling it outside corner, weren't we?
[00:57:55] Speaker E: That was crazy. Yeah, but I kind of seen Jacob around a little bit as a young kid, but I remember he came out of that tube and Jake was calling and just looking at each other going, who the hell is this kid? And then he hasn't stopped since and so passes on to her.
[00:58:12] Speaker C: Just for the record that those that aren't in on the joke yelling up, main brake left is usually one of the fattest waves on the west australian coast. But due to an incredibly rare cyclone swell, which we don't get in WA, it turned into a crazy tubing left right in the middle of the small fries comp. And pretty sure you had a lot of trouble getting Taj to be at the presentations that day.
[00:58:34] Speaker F: Yeah, I think a couple of spots just probably ten k south of there were absolutely going off. And yeah, I'm sure Taj will tell the story one day, but, yeah, I think he surf for no shorter than probably 10 hours. I think he was getting absolutely drained with Dino Rycrake and a whole bunch of crew. When was the last time we had a north swell here, boys?
[00:58:56] Speaker D: A little while, probably that swell ago. There's only been one or two since Bianca, really, four years ago.
[00:59:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I reckon that one really opened the gates. That one was the biggest and best one in any memory. I've spoke to a few old boys that were claiming there was one in 78 and all the rest of it, but it was like, yeah, Albie. And it was honestly 30 years.
There's been, I reckon, probably six or seven since then, but only two of them have even come close, Marcus and Izzy or Iggy. Iggy. But they still weren't in the same league as that one. That one was like six to eight foot and clean. And then there's been a few that had a bit of north running through it, but they just were nowhere near the same caliber as that day cyclone Bianca in. What was that? Like? Maybe 1011? Something like that, maybe.
[00:59:49] Speaker F: Yeah. I'm trying to think. It was a long time ago. It was pretty special. I couldn't tell you.
[00:59:55] Speaker C: But, mate, you know what? I actually think my kid just bought me a sticker today. I don't know why he bought a sticker. Because it's my birthday tomorrow and he's bought this yelling up sticker. Gave it to me ten minutes before we did this podcast. I'm like, mate, why did you spend $10 on a sticker? Like, you just get so many free stickers all the time. He's like, oh, I wanted to give it for your birthday, mate, it's a photo of Bianca. You look at it straight away and it's like just this weird black and white sticker and you're like, that's yelling up. But it doesn't look like yelling up. And you know that there's only one time yelling up didn't look like yelling up and it was that swell.
That's pretty weird.
[01:00:34] Speaker B: As he's saying, I'll share a microphone, but you want to go on about stuff.
[01:00:40] Speaker F: Good story.
[01:00:40] Speaker B: And that was off mine.
[01:00:42] Speaker G: I got a question for you, Justin. Before you mentioned that Willow Hardy, she won the under 18 and you seem pretty certain she's destined for a steep trajectory into the professional ranks. Is there any other junior surfers that you've seen that potentially could have a.
[01:01:02] Speaker F: Similar path from Western Australia?
[01:01:04] Speaker G: Well, it could be national. We'll start from WA.
[01:01:06] Speaker F: Yeah, 100%. I think.
Willow's sister Olive, a couple of years younger, competes in the under 16s. Her backhand is as good as it gets, so really textbook.
Olive's a natural footer, Willow, obviously a goofy footer.
I think Mav has really stamped his mark on it. I was impressed with Macklin Flyn. He's got a couple of younger brothers that are following hot in his footsteps as.
Yeah, like, you know, we've got second and third generation surfing families here. So I was really impressed by a young girl, poppy Redmond car. Mel Redmond Carr's daughter. She dropped some pretty big numbers over there. Obviously, Cruz Euros is a standout in the under 14s last year, he's moved up to the under 16s this year.
There is so many kids, but if I'm talking on a national level, there is one kid.
What was his name? Okie. Not Okie Fraser, but I don't remember. He dropped the only perfect ten of the event in the under 14s. He's got a brother, I should probably have done my research. Sorry, you put me on the spot, but this kid surfed hard.
Me and stomper Mike McCauliffe had a free surf early one morning. Got up at like 430, snuck out. This kid was already out there giving me a bit of a mean eye when I paddled onto his inside and he was like twelve years old.
His name will come to me.
[01:02:38] Speaker C: Keep in mind you're six foot three, of nigerian.
[01:02:44] Speaker F: My bark is a lot worse than my bite. But this kid was mean, eyeing me proper. Paddled past me. Oh, I thought I was sitting waiting in line. But this kid, yeah, he was the real deal. But I think Australia is so fortunate that every state has a program and a pathway to expose talent. Obviously everyone wants to be. Not everyone, but the AFL grabs a lot of talent. But I think surfing through my research and stats that I've found is surfing is like everyone's second sport. So you might be a basketballer, you might be a football player, cricket player. But a lot of people turn to surfing as their second sport, which is really cool.
[01:03:21] Speaker G: Definitely.
[01:03:22] Speaker E: What about young Charlie Hatley? Did you see her over there?
[01:03:25] Speaker F: Nah, she wasn't at the juniors. Maybe she was or bowed out early, but. Yeah, certainly not a finalist, Bill. But I've seen her.
[01:03:33] Speaker E: She really impressed at the qs 5000s, her and Rosie, smart.
[01:03:39] Speaker D: Rosie was another one at NES particularly.
[01:03:41] Speaker E: Yeah, for sure.
[01:03:43] Speaker F: I've seen Rosie at past Aussie junior titles. And she is a great young girl from the Coffs harbor region. She's got some family here in WA, so I think she comes over here a fair bit.
[01:03:54] Speaker E: What about Ziggy? Aloha Mackenzie.
[01:03:57] Speaker D: Wow.
[01:03:57] Speaker F: There's one that you guys, we can probably touch on a little bit.
[01:04:00] Speaker E: I can tell you something about her old man is Jake, who had drifter at Ulawatu. But she really only took surfing seriously when Covid hit. She was kind of just one of those little girls at know. It's cute. She's surfing. And then nothing was happening through in Covid, so she really knuckled down and now she's got an Aussie title.
[01:04:22] Speaker F: Yeah, won the under 16. So, yeah, I think it's amazing. She spoke really well. Even the email to accept her position into this event. She was like, I'm stoked to be coming to Wa.
And I think she was a surprise packet. I guess not many people had really seen her in competition before. Vicious little forehand wraps. Good backhand. And yeah, we welcome her to Wa maybe for the first time to compete in small fries. This week.
[01:04:49] Speaker E: Bring it on. Now, I'd saw Rajo just up here on the balcony checking out the kangaroos. It's late in the Arbo, mate. I want you to just give a little shout out to some of your best friends at Lakeys and your family. Say hello to them because they'll listen to this, they'll be stoked.
[01:05:08] Speaker A: Hello for all my family.
My friend, my best friend.
[01:05:18] Speaker D: Give us some names. All your sisters. First.
[01:05:21] Speaker A: Sulis, Sukaina, Ema.
Joy Barrel is my dad, my mom and all my best friend, Kevin.
[01:05:37] Speaker D: Kevin.
[01:05:41] Speaker E: That's a fully muslim island of some Bauer and old Kevin. Old Kev.
[01:05:48] Speaker C: Kevin, mate, you were iron off the kangaroos there. Might have been the first one. You see, you know, they're pretty good eating if you can catch them.
[01:05:56] Speaker B: Nice little kangaroo.
[01:05:57] Speaker A: Philip.
[01:06:03] Speaker D: He said, he goes, do you reckon I could get up and touch one? I said, dude, they stand up on their tail, ra and they box. They will punch you in the face before you get to touch one of them. But the funny little thing was, I said, rajo, and you can ask your dad this because it's true.
A little baby kangaroo is called a joey, like your dad. And I said, go and ask dad whether that's true or not. And did you?
No.
[01:06:28] Speaker B: So he's just smashing barbecue shapes.
[01:06:30] Speaker C: We've ripped through a box of pizza shapes onto the barbecue. I don't know if you get shapes in Indo, but he's loving them.
[01:06:39] Speaker D: He's got his face full of food. Move on. Next.
[01:06:42] Speaker C: Okay, well, I reckon I've heard about enough of all these groms that surf better than me. Then they're 13 and they get free this and gifted that and free rides everywhere, mate. I want to know about you crusty old demons. You guys have been surfing your whole lives.
I want some of your stories, some war stories.
[01:07:00] Speaker B: Just before we do move on from small fries. All right, then I do want to ask the team.
We heard about some of the surfers that are going to be going well in the comp coming up. Tell us a little bit about the set up behind the whole event because I know it's a big job for all of you guys.
[01:07:19] Speaker F: Yeah, I guess probably ten to 20 years ago. Not a lot of paperwork, not many documents or management plans required. But now we obviously are a grateful host here in the city of bustled in, beautiful yelling up. But we share a lot of beaches that are national parks or marine parks. So we have to do almost two lots of applications to go anywhere. And with the amount of competitors we've got this year, it's sort of limited some of our little honeyholes that we've gone to in the past. So a lot of competitors, a lot of pressure on car parks at this time of year. So there's a lot of plans that we have to put in place to actually say, hey, this is a safe event. We've got things in place. We've got a jet ski, we've got a drone, we've got a lot going on.
But, yeah, every year we do something different. We're actually going to webcast finals day. So, believe it or not, we're actually going to webcast finals day. So.
[01:08:16] Speaker B: Awesome.
[01:08:17] Speaker F: I'm hoping the forecast improves a little bit, but, yeah, I guess it's just things like this, advancements in modern technology that allow us to do our job better.
We've been doing it for 19 years, so each year, we should get better at what we're doing, not worse. But, yeah, there's a lot of partners that support the event. There's a lot of people. Taj himself, he probably doesn't get enough credit now he's not on tour. He actually pours his heart and soul into this and I'll shoot him a message and ask him a question. He's like, yep, let's do this. Or, yep, let's do.
You know, like guys like Sammy Tucker and Toddy at the board store, they're going to have an awesome ping pong event. We're going to do a movie screening. There is so much that we jam into the next sort of four to five days that it's pretty crazy. So I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight because it's been testing. I had a couple of weeks off, but I was literally working the whole time just to ensure that this is going to go down as one of the really memorable ones. But as a leader, I'm only as good as my team. So guys like Mark and Billy and Perry on the jet ski, Jed Matto, like our panel of judges, Mike McCauliffe's one of them. We've got a really amazing young crew coming through, and the days start early and they finish late, and it's all in the benefit of junior surfing at the end of the day.
[01:09:33] Speaker B: Nice. Yeah, good answer, mate.
[01:09:35] Speaker D: I've got to take my hat off to Juddo because if it wasn't for this guy, I know how hard he works, this guy.
We're doing this event this week, four day event. All the behind the scenes stuff it takes to pull this off. Justin Majex right here, folks. Our event manager at surfing WA does 26 events a year. Get your head around that. And one of them is the Margaret River Pro eleven day event. Doesn't that 26. The australian junior titles take a team away. All our state rounds, the boogers, the surfers, the stand up paddleboarders, the long boarders, all those, plus everything in between. He does it all, jado, I don't know how there's enough time in your life.
[01:10:12] Speaker C: Justin, at the Margie's pro, the one just gone last year, and he said that he'd been working for four weeks on site to get that one up and running. So you got 26 a year. That only leaves two weeks for each comp over the year. And four of them already burnt at the Margie's pro.
[01:10:29] Speaker D: Well, a little crazy thing about the Margie's pro was, of course, he goes down and sets that up and starts that. Right? The year we went back to back, Margie's rottnest goes down, sets up Maggie's bang. Margie starts the day Maggie starts, he takes off and goes to roddo for a month.
Did not see any of the pro.
[01:10:48] Speaker F: I was tuning in, I promise. But, yeah, we're very fortunate here in wa. Yeah, the year you talk about Mark was phenomenal.
We've done state titles, Aussie titles, at Rotness, but never a CT event in an a grade nature reserve. And you talk about paperwork.
They put us through the wringer there, but we delivered an amazing event through a Covid year and gave Medina one. The waves were sort of pumping.
[01:11:16] Speaker E: It was pumping.
[01:11:17] Speaker F: It was, you know, sometimes lady luck smiles on your side and all the paperwork and stuff that we do behind the scenes. The ocean is an uncontrollable beast and you can only cross your fingers and hope for the best and put events at the right time, at the right place. And yeah, I think we've been very fortunate at this event. And I love what I do, I love the people I work with. And you get a bit of salt water in your veins, it's hard to get rid of it.
[01:11:42] Speaker E: Guys, here's a little pro tip. You see Justin magics through the Margaret river pro. Just give him a little salute or nod to the head. Don't try and have a big conversation with him. He's a different human in those two.
[01:11:54] Speaker C: Weeks, mate, you've got a bit of nigerian ancestry.
Are you the guy that's been sending me emails by any chance? Have you come into a lot of money recently or.
[01:12:05] Speaker F: Might be my cousin? Believe it or not.
[01:12:12] Speaker C: Is that how you're getting all this work done?
Got a bit of backing.
[01:12:16] Speaker E: I wish.
[01:12:16] Speaker F: Now, my dad's nigerian, mum's a beautiful white australian lady. And, yeah, got the mix of both worlds. I don't think my dad ever actually learned how to swim. We don't have a super close relationship, but, yeah, I got the all year round tan. I got a bit of height, so I'm pretty fortunate. But there are waves in Nigeria. Believe it or not, the west coast of Africa does have waves.
[01:12:39] Speaker C: Like endless summer one. Where'd they go? That's a little bit further south.
[01:12:44] Speaker F: But I do believe there is waves in Nigeria, from what I've been told.
I haven't been back to the mother country, so to speak, but, yeah, maybe one day.
[01:12:55] Speaker G: Cool.
[01:12:55] Speaker C: And can we ask them some questions about their surfing lives? Obviously, yeah. Now we got a good dose of all that competitive stuff. But, mate, you guys are all absolute core surfers. I mean, bunger is possibly one of the crustiest surf dogs to ever come out of.
[01:13:14] Speaker D: You're feeling pretty crusty.
Never had a full time job, seriously?
[01:13:21] Speaker C: No, I know. I can see it in your eyes.
[01:13:23] Speaker D: One of my mottos is, the only tool I touch is a finkey and I'm standing by it and that's it.
[01:13:28] Speaker C: What about a wax cone?
[01:13:31] Speaker D: Well, I've doubled my toolkit recently and added a wax cone. Thanks, Kyra, mate.
[01:13:36] Speaker C: Well, let's go with bunga then, because you'd have so many tales. You've done so much time in Indo, mate. Give us the best session you've ever had in Indo. I'm sure there's been so many, but give us one that stands out.
[01:13:54] Speaker D: Is there one in general?
All right.
It probably wasn't even a free surf, but I was with a bunch of good mates and we were running an event at Macaroni's. Bill. Bill was there. We're staying on a boat. Yeah. Us judges and workers were staying on a boat on the side of Macaroni's. And we had this event going on. We've done some crazy events in Indo, but we're doing this event. We're staying on this boat. Matt George was there and Billy and a bunch of us.
It was an Indo ISC event, indonesian surfing championship event. Right? And we've done a couple of them. We've done a couple at Ht's. We've done one at Macaroni's. All the competitors were staying on land. We were staying on the boat. The workers right on the side of maccas. And the surf was pretty good and we decided to put together a masters division while we were there. Right? And we had two hour long masters semi finals with the owner of. Hang on, it gets better. With the owners of Rip Curl and the workers. And we had these events going on, these masters semifinals, and we're going, right. We got down to a final. There's about six of us, which became seven because someone else wanted in. So we did. So after the event finished, the day after. We're super hungover. We're on the boat. We're like, just fucked up and we're like, we're going to do the final today. It's like, oh, my God. We're just super buckled. So we're all having a free surf. And Jeff Anderson, the owner of Rip Indo, was out there and he's gone, no, we're doing it now. Get the rashes on. All these Indos were out there and blah, blah, blah. And Jeff's gone, you guys have to go in.
Can we just sit on the side and just surf over? He goes, no, beat it. Go in. Because he's the owner of Rip Girl. It's a rip girl event. They gone, what? So 20 minutes. He's gone, 80 minutes. Go in. So we had an 80 minutes fight, all perfect macaronis with some of my best friends. And three to freaking. That was it. Pumping, pumping.
[01:15:55] Speaker E: And every Indo pro server had to paddle in. Andre Onwa was ten. That's how long ago it was. And I'd caught so many waves, I gave my rashi to Andre, who's a little Indo kid, and hopefully they wouldn't know there's a difference and I'd win a comp. But the quote from Jeff Anderson was, tell all those indonesian guys to paddle in, all the pro surfers to paddle in, or they are fucked in the.
[01:16:21] Speaker F: Know.
[01:16:22] Speaker D: That was. That was just a moment that stands out. Obviously, Covid was a super highlight of my Indo years because it was like you were a pioneer with all the mod cons, the AC, cold beers, a great room, a car that worked really well, good roads and freaking no one. So that was my absolute highlight was Covid. But that little friends moment at Maccas, Billy, you remember that? That was gold.
[01:16:46] Speaker G: Who won the comp?
[01:16:47] Speaker E: Lee Wilson.
[01:16:50] Speaker G: Didn't he win your division?
[01:16:52] Speaker D: Hello.
[01:16:55] Speaker E: Of course, the rat boy.
[01:16:56] Speaker D: I was hungover. It just happened to work.
[01:17:00] Speaker C: On the flip side of that, I'm guessing, maybe especially in the early days, because you don't just sit in Lakey Peak for your seasons, you do a bit of island hopping around, I'm sure.
What's the worst little adventure you've gone on? On some of those. I'm sure you've been on plenty of leaky boats, right?
[01:17:16] Speaker D: Leaky boats, dodgy trains, shitty planes, dengue. Dengue.
Dengue. Malaria. Airports where everyone smokes. All of the above. All those things make all the good times when you get to some good surf all worth it. But it's pretty freaking hard, man. Sitting on a bus with goats and chickens and way too many people and everyone smoking goudangs, all those little shitty bits in between and cops taking money off you and all those dodgy little bits. That's just Indo. And if you're not up for that, if you can't stand the heat, don't freaking go to Indo.
[01:17:55] Speaker C: What about you, justo, mate? You got any horror travel stories? What's your worst ever surf trip?
[01:18:02] Speaker F: Goodness.
I'm lucky enough to go with Billy and bunga to some amazing parts of the world. We got a little bit skunked in the Philippines this year. Probably an a grade destination, but probably got z grade sort of waves this trip. A bit of a bummer, but had.
[01:18:21] Speaker D: A lot of good dinners.
[01:18:22] Speaker F: We did.
The red carpet was definitely polished up for us.
I think as long as you're by the ocean, it's never a bad experience. You can always learn something. Bit of history for you boys. I grew up in Margaret river and my uncle's owned wet dreams, so I was never a great surfer as a kid. I grew up with the likes of Nichol, Dino, Adrian, Tavita, Gukalau. Going down to a Margaret river borders comp was like facing your greatest enemies in competitive surfing.
[01:18:53] Speaker C: They were your worst surf trips ever.
[01:18:58] Speaker F: I think as long as you're by the coast, we've had many a shocking event where our calendar is so stacked that you just got to run and people are paying entry fees to go in events and you're sending them out in marginal conditions. I feel for competitors having to surf crappy waves, but this year's Aussie Junior titles summer Willemai an island that should be offshore all the time.
That was a tough trip. But I don't think any surf trip is a bad trip because if the waves are bad, you get to hang out, you get to play cards or do other little things. But I don't think I've had too many bad surf trips.
[01:19:38] Speaker D: One more, if I can be honest. We did do a boat trip from Phuket.
We wanted to surf the Andaman islands, right. It was on our Radar and I went with Josh Palmatia, Peter Hayes, red eye. We went from Phuket out to the Andamans, and we had to join a yacht race to get out there because it's the only way you're allowed out there, right? So we joined a yacht race.
Super. I got alcohol poisoning the night before we left, so I started the trip with alcohol poisoning and spewed everywhere for days. And basically we'd spent three weeks on a boat, then came all the way down through Nicobar's, down to past arche Simalu. All these spots pulled in at Padang, and we did not get a wave in three weeks. No, bad surf trip.
[01:20:24] Speaker F: I've never been on one of them. I've definitely never done one of those.
[01:20:27] Speaker C: That's definitely a bad surf trip, mate. I think Josh Palmatier gave us a very extended version of that surf trip. I think we're about into about our fifth and a half hour of the podcast.
[01:20:39] Speaker D: All right, so you've heard it before.
[01:20:41] Speaker C: We have, but it's good to hear it again. But yeah, we'd had a couple of tins by the time he got around to that story, and I think it went for about half an hour and it was an absolute ripper. It sounded like there was even more. It was like, didn't you crash into other people in the yacht you might have not seen?
[01:20:56] Speaker D: We did. We got disqualified. We got disqualified on day one. I didn't see it because I was downstairs sick, but we got disqualified on day one because I think we were the only boat that turned our motor on one night. And they found out. So we got rubbed out straight away. We had a little collision at the start line and I'm spewing everywhere. And the skipper loved Josh just a little bit too much, and there was lots of cuddling going on. And he was a big hairy man and a sweaty man. And I'm like, oh, fuck, thank God. I missed the first three days because I had alcohol poisoning. But there was a fair bit going on with no surfing. So, yeah, bad surf trip.
[01:21:33] Speaker C: What about you, Billy? Worst surf trip.
[01:21:38] Speaker E: Um, they're all pretty good, to be honest, but I really can't think of a bad one because you're away.
[01:21:46] Speaker G: You're away on a trip.
[01:21:47] Speaker D: You're away.
[01:21:47] Speaker E: And I made a decision probably about a long time ago that we're going to go to places.
Every surf trip I go on, like a big two week or around the world is with a mate of Troy from Limbongan, and there's a core bunch of us, we've made a decision to go to a place where if there's no waves, it's still going to be a sick time. You know what I mean? So if you get skunked, you're still on a good holiday. But probably the best one we've done was South Africa to Jay Bay was all right. If we get one afternoon of like three foot. Three foot JBay, it's going to be good. But we'll drive down to Cape Town when it's crap. But it pumped for three weeks.
[01:22:31] Speaker G: Epic.
[01:22:31] Speaker E: It got too big.
[01:22:32] Speaker G: What year?
[01:22:32] Speaker E: For JBay, this was 2015 and it got that big.
We paddled out to Cape St. Francis because it's too big for JBay. And it was like four foot there.
[01:22:43] Speaker D: Wow.
[01:22:44] Speaker E: Paddled out and there's just five because every motherfucker is big over there. They eat meat, they play rugby and they're scary looking dudes. I paddled out the Cape St. Francis and there's five guys sitting there and I probably got about 10 meters away from them. This big dude turns around, goes, look at this fucking guy. You stay there. Don't come here.
Okay, no worries. But I'm thinking, fair enough, they get frothing. People come through there anyway. So anyway, it went on and on and they'd get a few set waves and I'd get a sneak a set wave through and they're like, just keep your fucking distance.
So the next day was the trials for the CT at JBay, and Perry Hatchet had hooked me up with a guy who worked at surf shop, Michael Gin Ginsburg. And he goes, oh, yeah, no worries. And he goes, can you judge the trials because you're one of Perry's boys?
[01:23:44] Speaker C: I'll put you in.
[01:23:45] Speaker E: Said, no worries. So the next day he goes, all right, so Billy's going to judge the trials. He goes, hey, boys, this is our friend from Wa. And it was the guys that had told me to get best one, South Africa. Very close behind that. Jbay.
[01:24:01] Speaker F: Jbay.
[01:24:02] Speaker G: JBay's epic location. Pretty bummer it's not on the schedule this year. I don't know whether they were going any miney mo or is this the time of the year that JBay was on the schedule?
[01:24:14] Speaker E: Mate, there's so much on the line. Like, remember when Fiji got taken off because the government decided to put all the money into rugby and stuff like that? So there's so much in play, why you don't have a contest here and there and you guys have killed it.
How long are we going to be.
[01:24:31] Speaker F: At Margie's for hopefully a very long time, forever. And I think the greatest thing about Margaret river is it was sort of the ugly duckling of the surf world for such a long time. We never had major industry support. It's always been tourism backed. But thank goodness for the likes of John, John Florence and Carissa Moore that really, I think, just showed people the way that Margaret river should be surf. And you throw a little bit of box in there. And I just think that sustainable surf events are the most important because 100% it's great to have an amazing location that pops up. But if it can't support the pathway or it can't be there for a long time, it's almost not worth going there for once for that little taste of, oh, that was pumping. And I'm bummed as a surf fan, I'm bummed to see JBay not there. But there's a lot that's going know cloud breaks on, which is almost a mirror sort of replacement. They've got the Olympics going on. There's a lot going on.
And I'm talking from a surfing official's point of view. I think the WSL gets bagged pretty hard for all the things that they don't do right, but they don't always get the credit for the things they do get right. And I think the things they do do right is finding locations that truly have an interest in surfing, like the southwest corner of WA and maintaining a pathway for juniors, for longboarders, for qualifying series surfers. And then the crown world champions is not an easy.
[01:26:09] Speaker G: What they've done is improved the pathway, right? Yeah, just from a punch.
[01:26:14] Speaker E: It really has, mate. Especially the regional things.
So if you're like a wealthy, let's rewind five years ago, if you're a wealthy australian or a wealthy american and you can afford to go around the world and go to all 6000 have a massive advantage over someone like Rajo from Lakey Peak who doesn't have the backing. But now the 5000s have the regionals and you can't get those points. It's a much more even spread around the world from people that aren't from countries.
[01:26:48] Speaker D: People don't have to travel all over the world now.
[01:26:50] Speaker E: That's right.
[01:26:51] Speaker D: You stay in your region to qualify.
[01:26:53] Speaker E: The only bad thing I've heard about is like, well, if you're american, you got to surf in ways in Florida and California and they're crap. But you look at the american representative on 2024 pro tour, there's heaps of them there is five or six of them, isn't it? So that criticism is kind of out the window. I'm a big fan of it.
[01:27:14] Speaker G: I've got a question, though. All this stuff's happening in world professional surfing, but we've got no CEO. What's the goss, mate?
[01:27:22] Speaker E: Magics.
[01:27:23] Speaker D: Justin Mage.
[01:27:25] Speaker C: There's four votes for Justin magics.
[01:27:27] Speaker E: Five.
[01:27:28] Speaker C: Namu's giving us a five over there.
[01:27:30] Speaker D: No, because then we all lose him. No votes for the Mayjax?
[01:27:34] Speaker F: No, I don't have any word on it.
I think it's obviously an amazing opportunity for the right person. And, yeah, we'll wait and see. Maybe new start of the season. We'll get some news on it, but, yeah, I don't know who's pulling the strings behind the scenes right now. It's pretty interesting.
[01:27:52] Speaker G: It is interesting time, mate.
[01:27:54] Speaker C: I identify as a wheelbarrow. Is there any divisions coming up for me in the near future?
Wheelbarrow?
[01:28:02] Speaker E: Leave that one alone, Justin.
[01:28:08] Speaker F: Yeah.
[01:28:08] Speaker D: All right.
[01:28:09] Speaker B: So 1 hour, 27 35.
[01:28:13] Speaker F: Surfing has always been pretty inclusive.
We have been at the pointy end of some pretty controversial policy decisions of late. But I think surfing now, given it's an Olympic sport, falls into the IOC breakdown and rulings and everything else. So, yeah, I think, yeah, I wanted, like, an over six foot, dark, handsome male division one day, but fingers crossed, I'll get it. But, no, just joking. But the wheelbarrow division, maybe it's something we could do at the single fin.
[01:28:46] Speaker C: I don't know, adsy, but it's my only chance.
[01:28:48] Speaker F: It's a different world, but I think competitive sport needs to be what it is. Competitive and not inclusive all the time. My personal.
[01:28:58] Speaker C: That's a great answer.
[01:28:59] Speaker B: Getting back to the CEO thing, Justin, if it was offered to you, would you take it?
[01:29:05] Speaker F: Probably not, no.
[01:29:08] Speaker B: I'm a West Aussie through poison Chalice. Is that why everyone.
[01:29:11] Speaker D: No, don't do it. He's too good over here, man. We need him here. We don't want him to leave.
[01:29:16] Speaker B: No, I know that.
[01:29:18] Speaker D: I said years ago to just. I said, if you quit, I quit. So you don't quit judo.
[01:29:22] Speaker F: Don't throw your two piece tool bag away just yet.
[01:29:26] Speaker D: Pin key. And my wax comb.
[01:29:28] Speaker F: And a microphone. And a microphone.
[01:29:31] Speaker B: That's the greatest tool of all.
[01:29:33] Speaker F: My only thing on the WSL. CEO, whoever it may be. I just hope they're a surfer because there's something intrinsic about understanding our sport, knowing the mix of localism and surf politics and all that stuff that makes our sport really unique. I just hope they don't go and pitch someone from some other sport that has no idea what surfing is and the history and the culture. I think you have to live this sport to really understand it. And yeah, there's some amazing people that we've read about or that have thrown their hat in the ring and I think that all do an amazing job and surfing is like right at that threshold. I think. I think if the industry could understand how important this position we find ourselves in right now, I think there'd be a lot more sponsored surfers, probably a lot more events, but it's an economy of scale at the end of the day as well.
I just hope that a surfer gets the job. That's my only.
[01:30:30] Speaker B: Well, give us two names you'd like to see doing the job.
[01:30:34] Speaker E: Mark Richards. Oh, great call, Billy. Great bugs back.
[01:30:39] Speaker D: Bring bugs.
[01:30:43] Speaker F: I respect the know, I think they have to have a bit of mungrill about, know a bit of Ian cans.
[01:30:50] Speaker E: A little bit of bugs.
[01:30:53] Speaker F: Yeah, there's some really worthy candidates out there. But hey, I think Kelly's been involved for so, like, is it not his job for the taking one day?
[01:31:03] Speaker B: Just do it. Just do.
[01:31:08] Speaker F: Know I've worked with some truly amazing people over the years who've really shaped this sport into a really good spot. But yeah, I'm not going to say any names because I'd hate to dupe someone out of a job. And I know a lot of people listen to the barrel podcast, so I don't have an inside scoop, but, yeah, I think as long as they're a surfer, it'd be okay with me.
[01:31:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Very diplomatic answer from the head of surfing wa. Well done, future CEO of the WSL. All right, so we've talked a bit about Indonesia and a bit about small fries and a few other things. I think we should move on to the Clive Palmer cup now. You guys know what the Clive Palmer cup is and the Steve Irwin salutes. Yeah, you guys.
[01:31:55] Speaker C: Clive Palmer is where you get to out someone for being a total tool or something. It doesn't have to be a person.
You could out bunga for stripping all your finkeys because that's the only thing he does or made anything.
[01:32:09] Speaker F: Grievances.
[01:32:10] Speaker C: And then on the flip side, the Steve Irwin salute. Anyone or anything you want to give a double thumbs up to.
[01:32:16] Speaker F: Yeah, I'll go first, I reckon. Double thumbs up to you boys because you do a great job.
Steve Irwin salute to you boys because it's been fun. This is my second time on the show and I really appreciate it. You're a wealth of knowledge. It's lighthearted. It's good.
My Clive Palmer award would have to probably go to maybe Huey this week, because the forecast is looking a little bit tricky for small fries. I'm sure the groms will still tear it up, but we've been so blessed over so many years. So El Nina, El Nino. I don't know which one it is or who I can blame, but, yeah, the seasons are definitely changing, so, yeah, that's my Clyde pine.
[01:33:00] Speaker B: It is El Nino last week.
[01:33:04] Speaker G: Thank you.
[01:33:04] Speaker C: We've had, like, multiple debates on this one and we're still not sure.
[01:33:07] Speaker B: No, it's El Nino at the moment and it's potential. El Nina coming up. There you go.
[01:33:13] Speaker F: Thank you. See, I'm learning. I'm learning.
[01:33:14] Speaker B: Smiling Billy James.
[01:33:16] Speaker E: My Clive Palmer would have to go. Whoever decided that having a moustache, riding a mid length twin fin and living in Changu is fucking cool because you're a bunch of tools. If you're out listening there, get yourself a thruster, drink a bintang, put a pair of bodies on.
[01:33:41] Speaker B: I can't ride my twin fin and drink kombucha and do hot yoga in Changu.
[01:33:46] Speaker E: No, you're out. You're totally out.
[01:33:49] Speaker D: You go to Uber to do your yoga.
[01:33:51] Speaker E: Everyone's an entrepreneur and you don't have a job. You manifest life coach.
[01:33:56] Speaker B: I'm a life coach.
[01:33:57] Speaker E: So whenever all those people are listening. Who are those people? You're my Clive Palmer. But the Steve Irwin would have to be the late wet season in Indonesia, because I scored just before Christmas at an island solo for, like, a week and it was sick. So I'm giving it to Huey. I'm giving my Steve Irwin to Huey.
[01:34:18] Speaker B: Because he delivered a late wet slash. She wears many hats in different areas of the world. So there you go.
[01:34:27] Speaker E: Can you edit out that little rage attack, then?
[01:34:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:34:32] Speaker C: That was a great Clive. I don't want that out.
[01:34:35] Speaker B: I might just edit out the homo.
[01:34:36] Speaker E: Part, but other than that.
[01:34:38] Speaker F: Right, we're an inclusive show, aren't we?
[01:34:41] Speaker B: 132.
[01:34:42] Speaker D: Even. Wheelbarrow is included.
[01:34:44] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
What about you, bunga?
[01:34:47] Speaker D: All right, so my Steve Irwin, the salute. I'm going to go for Tippy Jabric. Tim Hayne, ASC, the asian surfing cooperative that have given us a bit of a lifeline. I've worked with them 15 years. Good guys. Had some amazing trips all through Asia and philos and Thailand and freaking Maldives and a lot of really good spots. And those guys work hard and the runs were on the board when Rio wider qualified and legitimized exactly what they do up there. So those guys have been epic friends for a long time. So thank you, guys.
The other one was. The other one. The Clive Palmer fucking injuries. Shitty shoulders, shitty shoulders. A big injured. I hate that shit. So there you go, that one. Clive Palmer to injuries.
[01:35:35] Speaker B: There you go, adds Kennedy, mate, we'll.
[01:35:39] Speaker C: Leave it to these guys, or unless you guys got really some. Yeah, I got an injury right now, so I'm definitely can double down on that one, mate. I've got some written down, but let's leave it.
[01:35:48] Speaker B: We'll leave these guys. And I'm going to give the Clive Hammer cup to injuries because obviously I seem to be dealing with one all the time.
[01:35:55] Speaker C: Personally, I like Billy's one best, but I felt the passion in that one. That's why I liked it, actually.
[01:36:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I have been hearing a fair bit about the changu crew and sounds like they're pretty funny.
[01:36:05] Speaker C: I'm just lucky that I've got a full beard and not a mustache because I ride a mid length twin fin and t bone was looking at me pretty funny when you said jump on a thruster. T bone looked at me because he knows I haven't been on one in about ten years. I was like, oh, shit, I'm in trouble here. Lucky I'm bald and I can't do a man bun.
[01:36:23] Speaker B: You'd have like a reverse man bun?
[01:36:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
Veggie might scroll.
[01:36:28] Speaker B: All right. Tbane just has a rude, not to.
[01:36:31] Speaker G: Say, but to everyone that works at surfing Wa and Taj, I mean, the 19th Taj small fries is on.
You guys are incredible what you do.
You provide such a great platform for all the junior surfers and a great pathway into potentially the qs. The challenger, the Ct. 26 events a year. That's incredible. Great work, guys. Yeah. Steve Irm. Steve. Steve Irwin. Steve Irwin.
[01:36:59] Speaker B: Steve Irwin. Yeah, just had a couple of haters. All right, well, I've got a couple of Steve Irwins. We were going to just leave it to the surfing wa boys, but would like to give my first Steve Irwin to the traditional custodians of the land that we are on at the moment, the wood dundee crew. Thank you very much for looking after land for millennia. Amazing work you do and thank you for having that competition on your lands this weekend. And my other big Steve Owen goes to this young fella, a big Steve Owen salute. Massive double fist arm for Rajo. He's come on the podcast, first time in Australia. Thanks for coming on mate, you're a little champion.
[01:37:37] Speaker A: Thank you.
Trimakasi, I need my nasi.
[01:37:47] Speaker E: Yes, gully.
[01:37:49] Speaker A: Nasi champur.
[01:37:51] Speaker D: All right.
[01:37:52] Speaker B: Well, thanks, Rajay and Ra.
[01:37:54] Speaker D: What are you going to do this week? What can we expect from you in the small fries? What would you like to do?
[01:37:59] Speaker A: I like to do some tubes.
I hope the waves going to be tubing.
[01:38:08] Speaker C: Have you had a meat pie yet?
[01:38:10] Speaker A: Not yet.
[01:38:11] Speaker C: Okay, that's coming soon. Tomorrow for breakfast.
[01:38:13] Speaker B: They're not as good as they used to be.
[01:38:15] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:38:15] Speaker B: All right, before we do wrap this one up, thanks very much for the seven wa boys. Mark, boom and Clift. We've got Justin, Magix and of course, smally and Billy James. Before we go, last comments, lads.
[01:38:26] Speaker E: I'd like to thank cheeky monkey. Fantastic product.
[01:38:30] Speaker C: Very well played. Well played. And Forrester, red for the bottle. We're about to crack after dinner.
[01:38:35] Speaker B: You're beauty.
[01:38:36] Speaker C: But, mate, I just feel like bunger especially would have so many good wipeout stories. Can we just have your best wipeout, worst wipeout, whatever you want to call it, before we go?
[01:38:46] Speaker D: All right. Okay. Let's go there. Yeah. Straight off the top of my head without digging too deep. But this one sort of stuck with me. I'll serve G land for the first time the very first year I went to window in 1990. I'm at G land. It's eight to ten foot. Get dropped out in the zodiac without really looking at it. I've only got a 610. I'm out the back. It's a freaking weapon of a wave. At that size. It was next level to anything else I'd ever surfed before. Took me 2 hours to make my first wave. I finally made a wave. I'm super pumped. I think I'm back in the groove. Then I get a wipeout down at Speedy's. I will never wear studded board shorts again. For this reason, the studded board shorts ripped open. I went under three waves at speedies with no boardies on. They were at the end of my leg rope.
Pushed up against my pintail. And had to go under three waves with no board shorts on. Shitting myself. It's about a foot and a half deep. Lucky I don't have a long cock.
So after three ways, I tapped out, pulled my board hand between my back on my board, face the shoreline, went back in, and then pulled my bodies back on. And basically, fuck a G lad. Sucks for your first time when it's age.
[01:39:59] Speaker B: Amazing stuff. All right, just one thing before we go. From all three of you. 2024 world champ for men and women.
[01:40:07] Speaker E: Billy, I am going to say an american for the men. That's a bit of a roughie.
[01:40:13] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:40:14] Speaker E: And the women, I am also going to go Lake Peterson out of left field.
[01:40:22] Speaker F: Justin, it's hard to go past a West Aussie, but I do love Ethan Ewing surfing on the male side of the draw, on the ladies do like Caroline Marks'surfing, I don't think she'll go back to back. I'm going to back in the goat of all women, that's Steph Gilmore to just reclaim a little bit of that fire in the belly and get up and get a 9th.
[01:40:43] Speaker B: Nice bonger.
[01:40:44] Speaker D: For these reasons, I'm going an absolute roughie. But I think with Jake Patterson back as a coach and taking on Kanoa Igarachi, who I always tipped at some point I could see that happening, him and Griffin. But because Jake's back in the hood. Jake, I hope you're listening. I'm going to go canoe and I'm going to go Steph as well because Jake's back in her corner cornboard.
[01:41:09] Speaker B: Look out very soon in the coming days for an interview with Jake the Snake Patterson on his coming 2024 campaign.
[01:41:18] Speaker E: Also, he got three hole in ones in the last twelve months.
[01:41:22] Speaker B: Before we go, Justin magics. Incredible job setting this all up. Let's hear it, mate. What do you want to say before we go?
[01:41:28] Speaker F: Just absolutely stoked. This is my second tour on the barreled podcast and I love it.
Yeah, we're on a beautiful setting here on Wadandi Buja. The breeze is blowing, the sun is shining, the clouds are just gorgeous. Probably no better part of the world that I enjoy more than this. So thank you, boys. And here with two of my very good mates, one of my very new mates, and you boys are absolute legends. So keep up the froth and keep up the stoke because surfing is amazing. I love it. Cheers.
[01:41:58] Speaker B: Yeah, just magic and the surfing wa crew you've been listening to barrel surf podcast. It's been a gosh darn pleasure and we will catch you next time on the show.
[01:42:22] Speaker D: I cranked it up and I sang along. It was such a way out day. I made up my mind you rainforest import the girl and the town the way that suddenly it occurs to me there's no here's we'll be cruising through the burger and you find the chicken and if we wind up leaving back, we'll stay out late, drink and try enforcer, enforcer to see the sound of.
