THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

Jordy Smith grows into a very large pair of shoes

You know the Jordy Smith story. Prodigious talent, impoverished background, New Pier tutorship, meteoric junior career, wild card triumph, frenzied contract speculation, Nike sponsorship snub, Shaun Tomson endorsement, new generation hype... He was the man who would be king, even before he reached adulthood.  But after a lacklustre ’08 rookie year, the same people who were blowing hot air up his arse were questioning the size and puffiness of the distorted balloon man they had created. Was he really that good?  Would the sharp edges of the real world burst his bubble?

Turns out he was quite a bit better. Turns out he’s made of stronger stuff than stretched latex. Of course you know this already. You may also be aware that many surf commentators feel that ’09 was the year that Jordy Smith eclipsed Dane Reynolds to become (unofficially) the most progressive freesurfer in the world. The supersonic rodeo flip he pulled in the Mentawaii Islands which won a Surfer Poll Award is one sign that he’s a sure-footed cowboy astride the hi-fi bronco. But unless you’ve been stalking him for the last few months, here’s a bunch of things you probably don’t know about Jordy…

He’s injured. Yes, injured. “We’ve been keeping it under wraps a bit, but it’s all good. I chipped my elbow during a training session at Lennox Head and I haven’t been able to surf much since.” The training session was on terra firma, at a Red Bull athletes camp, Project Air, in early February. A purpose built skate ramp with adjacent foam pit was utilised to improve teamriders’ air skills. Jordy showed typical restraint and self-preservation during the exercise. “I did an air, went too big, overshot the foam pit and landed on the other side.” Get into wavesmag for a comprehensive wrap-up as to whether this particular injury hindered Jordy’s 2010 Gold Coast Quikky Pro campaign.

He has no permanent home. “I base myself in Australia from mid February and stay there for the first four tour events because it’s easier to fly out from there. Then after that I move to South African for the Coldwater Classic and J-Bay. I spent some time there then I move to America for the Trestles and European events. I’m in America for their summer and I keep it as my base right up until Hawaii. It’s pretty much the Endless Summer really. It’s just easier. I do so much travelling and the flying times from South Africa are way too long.”

Summer in Orange County, California? He loves it.  “I’m looking at buying a house around Newport Beach at the moment. It’s fun place to live - you’ve got Huntington Beach down the road, LA around the corner and Santiago nearby. Any one of those places you can go get some waves or go out and find a good time whenever you want.  I like the people in California, but the crowds in the surf are hard to deal with. Every time you go for a surf there’s at least fifteen guys in the water.”

He’s good mates with Hollywood funny man, Owen Wilson. “He’s the coolest guy, he’s really nice. I lot of the time you see celebrities and you’d never think they’d be down to earth, but he’s just a cool, normal guy. We don’t really go out partying because the paparazzi harass him, so we just go over to his house and hang out.  He’s got a super cool house right on the beach at Malibu – it’s got its own golf set up , tennis court and basketball court. He surfs every now and then. We usually go for a stand up paddleboard because Malibu Point is so crowded.”

He has the heart of an alpha lion, the strength of a bull elephant and the arse of an amorous baboon. “I am 100% South African and always will be. I will always surf for South Africa no matter where I Iive. My homeland is what shaped me and it’s what has got me where I am today and I will never forget that. My friends and family always remind me about my roots and I am grateful for it.” 

He has a new sparring partner. “This year I’ll travel with Travis Logie. He’s one of my best friends from South Africa. Last year I travelled pretty much along and it was tough by myself. It’s better when you have a sparring partner. It gets you fired up. Travis is really competitive so it’s going to be good.”

His Dad, Graham, is making a comeback. “Dad absolutely loves the ASP World Tour. I’m pretty sure if he could put on a contest rash vest and get out there he would. He loves being around the whole scene – he’s kinda living his dream through me. It’s cool, I’m doing it for both of us. He loves being down near the water, watching every heat, every day. He’ll cheer everybody on – even the guys in my heat. He’s still shaping boards, but he hasn’t surfed in a while because of a hernia operation. He’s going to have a surf on the Gold Coast and it’ll be his first surf in about seven years.”

Hang on, back up a bit: “The ass of an amorous baboon?” Oh yeah, turn down the lights, turn up the music, and watch Jordy shake that thing. “I love the dance floor,” he exclaims. “Love doing the bootie drop for the girls. The BF. That’s my second name.” Says Red Bull performance coach, Andy King: “Jordy’s bum dance is disturbingly bootilious. It puts Beyonce or any seasoned stripper to shame. He’s not shy to bust it out sober either.”
He learnt to snowboard carefully, on a beginner run. Yeah right. “I’d never even seen snow before. We went up to Mammoth Mountain and there was so much fresh snow. A big dump. A snowboarder friend took me and Damien Fahrenfort (fellow South African) up there. The first run he took us to a double black diamond. It was the biggest freakin’ drop, but hewas like: ‘Deal with it’. He was getting back at me because I had taken him out at Pipe and made him shit himself. We kinda crawled our way down the steepest bit until we got the hang of things. It was so much fun – going wild and getting in some big turns.”

His sponsors aren’t wild about him going wild. “Oh, they freaked. Every single sponsor was like: ‘Don’t go, you’re going to hurt yourself, you’re going to hurt yourself.’  I ended up blowing up at all of them. I told em: ‘If you guys keep saying I’m going to hurt myself of course I’m going to hurt myself.’ I just wanna have a good time.”
He has access to some of the best trainers in the world. This is largely the result of Red Bull’s bottomless budget and dedication to super-charging their athletes. Former US Winter Olympic ski team coach, Andy Walsh, oversees the whole she-bang, and former and current pros Andy King, Dan Ross, Ant MacDonald, Richard Marsh and Shane Beschen are on the role call. If they want to work on airs they fly in pro skater Corbin Harris; they want to play mind games they utilise the grey matter of elite sports psychologist Mike Gervais. Big waves? Ross Clarke-Jones.
That noted, Jordy isn’t big on training. “My approach is a little different. Have fun and relax. That’s when I surf my best.”        

He shares a birthday with his childhood hero, Kelly Slater. “It can be a bit awkward actually. I texted him a couple of weeks back on our birthday (Feb 11). You know? Happy Birthday… He didn’t reply.”

He would rather be an ASP World Champion than be feted as the best freesurfer in the world. “That’s a hard scenario to choose between because being considered the best freesurfer in the world is a big statement.  But I think an ASP world-title means more and lasts longer so I’d choose the title.”

He knows he’ll have to tone things down a little if he wants to get his paws on the big trophy. “Yeah, every one keeps telling me that. That’s the most consistent advice I’ve been given. They say you don’t have to give it 100 per cent every single turn. They’re right. Sometimes you just got to do the 50 per cent turn. I don’t really like surfing like that, but sometimes that’s what you got to do to win. You just got to beat the person you don’t have to crush them.”

He’s building up to a world title challenge, but it probably won’t happen this year. “Unless I get off to a good start.  If you do well in the first three or four events then the World Title becomes more of a reality and the pressure ramps up. I’m not putting any pressure on myself at the start of the year. I’ll just go into it with my chin up.”

That swill about Modern Collective surfers being painfully hip, fashion-conscious, pseudo-intellectuals... not applicable here. “I don’t read books. That’s why they invented TV, so you don’t have to read.” And fashion? Does the big man go for plunging necklines, designer shoes, asphyxiating denim and camp pretension. “I don’t really think about what am I going to wear. I just grab whatever’s on the top of the pile and put it on.” 

There is no rivalry with Dane Reynolds. None. Theirs is a bromance built on mutual appreciation.  “We have a good relationship. It’s pretty mutual. It’s kind of like the Kelly/Rob thing. I do my thing, he does his thing. I look up to him out of anybody, because he’s the person who’s really pushing surfing at the moment. Without him I wouldn’t be trying as hard as I am. I watch every single video he does. He’s like a sparring partner. If it wasn’t like that, that’s when things go south and you slack off. I went up to Santa Barbara a while ago to hang out with him. He’s a cruisey guy . He doesn’t say much, he just does his thing. He’s kinda countryish.”

Sure Jordy likes the clubs and the good life and he hangs at Owen Wilson’s Malibu crib, but the best night out of his life was a much simpler affair...“My 21st in South Africa. What made it so great was all my friends from everywhere came out for it. There’s nothing like when you’re out at a club and every single one of your friend’s there. Nothing matters in the world as much as family and friends.”

There’s a book in production about him and it sounds a bit creepy but Jordy’s completely open-minded about it all. “It’s been in the pipeline for a few years now. I’m not sure how it’s coming along. The guy who’s doing is from South Africa – I can’t even remember his name, but he’s doing everything unexpectedly, on the sly. Like, sometimes I’ll see some photos he’s taken and I don’t even know how he took them. He just kinda pops up every now and again.”

What you see is what you get with Jordy Smith. “I think the book will be cool. It’s more about the reality of what I do and who I am. I think a lot of books these days try to portray a perfect person, but I’m not like that. I’m real. I don’t like beating around the bush. I’m me. You don’t like me? That’s tough.”