prone barrel© 2009 - damon crawfordOh man, they just froth on bodyboarding in South America! It blows me away how a 3rd world country can afford to host an IBA event and other countries like the U.S. and Aus are nowhere on the circuit. They seem to be so passionate about it. Being in Arica for a month I cruised a lot with the locals. The Arica bodyboarding community are super cool guys and are always keen to help out.
Tell us about the Llama that became your BFF.
Well the Llama was one of Tomate's many pets. He has a huge back garden so that thing just cruises all day. Tomate was so busy organizing the Arica contest so I missioned a lot by myself. I would just catch taxis to the beach and back. Anyway, I would come home and no one would be around so I just hung out with my Llama buddy. It's one of the coolest pets ever! One day I got home from the beach and found the Llama ripped into 2 pieces!! The damn dog got hold of it! I was heartbroken! RIP my Paka!
Your first heat went pretty well and you managed to assist in the knocking of Hardy. Does this ever still feel surreal to you? Knocking heads with some of the best and then beating them?Surfing against the world's best is what drives me. I look forward to riding against the best and Ryan was the man to beat in Arica as he won the Pipe contest. It was not small at all with some 12 foot sets and the odd 15 foot west clean up. It was just such a nice heat as Ryan and Brad don't jockey and rather focus on catching their own waves. I think we were all just trying to stay alive and get a few good waves and on that day Brad and I got the better ones.
All the guys on tour are really cool and we are all good mates. There is always a good time to be had.
Your next heat was in round 7 and was part of the man-on-man segment of the contest. You were up against Dubb and basically lead that heat from start to finish. Dubb wasn't really anywhere until he popped that solid invert. Tell us about the heat...
I have been trying to forget this for months now!! So thanks... lol. It's just the worst way to go down in a heat. I think I could have sealed the deal but held back on my 3rd wave when I got a massive second bowl and should have flipped it but just rolled. I was so bummed with myself! Prop's to Dave as the invert was massive.
What were you thinking when he took off on that last wave?Well I kind of knew he was going to get the score, he only needed a 5.5 and got a 6.6. When Dave got the 9 points I was stuck on the inside and he got to the back line before I did so he had priority and was gifted by getting that wave in the last 5 seconds! Heart breaking! Dave is such a freak in the water! He is one of the best riders now but is in my opinion still underrated. He is the kind of guy that can turn a 5 point wave into a 10 point ride.
We spoke briefly after that and I know how bummed you were about it. What do you do to lift yourself when you get faced with heartbreaking situations like that while you're on the road away from home?
It's never easy. I stay offline and don't like speaking to anyone back home as it just makes it harder for me. I try to forget about it but that never really works. It is never easy losing. Mike once told me to treat defeats and wins the same but I'm struggling to stomach it for now. I remember not landing my backflip in the 2008 SIC final and I could not sleep for 4 days!! I still get back flashes!
Hectic, Boet. There was virtually nothing you could do to stop him due to the nature of the priority rule. Do you think you could have done anything different tactically to have beaten him?Yes definitely, I had the really good wave with a huge 2nd bowl and could have flipped it to seal the deal but I was just too conservative! Oh well, I've learnt from my mistake and don't think I'll be doing that again!
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