After surfing big waves for years, Tom Carroll handles Pipe with ease. Photo: ASP/Kirstin
Recently, two of Australia’s biggest legends came together on a “hunt for the biggest waves in the Southern Ocean,” and made a movie called Storm Surfers 3D about the adventure. Ross Clarke-Jones, and Tom Carroll have been whipping each other into bombs for years, but their appetites outgrew the big waves they were used to. So they came together with the help of their sponsors and some expert weathermen to scour the Southern Hemisphere for undiscovered, massive, open-ocean waves to ride. One thing is for sure: it isn’t your standard surf porn flick. Ross and Tom are meticulous in their preparation and research–constantly consulting their crew to make the best decisions. Disappointingly, Tom sits out the first couple missions due to an injury, but once he hits the water it becomes clear why he is so highly acclaimed. The crew becomes the first to surf several spots in Oz including the now famous Pedra Branca located just south in Tasmania. I was lucky enough to catch up with Tom last week while he was in Sydney doing some promotion for the recently released movie. He was kind enough to talk to me about everything from the evolution of his surfing to protesting apartheid. What follows is a rather insightful interview with the 2-time world champion.
You’ve got a lot of accomplishments under your belt as a professional surfer in all kinds of waves. What is it that draws you to searching for, and surfing, new big waves? How did you start surfing big waves?
For me it was just kind of a natural progression. I think there was already something in my blood and my character that loved that intensity. I was introduced to the ocean as a young kid, and quite often I’d get myself caught in rips. At the time, I wasn’t fearful at all. My dad was always like, ‘What are you doing getting yourself caught in a current?’ You know all I was doing was trying to get a wave. That was just part of my character that got me into risk-taking situations and allowed me to learn about myself in the sea.
I noticed in Storm Surfers 3D that you and Ross [Clarke-Jones] chose to use tow-in surfing for most all your missions, and I’m curious as to why you went that route instead of paddling?
We started doing tow-in to get ourselves on waves that we just couldn’t paddle into; also it helps us explore certain waves in a way that we can’t do just paddling. Paddling you are limited to certain kinds of breaks and situations with a smaller take-off area that can only be reached by arm power. With a jet ski, we can go further out in the ocean into much more treacherous seas. Quite often when you’re paddling, no one is watching. You’re really looking out for yourself. Sometimes that’s not enough. Quite often it’s not enough. What they are doing today in paddle-in surfing is amazing, but I love being out there with a partner at some outer reef and heavy ocean that you just could not paddle into. It’s quite an extraordinary feeling.
You mentioned the benefit of having a partner there. What went in to choosing Ross as your partner?
It just sort of came about. We met each other awhile ago in Hawaii, in the mid-80’s, and I noticed he had that same sort of spark–that stuff that I was talking about that’s in your blood. It was something that we didn’t have to work on, it was just there; and we both connected with that kind of energy that some people call insane, but we’re just like that. That sort of kicked something off. We knew we both had that sort of wildness to us. Once we get a hold of a jet ski, a big ocean, the right boards, the right equipment and the right preparation, it feels like anything’s possible. I think that’s a really good feeling.
I noticed there were a couple of spots in the movie where you decided to sit out or maybe just tow Ross into waves rather than surf. How do you make that decision?
Well for me, the first time was because I was injured, and that just comes from being injured that many times. Knowing that I could potentially injure it more. Also having a family I think, I’m getting a little bit older, a little bit wiser—hopefully—I know that I want to be surfing into my 80’s at least. That’s a goal of mine. I’d like to say that I could ride big waves for another good 10 years’ time, if I do it very calculated. It’s really just learning when to pull back. It’s a hard thing; it doesn’t come natural for me.
You seem to be a bit of a leader in professional surfing both in and out of the water. There are many firsts in your career but some that struck me were:
-Your choice to boycott South African surfing events in 1985 due to apartheid in that country.
-Being the first person to really bring training into pro surfing.
-Signing surfing’s first million-dollar contract with Quiksilver.
What do you attribute these successes to?
First off, the South African stand against apartheid, it was a very personal decision for me, not about being a leader. I was the surfing champion in Australia at the time and there it was a big deal. I don’t think it was as big of a deal in the U.S., but in Australia it was important. Going to South Africa then, you were supporting that regime and you know I just couldn’t support it. South Africa then was arcane, it was backwards, it was abusive. It was all those things that I didn’t want to add to. It was a difficult decision to make, but really it was easy at some level.
With the training, I just wanted to take our sport to another level. I saw that other sports spent hours doing what they do to get better. I was always spending a lot of time surfing, but I just wasn’t really working out. Then I had an injury come up—a pretty bad one on my right knee—so I had to get reconstruction surgery. During that time, I learned how to rehabilitate that knee, kind of on a solo basis you know? The doctor had said you’re not going to compete again so I went home and after thinking about it for a couple days, I thought, I am not going to stand for that. So the training kind of started for there, it was like, in a way, the injury was a gift. I was looking at other sports and they were spending hours and hours–like tennis pros, spending so much time on the court. That’s when I started to think about my health and I replicated that to make improvements to my surfing. I used it to focus on my weak points–really my small-wave surfing, which was a pain in the ass, but I went and did it and it paid off.
As far as the million-dollar deal goes, it came from my manager at the time who saw an opportunity for a person like myself who was on the up and up. He saw how much the surf companies were making, and saw how much the surfers were making, and it didn’t line up too well. So he really put it to Quiksilver to step up and they did. They took a bit of a risk and it all started paying off. So yeah, it was a big risk at the time because we all thought putting all our eggs in one basket was a big leap. One backer wasn’t exactly what most surfers are used to, but after a while, it’s a lot more simple and a lot more focused.
With everything you’ve contributed to surfing in the past, where do you see the future of pro surfing headed?
Well, I think the performance level is extraordinary and it will keep rising. We may see other areas of it developing such as the big wave paddle-in movement–especially in competition, it’s really an amazing spectacle. It’s an incredible challenge for them to do what they do, especially paddling Jaws over in Hawaii. We may see more tow-in with the skis on big, big waves. That’s a benefit really in the windy elements.
As far as the World Tour surfing, I would like to see a change in the format. I would like to see more of a focus on individual performance and allowing it to be translated to a much more simple format so more people can understand it. At the moment, I see it as being sort of an in-house job. That being said, the athletes are still doing really well. Like Kelly Slater, he’s doing an amazing job.
