Adrian Buchan is one of the most well spoken surfers you will ever meet on tour. The 31-year old Avoca native has beaten Kelly Slater in two finals (France in 2008 and Tahiti in 2013), recently became a father and is excited at the prospect of surfing 10-12 foot barrels at this year’s Billabong Pro.
Tracks sat down with Ace to talk about the ASP, where he sees pro surfing headed, recapturing his form and what it takes to win in Tahiti.
You’re currently sitting 24th on the rankings. It’s probably not where you’d like to be at this point of the year.
Yeah, it’s definitely new territory for me. Ever since I’ve made the tour I’ve been pretty consistent in getting good results at the start of the year. I haven’t I guess had that pressure. I’ve always tried to focus on my performance and not really look at the ratings, how many points I need, I think that can kind of breed that negative mindset. Obviously you want to get off to a good start but I think everyone finds themselves in tough situations but I think you’ve got to be able to rise above it and that’s what sport is about; being able to come back from those defeats and come back from losing. On tour you lose a helluva lot more that you win. I’ve lost a bunch of close heats, like J-Bay this year, and it was probably one of those heats that could of gone either way. But I’ve always prided myself of being one of those guys that doesn’t like to think that the world is against them when you lose a close call or that it’s the judges fault or the waves fault or your boards or anything like that. I really feel like you make your own luck. I know if I keep putting in the hard work that those results will go my way.
Contrastingly your good mate Matt Wilko’s performance at J-Bay must have been inspiring to watch?
Yeah definitely and I wasn’t surprised. I think a lot of people were by his performance but I think those in the know are aware at how talented he is. I was more surprised to see him just string the heats together rather than the actual surfing he was doing. I knew he had that in him. I think getting that big result in Balito gave him that confidence and I think with Matty the more heats he surfs and the more time he puts in the water the better he looks and the more confident he gets. You could kind of really see that once he started getting on a roll it was really hard to stop him. He looked like a steam train. I think another five minutes in that heat against Joel and he might have been in the final.
You’re the Surfers’ rep on tour. Tell me about the role and what you’ve learnt from being a voice for the guys on tour and working with the new ASP?
I guess the role is something that I had hoped that one day I would get chance to do. When Kieren was retiring last year he told me, ‘I’d really like for you to take the role over from me’. He asked all the surfers and everyone was stoked for me to do it. It’s just all about providing that link between the ASP and the surfers. There were a couple of years where there was a bit more tension between the surfers and the ASP. Now it feels like there’s more of a partnership. Issues have been resolved and there aren’t conflicts of interest on board level with the brands owning and running the events as they had previously. It’s been a lot easier to be clearer, honest and upfront with the owners and go to them with concerns we’re not happy with. I think they’re doing a really great job. I think that for surfing as a sport to progress it was the right time for someone to take over.
Some say the new ASP has taken a far more American ‘ESPN feel’ and isn’t as representative to an Australian audience. Do you disagree?
I think when you look at it you do need to keep in mind the bigger picture. Before we had the new owners it did have more of an Australian feel, they had an office in Coolangatta, but when you’re looking at it from a bigger perspective Australia is a small market and that’s not where we are going to get the funding to grow the sport. The ASP has just spent a couple of days launching the American leg in New York and I know a few people might look at that as a weird move but that’s the heart of big business in the Western World and that’s where the new owners want to take the sport. They want to take it to biggest audience and you need to be a player in that game if you want to be involved.
I completely hear you and probably the most frequent comment I get is about the webcast having that American feel. I think it does and that’s something they can look at. Personally I’d like to see it have a more international flavour. I’d love to see some commentators from Europe, some from Brazil and people from all the different places we go to get more of an international appeal. I guess the bottom line is the big percentage of our fans come from America and the big percentage of our sponsorship and potential sponsorship comes from there too so it’s only natural that’s where they start.
Obviously it’s a bold move to take on ownership of any professional sport.
Yeah I think so. Look I don’t think anyone is arguing whether the webcast and the product they are delivering is better. You know obviously it does have that American feel and when you watch the intro and see the graphics and so on it definitely gives you that vibe. But I think when you know where the sport has come from and where it is heading it kind of fits the puzzle. I think the fans are going to be stoked. I was home for the last day of J-Bay and I’m never really around to watch a CT event online. I went down to the local bowling club and and it was absolutely packed. It was as Saturday afternoon and the whole town was cheering on Wilko. It was on the big screen next to the NRL game, there was cricket on, the horses were racing, all the sports were playing and everyone was just watching the surfing. I thought that was a really cool moment for me to see people invested in it and a good indictment of where the sport is now and what the ASP have been able to do with it in a short period of time.
Ace in action at the 2013 Billabong Pro Tahiti and cementing himself at the top of the podium. Photo: Joli
It’s easy for us to only see competitive surfers from a limited point of view. We watch heats, hear interviews about results or where you’ve been freesurfing. However you’re one of those gents whom is well educated and not afraid to voice your opinion. Is it hard to ignore the bigger issues in the world when you’re job is to go out there and go surfing?
Yeah for sure I think that the longer that you travel the longer your eyes open to other stuff. It’s hard because I believe that travel is one thing and working and traveling is completely different. When you’re flying somewhere to compete you do have to be completely focused on that and to some extent ignore some of those issues around you. I’ve always tried to immerse myself somewhat in a lot of the culture and story of the place and I feel that it has made me connect a little bit better. When I look back I seem to have had better results at places that really resonate with me as a person. It is hard to ignore stuff that goes on.
South Africa is one of those places. My parents are from there and they left the country because they really disagreed with what was going on there during Apartheid. I mean you still drive ten minutes outside of J-Bay and on one side there is a shanty town and you see all the little tin sheds and just off in the distance on the other hill there are all these big homes with no one living in them because they are holiday homes and you can completely understand why there’s crime, theft and stuff like that going on when it’s right there in front of your face like that. The more I travel and the older I get I think the more I want to be involved and have a positive impact on some of the places I’ve been and scratch the surface a bit more than just the event.
Let’s talk about one of those places you have a close relationship with at and that’s Tahiti. You’re the defending champion and a good result there will shoot you up the rankings. How are you feeling going into the event?
I feel relaxed and I’m really looking forward to getting back there. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago it all happened and I won the event. It’s been a really whirlwind year, I’ve had a lot going on in my life. We had a little girl and we went through a pretty hard time with her being in hospital because she was premature. I feel that I’ve grown up a lot as a person in twelve months. Even before I won last year Tahiti was a really a special place for me and the family that has looked after me since I started going there. I think defending the title is going to give me that extra little bit of motivation that I think I’ve been looking for.
There hasn’t been a code red swell hit Tahiti in a few years. We could be due. How challenging is it to have a contest when it is really solid?
I kind of feel like something is going to happen in terms of a big swell hitting this year. That’s what Teahupoo is really all about. Surfing it at 4-6 foot is really fun but it doesn’t really start to show it’s teeth until it’s over six feet. That event that we had there three years ago was historic. The tow in day was amazing. You couldn’t have run a paddle in event on that day but every other day it was 10-12 feet they ran the event just pumping. It would be really cool to get a swell like that again and compete in waves like that.
For us mere mortals who haven’t been baptised in a Teahupoo barrel what does it take to ride a wave out there really well?
I think it’s all about commitment there and having that belief. You’ve got to put yourself in a really hairy situation to get a big score out there. It is such a perfect wave and you get a lot of speed out of the drop and if you’re not behind it you’re not really going to get barreled. So it’s about having that comfort about putting yourself in that situation and knowing that you’ve got the skill to pull it off. it’s about trusting the wave as well. It is a pretty perfect wave. When you get really comfortable out there you start to put yourself in those situations with the knowledge you can pull it off. I think when it’s ten foot it’s a different story, actions speak louder than words. But I’m excited by the thought of paddling into some big round barrels and I think it would be really great for the tour if it’s big.
Once you have nailed the barrel the dismount is the next best thing. Ace jumping for joy at last year’s event. Photo: Joli
