It’s 7.00pm on Monday evening and Shane Holmes has only just woken up. His mouth is still tacky with a pastey substance, made up of red wine, beer and Jack Daniels; all of which were guzzled from a golden shoe/runner-up trophy the night previous.
This hangover is especially bad for the 24-year-old Holmesy. After eight months of sobriety, he’s managed to rack up back-to-back nights on the drink celebrating his runner-up finish to Taj Burrow in the Bali Komune Pro. The first: in the pool at the Komune and in Kuta following the result. The second: Shelly Beach Golf Club surrounded by 50-plus mates and family from his local North Shelly Boardriders.
“I’ve been sleeping all day and I still feel horrible,” reckons Holmsey.
Unlike a lot of his Komune Pro competitors, in less than 10 hours, Holmsey will be woken by an alarm and have to venture to Sydney to pour hundreds of cubic meters of concrete into an emerging city skyscraper. See, he still works his trade to keep the bread coming in. But what makes this story interesting is that in 2016 he’s already finished second in two QS1000 events to current World Tour surfers. Back in February it was to Adrian Buchan in the Central Coast Pro at Avoca and now, to Taj Burrow at Keramas.
Taj’s official quote in the WSL press release stated:
“To be honest, I had never heard of Shane until this contest. When I saw him surf I knew he was the real deal. Then when I saw him beat Joel (Parkinson) and was in the Final I definitely wasn’t taking it lightly. To win a couple of events here is amazing I love this wave, it’s really fitting as it will be one of my last WSL events. I couldn’t be happier.”
So, how did this aspiring professional surfer and concreter from the NSW Central Coast shoot to the final in some of the best waves seen for an event in, well, a long time? How did he manage to muster up his fourth victory over 2012 World Champ Joel Parkinson (Parko has never bettered Holmes in heat)? And where is all this leading for Holmes?
Tracks grabbed him to find out.
Has it all sunk in yet?
“Nah, it really hasn’t. It still feels like a dream. People are still posting photos up and congratulating me, so it still doesn’t seem real.”
You came second to Ace Buchan in Avoca earlier this year, but what was it about Keramas that made it so memorable?
“I think it was the waves and the playing field. It was one of the hardest QS1000 events I think I’ve ever seen. To have Taj in the final in one of his last comps before retiring makes it so much more memorable. I had him comboed with ten minutes to go and I thought ‘he’s going to get out of this easy.’ Then he dropped a nine and he basically just waited until the final 40-seconds where he got a 9.6 and took the win. At the time I was like ‘no, not again…’”
Did a part of you – in those final minutes of the heat – think, ‘holy fuck, I might win this’?
“Sort of, because it went flat for the last five minutes and the time just dragged on, almost like the time was going backwards. When that final set popped up and I was like ‘this shit can’t be happening.’”
The vibe in the water pretty mellow?
“Yeah it was a slow start, so we talked for a bit about the heat maybe restarting. He asked me about finishing second to Ace and that, so it was pretty cruisey.”
There was a bit of a rivalry and some heated words going back and forth over social media between your club North Shelly and Jackson Baker’s (semi-finalist) club Merewether before the final day. Did that fire you up more to smash it?
“Yeah it definitely did. When I read that stuff, I still had to beat Parko and I was like ‘Fuck, I can’t lose now.’ Then when I met up with Jackson in the semi, I just wanted to prove everyone wrong.”
Parko has never beaten you. You got him twice in Surfest a few years back and now twice in this comp. What are you doing against him that you might not be doing against others?
“Not sure. He’s cool about it though. He came up to me and actually said ‘mate, I’ve never beaten you, I don’t know why.’ I just joked back with ‘I don’t know either, but I’m pretty happy to keep beating you (laughs).’ He’s super cool. He had a few beers with us after it all and it’s all in good fun.”
You’ve been off the piss since September. How good did that first beer taste?
“Oh my god. I’ve never felt anything like it. I did a few ‘shooeys’ in the pool at the presentation and I was half pissed when I got out.”
Are you going back on the wagon now?
“Definitely. After waking up how I did this morning, I’m not drinking for a while now. Maybe, until I win one hopefully.”
What’s the end goal here mate?
“I’m looking at it all as a three year goal. I just want to work my way towards qualifying in that time. And if it doesn’t work I guess I just have stick to working full-time, but the plan is to qualify eventually.”
Is that daunting?
“It’s definitely going to be hard, but I love competing and if I can travel the world doing it then it’s more of a bonus.”
One thing I heard after this comp was people had never heard of you before this comp. Does it feel good your surfing made people notice?
“For sure. I couldn’t even make highlight reels in the early rounds and I was winning heats. I really like being the underdog though. I’m not a big name and I don’t have a sponsor at all. I’m just a concreter who likes surfing.”
Back to work tomorrow?
“Yep. It’ll definitely be a reality check that’s for sure.”
