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What does it feel like to get wiped out at Jaws?

Jaws is a very unique wave and you’ve got to be prepared for that place, especially if you’re going to wipe out. When you do wipe-out it’s just a lot of water landing on your shoulders and generally you might rip a ligament in your shoulder as your arm gets thrown back. You’ve also got to be able to relax. If you start panicking as you go over the falls on a wave that size you could end up drowning. So you’ve got to relax and swim down and as you get taken down deep your ears start to pop. It really is that deep once it hits that shallow reef so you do get pushed down but this is a good thing as you can get out the back of the wave but you have a long way to swim up. You’ve got to be conscious of all that, do some training and have a big set of lungs and then you can tackle that spot.

You can go down about 60 or 70 feet, your ears go ‘bang, bang’ a couple of times. It depends on where you wipe out: on the north peak it’s not so bad but if it’s the west peak, then you can get pinned quite deep on that end section and go down for quite a while.

Have you had any close encounters with sharks?

I’ve not had too many close encounters – I’ve had one bump the side of my board and knock my board sideways and then it just took off but I’ve not had any sharks come at me and try and bite me – they are pretty tame creatures really.

What’s the most scared you’ve been windsurfing?

I’ve had a couple of episodes, some at Hookipa, some at Jaws. But getting caught in the current in between Hookipa & Lanes has probably been the scariest. You lose your equipment, the swell is quite big and the current keeps taking you into the line-up, then you get hit by the waves and then you get sucked back out again - you’re doing a constant circle and after 3 or 4 times it tires you down and if you don’t get out of that circle, you’ll end up drowning.

Are there any waves left for you to windsurf?

There are lots of places actually; a break in Mexico called Toto Santos, there’s a wave of the coast of San Diego called the Cortes Bank, there’s some waves in Kauai , some massive waves on the north-western coastline of Tasmanian so there’s still oodles and oodles of places to go and get waves.

Why do you think you developed a unique, vertical style to your wave sailing?

From growing up in my hometown in Torquay, it was a very surfing orientated town so it was a natural progression to switch from a surfboard to a windsurfer and ride that like a surf board; so as I say, it was a very natural progression for me to do that.

Do you still make the majority of your money from windsurfing?

Yes, all my money is from windsurfing sponsorship – solely that.

Are you practising any of the new school moves that we now see on the PWA Wave Tour?

A lot of new moves on the Tour are between a wave & freestyle manoeuvre like the air chacos and I haven’t really got into those. But as far as true wave orientated moves like the wave 360’s and the goitas, I definitely do all of those and I am looking forward to seeing how it all works at the Hawaiian event that starts on November 10th this year. (This is the last event on the PWA Wave Tour).

Ever fancy doing a Kelly Slater comeback?

The only time I would like to do a comeback is if the Tour changed around a bit and we started going to destinations like we had in the past: a bit more of Hookipa, Fiji, Western Australia…where we could really express ourselves in some really good conditions rather than always being in onshore, small wave conditions.

Is it true your contract prevents you from having anything to do with motorcycles?

Yeah, after injuring myself numerous times I now have in my contract the clause that I’m not allowed to so much as look at a motorcycle, let alone go on one. So while I’m windsurfing, unfortunately, I can’t ride a motorcycle.

If you could be a professional in another sport (not motocross) what would it be?

That’s a tough one! I mean I like road racing, that’s all motorcycles again too isn’t it?! If I had to choose another sport…I mean I enjoy playing a bit of golf but I don’t think I’d make a very good golfer as I don’t have the patience. Maybe a kart racer – that would be fun.

Why do you live on Maui – surely there are better, less crowded places to windsurf?

There are probably better places in the world to go wave sailing but Maui is the windsurf capital of the world – it’s where a lot of the R&D is done, it has really good infrastructure to work on all of the equipment and of course, it has the waves. Of course the only bad thing is the crowds but it’s just a good place to get a lot of work done. And if you are really are talking about wanting to sail the biggest waves in the world then Hawaii is the place that has them – at that place called Jaws!

Where is this sport going?

I think it’s growing definitely especially with the freestyle – it’s given it a boost in the last 5 years. So many kids can now grab their windsurfers and ride on the Lakes whereas in the past, they weren’t able to because they didn’t have that freestyle element and I think that’s been a real factor in boosting the sport. Also with Red Bull coming on board and being pretty keen to do this video and the way the sport is – it’s a very dynamic sport – I can see it growing and getting bigger in the future.

Isn’t it time you settled down, got married and had kids?!

Yeah, that’s always in my mind but at the moment I’m still like a big kid! I’m just looking forward to travelling around to the next spot, finding that next big wave. There is defiantly a time for settling down but at the moment I’m still enjoying doing my thing and finding that perfect storm wave!

Will we be seeing the third instalment of the Polakow DVD anytime soon?

At the moment, I’m just concentrating on the still photography stories and we are taking some cinematographer to these locations but we’re actually working on a Red Bull video which includes Robbie Naish, Levi Siver and other members of the Red Bull Team so I’m putting my energy into that. A dedicated JP movie isn’t on the cards at the moment.

How does the JP set up work these days?

Basically we have two main shapers; one is Richard Greene who does the wave boards and I work with him closely at the JP Centre in Hawaii, so together it is really easy for us to improve the boards. Then we have Werner Gnigler who is based in South Africa . He is working more with the Racing Team such as Micah Buzianis in developing all the other lines.

Are the production boards designed for the mass market or for the JP Professional riders?

It’s sort of in between really. The smallest wave board in the line and the next one up are pure wave boards that you would use at Hookipa. We are sailing on faster boards these days so these do appeal to the mass market. Whereas the bigger boards are more user friendly by being wider and that’s something which I don’t use. But I still test them in onshore conditions with other JP Team riders as well as non-professionals and intermediate sailors so the ultimate product you get on the market is really user friendly.

Which Pro riders would you like to get on the JP Team?

Kauli Seadi is sailing pretty good, Victor Fernandez is also sailing well. I wasn’t in Gran Canaria but I heard they were the best and it would be good to get those guys on the Team.

Finally, what about Steve Irwin?

Yes, that was terrible, Steve Irwin – he was an icon and not just in Australia . He was a really great guy, dedicated to the conservation of the wildlife and it was very sad to see him go. But they gave him a massive funeral and people were bringing flowers to his Zoo from what I saw on the news. You’d think he'd have died from being attacked by a crocodile or a shark but from a non-aggressive animal like the sting ray, that was pretty hard to take.