Tom Curren Interview

BT:  A common remark made of your session in Indonesia in which you rode a
5’7" fish in fifteen foot surf was "yeah, but imagine how he would have been
surfing on a real board."  In an activity so free as surfing why is
experimentation now looked upon with skepticism?

TC:  Um. Well.  I guess there’s certain laws, physical laws that exist, and
one of them is if you have a board with a tail that’s too wide, you’ll have
problems in the tube.  Because there’s too much width in the tail the board
actually goes back up the face and you can’t really ride as deep as a narrow
tail. So there are certain things that have to be considered, but there’s a
lot of times when a board like that is actually a lot more fun.  Probably
not in ten or so foot waves, more like little waves, little mushy waves.
It’s a lot of fun.

BT:  So was the board not the right for those waves?  It seemed like it was
a good thing because it was fresh and you were trying something that other
people weren’t trying at the time, they were just riding their standard guns
or shortboards, whatever they were supposed to be riding and you were kind
of trying something different.

TC:  Well, I guess I was just interested to see how you could ride a really
short board in pretty big waves. And I guess just around the same time or
maybe a little bit before I went on that trip, there were guys towing into
really big waves with really short, different equipment. You know, a little
bit heavier board, kind of a short, and twin fins were what they used in
some of the big waves on Maui.  So, I think it’s good to have a shorter
board in a way.  But usually in overhead surf you have to have a balance
between something you can paddle and something that you can turn. So that’s
where you have to compromise a little bit unless you’re towing in.  But I
think that design of a board was working well in way.  It seemed to go well
in facier waves and sometimes it was just nice to have that, you know a lot
of speed going under the board. I kind of like the idea of having less board
just so you don’t have to worry as much about getting hit by a big heavy
board.  But you know, there’s other guys riding really short boards in tow
in surfing, but those boards work a lot differently.

BT:  It seems that your experimentation in board design, whether riding Skip
Frye fishes, hybrids, or sawing up your Matt Moore’s, has led to a more
open-minded approach to the quiver.   Certainly there are more fishes in the
water. The masses today follow trends established by pro surfing and the
media.  Is there any way to counter the herd mentality on an individual
level, and generate more free thought in surfers?

TC:  Well, Gee.  I think it’s usually the case in surfing, that you have
different waves and different conditions, and for every slightly different
condition of the waves, then you have a different board that’s gonna be
better for it.  You know, in one-foot point surf there’s either a longboard
or a really wide kind of a fish or something.  Up to say bigger, overhead
surf.   It’s kind of subjective and also it’s good to be on something you
don’t have to work too hard at, you know, surfing.  A lot times in the
contest scene you have to kind of ride the same board as everyone else, it
may not be the funnest board but there’s a certain amount of work you have
to put into to doing a maneuver in a contest.  You can’t really do well in
the contests riding something that you’re just into riding because it’s fun.
You have to ride basically what everybody else is riding.

BT:  So all the surfers not on the pro tour see all the pro surfers riding
the same board because of it’s competitive advantage and then they don’t try
out new designs.  Do you think it’s normal that the masses of surfers would
just follow the example set by the contest surfers?

TC:  Well I don’t know, was out surfing the other day and the waves were
really small so it wasn’t really surfable on that type of board.  So I
noticed there were, you know, a couple guys on longboards and a couple other
guys who were riding these sort of used boards from the seventies. So I
think definitely when the waves are good enough, it’s good to have the
modern type board and there are a lot of advantages to the boards now that
the old boards don’t have. But at the same time, you have a lot of days when
you’re just going to be out there working really hard to do a turn.  And in
that case, it’s then it’s better to either go ride a longboard, or a morey
boogie, or anything that’s just something you don’t have to work so hard at.

 
BT: With Kelly Slater and consumer culture pushing surfing toward a
pervasive country club mentality, will we suffer from a lack of creative
changes and corporate mediocrity?



TC:  Well, uh.  I don’t know.  I don’t really look at it like that.  I think
there’s probably more diversity now than say, ten fifteen years ago.  There
is a problem though.   There’s like a mental block with the idea of coming
up with better materials.  The designs are going forward and there’s a lot
of different ideas.  A lot of guys on the tour ride completely different
equipment even though it may be the same over-all dimensions.  But I think
there’s a real block as far as using better materials.  And it’s a real
problem that after thirty or 35 plus years, they’re still using archaic
materials.  That’s something that there will be a break through in for sure.
The only thing I see is a kind of consumerism and conformity and all that.
People are not really willing or interested in trying new materials such as
epoxy, carbon fiber, different types of foam that are better.  So that’s
where the problem is.

BT:  In an era of rampant trash talking and narcissism in professional
sports, why did you use your podium as World Champion to express spiritual
yearnings and modest appraisals of other surfers?

TC:  Gee, I don’t know.  I guess people think that it’s the best thing just
to be able to go around the world and surf.  Which is really great and
everything, but I think it doesn’t make you a better person.  I’m just
reminded a lot that it’s a lucky thing to be able to travel and surf and
that doesn’t make me a better person, or something.

BT:  I was thinking of basketball and trash talking.  And even in the
seventies in surfing there seemed to be an emphasis on this "I’m the man!"
attitude.  Where as, when Martin Potter won the world championship in 989
you stated "Martin Potter is the best surfer in the world" when it could
have been argued that you were the best surfer in the world at the time.  It
seemed that you were always very modest and appreciative of the other
surfers’ talents.

TC:  Uh huh, yeah.  Whoa. Thanks. I was able to do well in contests, more
than a lot of guys, and I don’t always think it’s because I’m better.  It’s
just the thing, that  in contest surfing you do have to have a kind of focus
and a competitive thing.  But a lot of times the best guy on the day loses
and it’s just something you’re aware of when your traveling on the tour.  It
helps, I think, just because you don’t get discouraged if your digging
rails, or you’re not really happy with your equipment or whatever.  There’s
always other factors that doing well in the contest has, such as getting the
waves, getting rest and sleep, getting a good breakfast.

BT:  Are you at all concerned that your reluctance to fully participate in
the myth making machines of media and popular culture only increase the
myths surrounding you?

TC:  I don’t know. I have a really normal kind of life, just you know my
kids, my family, it’s really pretty normal.  There’s nothing to be really
too mystical about.  I make blunders, I do what I can, I get discouraged
sometimes.  I don’t know what else is there.  There’s nothing to glorify
there as far as me personally.
   
BT:  "When you are in the water you are a king.  On the land is where the
real slipping takes place" ­ Gerry Lopez.   Real surfing seems to involve a
duality.  You have been linked to drug use and devout religion and in your
clothing line I noted an interest in the tides.   Does your surfing life
involve an ebb and flow of creative and destructive tendencies?

TC:  Well um. No I never really thought of it like that.  We kinda got away
from that moon thing, we were aware that there’s a lot of abstract symbolism
that goes with it whether it’s eastern mysticism or something that has to do
with the moon, I don’t what, tides or anything like that.  I wanted to have
it like a "C," It’s "Curren." It’s our label. So we kind of came back from
that kind of representation.  But no we don’t want to conjure up too many
symbols of anything you know.  We got a label and it’s all about a product
now.  What ever it is we want to make a good product. It doesn’t matter what
it is.

BT:  And what about religion and drug use?  In a recent SURFER magazine
article, Stone Parker compared surfers to criminals and drug users citing
surfing’s stimulation of body chemicals.  Do you surf to fix something right
inside of you in the same way you would turn drugs or religion?  How do all
three fit into your life?

TC:  Well I think you can pretty messed up on drugs and I think you can get
messed up on surfing too.  But surfing is actually a very good thing, it’s
very healthy. It’s just that people get hung up with that totally dominating
their whole life in a way that actually is destructive too.   It can destroy
your family, just like drugs can.  It can destroy your marriage, surfing too
much.  I’m really grateful that I didn’t have to go through any heavy drug
period.  I have tried a few different drugs, but I’ve never had to account
for a lot of money spent, or this or that, luckily for me, but that doesn’t
mean that I wasn’t touched by that aspect.  I think a lot of people, just
about everybody, has some kind of experience there.  As far as now, I just
get up and try to go surfing once a day and keep the balance there.  I can’t
let surfing dominate me because then it will cause problems with my family.
While I am surfing a lot, there is balance.


BT:  Do you think your dad was obsessed with surfing?  If so how did it
affect you?

TC:  He wasn’t obsessed surfing, he may have been a little bit controlled by
the idea of finding some kind of paradise.  Which they did find in Hawaii.
Then he was drawn to Central America, and first it was California, but he’s
not controlled by that now.   It just may have been something, a place you
could just live off the land, fish and dive and surf and make boards.  I
wouldn’t call it an obsession, I’d just say that it was his inspiration.

BT:  How do you prioritize your life?

TC:  It depends on what kind of material type of priorities we have to deal
with.  I don’t really think of things categorically in the priorities sense,
except with out sort sounding too religious or whatever:  If it’s okay with
god then everything will work out.  And that’s about priorities. My Family.

BT:  So would you say family or surfing would come first in your life?

TC:  Surfing, it is very important to me, but my family is more important