Jordy speaks to Zigzag from The Gold Coast

Zigzag scribe Craig Jarvis caught up with our man Jordy Smith, on the Gold Coast who answered some interesting questions on his ‘apparent’ change of heat tactic's, the ASP’s new lease on life, and also gave his gratetude to all his support back home.

Zigzag: Jordy. Well done superstar. You have no idea how proud we all are back home. We’ve been waking up after midnight to watch you blazing on the webcasts, and it has been quite exhilarating. We have a few questions we wanted to hit you up with regarding your amazing run and second place win at the Quiksilver Pro.
 
First up, are you taking a more calculated approach in contests? People are saying that your approach has changed?
 
Jordy: Not at all. If anything I am concentrating on having more fun with my surfing. As I said in the first interview I did on the beach, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with myself this season. I really want to enjoy my surfing, and hopefully this approach will reflect in the contests and in the results. The judges  are giving big scores for big moves, so in the long run it’s NOT going to pay to be calculated. Taj said that he was taking it easy in the final. It worked for him, but he also said that he knew that I could blow up with a big score at any time and take the lead back. That’s where I want to be.

Warm up for the World Tour - Jordy getting his freak on at Lennox Head before the Quik Pro.

Zigzag: What is your opinion on ASP’s new lease on life? Ie; the new judging criteria and Tour format, and do you think this showed at the Quik Pro?

Jordy: There is not that much change from my point of view. You come down to the beach, check the conditions, choose your board and pick your vest up. The best thing is that it became obvious in this contest that the judges were scoring for surfers who were blowing up. Kelly and Dane Reynolds were going for broke, with some unconventional but dynamic moves, and the judges rewarded them accordingly.
 
It’s really cool to see where we are going. New high performance levels were raised and former levels were shattered. It’s a full-on start to the year, you know. We are right up to full speed after just this one event. It remains to be seen when we have the mid-year cut-offs and the new system is in place, but for now I am just surfing heats and having fun.

Luellen Smith, very proud of her son.

Zigzag: As you know your fan base has grown and there are so many South Africans rooting for you in every event. Your facebook page goes mad whenever you win a heat, and your website has been crawling with activity. Do you have any message to your supporters back home?

I am just so stoked that the guys back home are giving me so much support. When I’m on the other end of the world, at an event getting a bit lonely, it’s great to see all the good wishes and communication coming off the various platforms. So I would obviously like to thank everyone for the support, it really is appreciated, and after this push, I hope I can do my fellow South Africans even more proud in the future. 

Next stop on the 2010 Dream Tour is the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, which kicks off on the 30th of March. In the meantime, log on to www.jordysmith.com for Jordy's latest blog updates, news, photos and videos.