The Dream Tour earned its nickname easily. The people who compete on it every year are living what just about every surfer on the planet would consider a dream simply by having access to the world’s best waves, surfing them during their peak season with no more than three other people in the water, all while getting paid to do it. You actually can’t create something more perfect in the imagination of a surfer, which is why the idea that any of this would cause stress and anxiety for an individual seems a tad outrageous on the surface.
Keeping oneself in such company requires work, though, and we do often get to hear the other side of the coin from people who live this life. The grind to get there followed by the fight to stay there.
“I almost thought once I got on the Tour it was like, ‘yeah OK cool I’m on,'” says Conner Coffin, now entering his fourth go on the CT. “But I quickly realized how much of a challenge it is to just keep re-qualifying. It’s been a challenge just to stay on there.”
The above interview was done with Coffin in the middle of the 2018 tour, leading into the first ever Surf Ranch Pro. At the time, the California native was 18th in the rankings and a strong showing down the final stretch of the year landed him inside the top 10 for the first time in his career. It was his strongest end-to-end season to date and hearing him talk about the mental side of a full year on the CT is the kind of insight that’ll help you appreciate World Tour competitors on a whole new level.
“At the end of the day, it all comes down to how you deal with those things in your life and pressure’s just kind of in your own head. You can choose to feel it or not.”
