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The Inertia

A few months ago, surf legend Tom Curren recently joined a LUEX Travel Maldives boat trip as surf coach, scoring some great waves from the beautiful yacht called the Gurahali. Towards the end of the trip, LUEX CEO Tim Heising sat down to interview Tom, about everything from his favorite retro boards, to surfing skimboards, and the challenge of balancing family life with a professional surfing career.

Tim H: You are one of the few guys who have really seen board shapes evolve: you’ve been riding single fins, twin fins, thrusters, quad fins, everything, right? What kind of boards from the old times are you missing the most, or are you taking out the most?

Tom C: Right now I’ve been starting to ride twin fins again, so that’s been a lot of fun. The thing about twin fins is that they just really have a lot of drive, and they’re a little bit hard to control. It was around 1979, I think, that I started riding twin fins.

Tim H: I’ve seen that you’re using a couple of Tomo boards?

Tom C: Yeah, the boards Daniel (Thomson) is making now. I have a 5’2 and a 5’6. They seem pretty small, but there’s enough volume and they’re made from extruded polystyrene, so they tend to float more than polyurethane foam. Daniel’s a really good surfer and he’s made a lot of experimental shapes, and it’s great to see what he’s doing. I really like the parallel aspect of the boards because they just seem to go faster, I think. So I think he’s got some kind of breakthrough there because he’s gone real narrow but the board is more parallel. So I think what he’s doing–it’s not perfect–but it’s maybe an advance.

Tim H: And I’ve seen you using very small boards, basically skimboards, is that right? That’s pretty amazing. How long have you been doing that? 

Tom C: I started riding stand up on a boogie board and it was kind of a fun thing to do at home in the summer. The boogie board is, I think, one of the greatest inventions ever because its just an amazing piece of equipment: so small, so simple… it has the flex, and you know it just works amazing and people are doing great things with the boogie board. With skim boards… I was surfing with Brad Domke in Mexico, and just kinda watching what he’s doing, trying to figure out how he does it, because he’s really surfing the wave with the board like a surfboard. The key is the edge is really hard, so it stays in the wave face and you don’t need fins as much with that really hard edge; it holds in so the fun thing about it is you can go really fast, but the hard part is that, y’know its obviously very hard to paddle. I use a soft board to catch the waves and stuff, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s hard too, so I like the challenge I guess.

Tom Curren riding a skimboard in the Maldives.

Tom Curren riding a skimboard in the Maldives. Photo: Miguel Sacramento

Tim H: So if you were to go on a boat trip with your friends, no promotions, no photographers, nobody on it, were would you go?

Tom C: Wow, that’s a great question. A boat trip. Where I live is actually really good for boat trips, you know. Santa Barbara is kinda ideal to have a boat, especially in the summer. There are a lot of waves on the islands, but the islands are in front of the town and so I haven’t had a chance to do much of going out on a boat trip at home. So I would maybe try to do that actually. And of course the places like here–the Maldives–are absolutely incredible. The water color is, I think the bluest water I’ve ever seen, and the waves are good. You get a good swell and you get barreled all day. It’s a bit far, but it’s definitely worth it.

Tim H: So tell me a little bit about music. Would you consider yourself now more a musician or more a surfer?

Tom C: Well, the music has really come at a good time for me: I’ve been able to spend more time playing, working on songs and recordings, and I’ve done a few tours and stuff like that. I’m working on a new album right now, so it’s kind of a big part of what I’m doing now. At the same time I have a lot of travel stuff with Ripcurl, and I’m doing a lot of stuff with the team.

Tom Curren is as much a musician as he is a surfer.

Tom Curren is as much a musician as he is a surfer. Photo: Miguel Sacramento

Tim H: So there’s surfing, there’s music, and obviously there’s family as well. What does family mean to you?

Tom C: Family is obviously very important for me. I get to travel with my family, so that’s really good. My kids all surf and we travel together sometimes. Every now and then, we’re all together at the same place, but that’s not very often. My kids are all pursuing their careers, and that has a lot to do with surfing. One of my sons lives in Australia now, and my daughter is going to South Africa, so I’m trying to figure out if I can go and meet her down there. They’re all doing their own thing, they’re a little older now, so I kinda have to just figure out what their schedule is and work into what they’re doing. But we’ve had some great times. Surfing and traveling is obviously really extra special when you can do it with your family.

Tim H: A lot of stars have to be a little  bit egotistical if they want to combine a sports career with family, right? Do you think you’ve had to do that?

Tom C: Yeah, sometimes I suppose, certainly. Obviously the balance is important. I think if something that I’m doing is important to me, then my wife will understand. Mainly it’s her because, she’ll say “what are you doing? You were supposed to be home last week. What’s going on?” But she’s very understanding as well, and I think she can respect that actually: this is my job. I surf, and I’m so fortunate. I just feel really lucky. But of course, if you lose that balance, then it’s not rewarding in the long run anyway, because you have to have that balance. Otherwise you won’t have any more family.

The full version of the interview is available here on LUEX Magazine

 
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