There are a lot of waves on this planet that are difficult to surf. Be they mellow or steep and wedgy, however, nearly all of them get easier with time. Different tides, different swell directions, different bathymetry—all the little things that affect a wave can only be truly figured out by one thing: time in the water. While Teahupoʻo may be on a different level than most waves, it’s still dictated by those same factors, and time in the water there, like anywhere else, makes surfing it a little easier. “Over the years,” Parko says, “you get calm. You get comfortable with it… it’s one of those places you just need to go. You just need to put time in. You’ve just got to learn that wave.”
A while back, Joel Parkinson announced that he’d be calling it quits after the 2018 tour. It was a bittersweet day for surf fans. Heading off into the sunset of his career, it’s hard not to be happy that he’s taking the proverbial gold watch and sending himself out to pasture. For all its benefits, life on tour for nearly two decades would, at some point, begin to feel like a grind.
Parko has remained a fan favorite for the entirety of his 17 years on tour. At Teahupoʻo , he’s found his way into many a mind-blowing wave. He’s scored perfect tens, made countless finals, and of course, was the recipient of one of the biggest mind-f***s in Teahupoʻo history back in 2012 when Mick Fanning sold him on a lemon. “As soon as I had taken a stroke, I’d lost priority,” he remembers. “The wave was a piece of shit and I went down.” The wave behind it was the one Fanning needed. And, as Fanning has so often proven himself capable of doing, he got the score and took the win.
Billabong sat down with him to talk about his time at Tahiti’s finest wave, and if this interview does one thing, it makes us certain we’re going to miss him in the jersey.
