Dane Reynolds sorgt im Moment für einigen Wirbel: Nachdem das Stab Magazine verkündete, dass der wohl aufregendste Surfer auf der Worldtour ebendiese verlassen will, dementierte Dane heftig. Jetzt scheint es, als ob er den ersten Contest 2011 an der Goldcoast verpassen wird. Eine Knie-OP soll der Grund sein.

Dass Dane allerdings in der Tat wenig für die Jagd nach Scores übrig hat und auch ansonsten viele Erscheinungen des modernen Profi-Surfens im Besonderen und den Zustands der Surfkultur im Allgemeinen für besorgniserregend hält, ist jetzt amtlich. Wer das ganze Interview, das Jed Smith im Oktober mit dem 24-Jährigen führte, liest, muss den Jungen lieben. So ehrlich hat noch niemand seine Meinung gesagt, der von der Surf-Industrie lebt.

Hier ist das Gespräch im Original. Und falls du danach denkst: "Interessant, aber wer ist der Typ schon?" dann überzeuge dich anhand des brandneuen Vids von Danes letztjährigem Trestles-Auftritt, warum das Wunderkind DAS Zugpferd der Tour ist. Noch vor Kelly Slater.

JS: Tell me about Dane Reynolds in Europe.

Dane Reynolds: It’s funny because when you’re at a surf contest no matter where you are, it doesn’t feel like you’re anywhere special because you’re so tied to the surf contest. When I travel for surf contests, I don’t feel like I’m travelling at all, it feels like I’m at a surf contest. In a small moment between the two events (The Quiksilver Pro, France and the Rip Curl Pro, Portugal) I went to San Sebastian (in Basque country, Spain) for a night. It’s really cool there but we didn’t have a great time this time. We got there at the end of when I’d been drinking too much in France, you know. I couldn’t do it another night. And then we went to Bilbao and I didn’t drink for a couple of nights, which was nice. Sober up, you know.

JS: Is it hard to socialise these days without getting drunk?

DR: Yeah, man. Well, I get anxious being around people, so drinking like fills the void.

JS: Anxious?

DR: I dunno. I don’t really venture out too far. Most of the people I’m around most of the time, I’m pretty good friends with. I dunno. You go to a restaurant, it’s so easy to... a beer helps. Especially in Europe, you know.

JS: What are some of the sacrifices your job requires?

DR: You sacrifice having a normal life. But, in turn, there is no such thing as a normal life. Imagine a nine-to-five job and how much you have to sacrifice with that. You’ve gotta sacrifice your life. You have a small part of every day or every week to be you. So for me, on a relative scale, I don’t have to sacrifice much. But you live a pretty public life and everything you do is analysed and put out there and people are interested in what you do. My brother can do whatever the fuck he wants every day and only his close friends and family are analysing it.

JS: What do your friends at home say about the life you lead?

DR: Shit, I’d say my best friend is Adam Virs. He’s older and he had lots of opportunities in his life to do well competitively (as a surfer). We don’t really talk about how I’m doing on the tour. I’m gonna go home and he’s gonna be like, “Travis Logie (Dane’s victorious opponent in round two of the Rip Curl Pro, Peniche), C’mon?” But even if I lost to (world number two) Jordy (Smith), he’d be like, “Jordy, Are you kidding me?” My other friends will be like, “Where have you been?” And I’ll be like, “Portugal.”

“Fun?”

“Yeah.”

I’ll get like a random dude on a soft top at C-Street, which is like the Waikiki of Ventura, saying, “Hey dude, you’re living the dream, mannnnn.” Some other people are like, “You must be drained.” I get two polar opposites. My life isn’t tough. I feel super lucky but there are other things I would like to spend my time doing like travelling, for real.

JS: Why don’t you just disappear?

DR: I’ve left the last three events thinking I definitely can’t do this again next year. But leaving is such a gnarly thing. Since I’ve been 11 years old when I started surfing good or whatever and they ask you, “What do you wanna do now?” “I wanna be on tour.” For the last 15 years it’s been a goal.

JS: But can you live by the goals you made when you were 11?

DR: No, I know. But it would be a really big ordeal. I have considered what it would be like to be climbing up and down the ratings for the next five or 10 years but it doesn’t mean that much to me. But then it’s a scary thing leaving.

JS: What’s scary?

DR: Just… um, I dunno. It’s just a really big change, I guess. Change is always scary. I don’t really wanna say it like as a definitive fact but I don’t really feel like I will do it next year. I can’t say that for sure because it’s a big change and scary you know. And, you’re walking away from a pretty cool thing. I like competing. The problem is it’s not that important to me.

JS: What motivates you to compete?

DR: It’s still exciting putting on the jersey and having the showiness of it. It’s totally still exciting. Is it worth spending the next years of your life doing that and nothing else? I dunno. But, it is exciting.

JS: Can we get this straight – is there a difference between good surfing and winning heats?

DR: Yep.

JS: And are you more motivated by surfing good as opposed to winning heats?

DR: Yeah, I think so.

JS: So you do care, but about surfing well?

DR: Yeah, I guess that’s right.

JS: You’re wearing clothes that aren’t your sponsor’s (a big no, no in surfing). What are some of the other thing’s you’ve done that have chafed your employer?

DR: At the Pipe Masters I had a hand-drawn logo on my board that was barely there, I guess. And they got really upset about that. On the webcast, I guess it didn’t look like there was a logo there. It was there. But now, with the manager I have a buffer so I probably don’t hear sometimes where before it was really personal and I’d feel really bad about losing a heat even. Listen to this. When I first got sponsored by Quiksilver, I got a wildcard into the Snapper event and I was 18 or whatever. I was so lanky and so far from competing against world tour guys. I surfed a heat against Kelly because I was a low seed. He got two eights and a nine or something and I didn’t get shit. I came in and one of the guys from Quiksilver, I thought he was gonna be at least like, “Ah man, tough luck. Next time.” He’s like, “Needless to say, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

JS: How did you take that?

DR: I don’t know. Fuck, I knew I had a lot of work to do but I didn’t wanna hear someone tell me that.

JS: You said surfing is in a weird place. How so?

DR: It all feels like there’s no realness to it. Everything feels like a gimmick or a campaign. Everything is about pushing product more than being real. But then the consumers are as guilty as the companies pushing it because they’re buying it. Surfing doesn’t necessarily need to do cool new shit because Quiksilver’s top-seller is gonna be a logo on a green shirt in Pac Sun in Dallas, which is not even a surfer shop.