PROFOUND EPIPHANIES AT THE QUIKSILVER PRO
Taj  is on a roll by having fun and Dane ain’t talking about a revolution

Taj celebrating his win on the podium.

Taj Burrow is on the roll of his life, after collecting his third straight win since taking out Pipe in December. His decisive victory in the Quikky Pro over Jordy Smith at fat, onshore Snapper takes him to number one in the world. It follows his win in the Breaka Pro WQS event at Burleigh last month.

And, after the last few years of feverish training, dedicated world title campaigns, focus and discipline, he puts it down to one simple thing. Having more fun.
“I think it’s just a bit more of a carefree approach. I’m not concerned about world titles or anything,” a beaming Taj gushed after the final. “After Pipe that was just like, wow, unbelievable ... I’m content now. I feel content. I don’t feel like it’s the end of the world if I don’t get a world title.”
Ironically, it’s that very attitude that may see Taj, now 31 and in the unfamiliar role of tour elder, achieve his career ambition.
“It’s not in the forefront of my mind. It’s not the be-all and end-all,” said Taj. “My approach has been just to try and enjoy my surfing, relax and have fun. When I really want to get out there and surf I seem to do the best.”
Taj had overcome a determined charge from an in-form Bobby Martinez in the first semi, holding a handy lead for most of the heat as Martinez launched increasingly ambitious and, in the end, desperate airs to try score the 9.2 he needed.  
The keenly anticipated second semi between form surfers Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith was, as is so often the case, anti-climactic. 24 hours, as they say, is a long time in pro surfing. After re-inventing competitive surfing with his blitzkrieg of radical risk-taking yesterday, Dane surfed like a drunkard today. These Mod Coll kids are supposed to love the onshore ramps, but Dane barely landed a thing, and Jordy cruised through to the final with a 7.5 and an 8.8 - solid but unremarkable. That’s the flipside of Dane’s wild “bust through or bust” approach of yesterday. Unattached to winning, ratings points or world titles, Dane just wants to put on a show and push his surfing. When it works, like yesterday, it’s breathtaking. When it fails, like today, it’s hard to watch. We might think we all want to see these guys push the limits, go to the outer edges of their outlandish abilities, but today we just wanted to see someone complete a turn.

Taj showing the crowd he can complete a turn.

And those who crave to see Dane knuckle down and chase a world title might be in for a disappointment. “I think that a lot of the people that are here are here for a different reason than me, for points and scores and ratings,” Dane said, as we watched the final. “I think the best thing about these events is getting all the best surfers together and having them surf in front of a crowd, so I just treat it like that. I want to surf well and push myself. I’m never going to get on a roll where I win every event or nothing, but to have a heat like yesterday, that was super fun.”
I commented that I’d been keen to see how Dane might react to winning one of these events. I couldn’t quite imagine him doing the double fist pumps on the back of the jet-ski thing - it just doesn’t seem his style. Does he know how he’d react to winning one? Even the suggestion seemed to make him momentarily uncomfortable. “I don’t know. That would be a weird feeling,” he grimaced.  
He almost seems more comfortable losing. When Dane lost his keenly anticipated matchup with Jordy this morning, he barely seemed to care. “I don’t really consider it. Winning’s a weird thing actually,” Dane went on, “Like before the contest I’d see Jeremy (Flores) and he’d be like, yeah, what’s happening? And then I after I beat him in a heat he just, (Dane pulls a stern face) storms by.  It’s just weird. You’re just creating enemies a long the way.  And like Parko yesterday, AAAAH!” Dane roars, impersonating Parko’s anguish. “He was pissed.”
Interestingly, this devil-may-care approach of the younger crew seems to be what’s fired up the veteran Burrow this year. After pushing aerial surfing 10 years ago, Taj had knuckled down and conformed to a contest criterion that didn’t seem to reward risk-taking. Now, he finally feels the system has caught up to the way he wants to surf.
“Those guys (Dane and Jordy) are my favourite surfers. Their whole approach is what I’ve tried to build my whole career on. That’s how I’ve tried to surf,” said Taj. “I get so excited watching those guys surf because it brings it out in me, because I know I can do all that but I don’t often do it in heats because you don’t have to. But I like the fact that they make you.”
And Taj reckons the judging criteria is now getting it right by rewarding high risk surfing. “Maybe they didn’t know how to judge that kind of surfing before, now they do,” Taj enthused. “The judging criterion almost molds your surfing too and sometimes I feel like it just molded me to be a bit more conservative than I wanted to be. The judges are, more than ever, really obviously rewarding wild manoeuvres, more than ever. You can get the shittiest wave and do two crazy things and get a keeper. It’s great. It’s the way it should be. I’ve hated being conservative over the last few years. I’ve hated it. I always surf best when I have someone hard in a heat.”
The moral of the Quiksilver Pro, then, for any apsiring surf star kiddies out there, is not to stress out, push your limits but, more than anything, just enjoy your surfing.
“Parents are almost trying to breed pro surfers nowadays. If I inspire any kids I want it to be just to have fun in the water,” said Dane.

Dane Reynolds took Parko out in the highest scoring heat of the day.

Even Jordy, a notoriously driven competitor, was attributing his success to the “have fun” approach.   
“I just feel a lot more comfortable with myself this season,” said Jordy. “I’m having a lot more fun with my surfing and everything seems to be coming together for me.”
The other tip might be to have your parents come and watch. Both Taj and Jordy had their folks on hand, and lots of cosy family huddles between heats, adding to the feelgood vibe of the event.
For Dane, despite the frenzied calls of a performance revolution and a changing of the guard, he’s not on any mission to radically re-engineer contest surfing.
“I couldn’t go out every day and surf like I did yesterday,” he said, in his trademark, laidback drawl. There’s been a lot of talk lately about progressive surfing, without anyone really defining the term. I asked Dane what he understood by it.
“I don’t really think about or consider progressive surfing. I know when I was 18 I really wanted to be at the cutting edge, but now it’s like, I don’t care. As long as I’m enjoying every moment, that’s more important than stressing,” he said. “I remember shooting for a movie for Quiksilver and really stressing out because I wanted to feel like I was worth it, you know. There’s too much stress in a situation like that so, I guess progressive surfing is for me ... Sometimes I just want to go ride a shitty board because it’s more fun to try and figure it out than it is to ride something that’s built to be responsive.”
He paused, shrugged his shoulders, as if brushing off the heavy expectations being heaped upon them. “I just like being in the ocean and riding waves.”
Amen to that.

-Tim Baker.

Jordy Smith sliding the tail.

TB arms raised, as he kicks of his 2010 season with a win.