This unattributed interview ran in the December 1989 issue of Surfing. The version here has been slightly edited.

The most obvious question is, how does one tell you two apart?

JORJA: The best way for people to tell us apart is that Jolene is a goofyfoot and I’m a regularfoot. That’s out in the water. On land, you’ve got to really get to know us, because we look a lot alike. But when you get to know us, there are differences in our personalities, different facial expressions. I have a birthmark on my leg where Jolene doesn’t.

One would assume you surfed together a lot when you were growing up.

JOLENE: There’s actually only a few days that we can remember when we surfed by ourselves, without each other. In high school, we had surfing PE class, so every day we’d surf before school together. I know we influence each other by pushing ourselves all the time to do better and better. And watching each other. It’s almost like, not a rivalry, but a competition between us.

Is one of you better in small waves and the other better in big waves?

JORJA: No, not really. We’re both good in either condition. We grew up surfing at a beachbreak, and so we’re pretty versatile either frontside or backside.

Have you surfed against each other in competition?

JORJA: We surfed a lot against each other as amateurs, which was really no problem because there wasn’t that much competition. But in the pro contests, we surfed against each other a few times in the trials during our first year, but we haven’t gone up against each other one-on-one in a main event yet. We’ve always been slotted on opposite sides of the draw which means we would have eventually met somewhere, but one of us always seems to get eliminated first. So we’ve never met yet. We just hope we never meet one on one in the first round.

Do you think that surfing against other would be tough?

JOLENE: No. It would be a bummer because one of us would lose. It might be fun to go one-on-one in a semifinal or especially a final.

You always hear these interesting stories about twins, how one might go and take the other’s place for a math test or something. Have ever been tempted to surf for one another?

JOLENE: We’ve joked about it. Like, if Jorja wasn’t feeling well or something, I’d go out and switch stance. That’s hard, though, because a lot of people know we surf opposite, one regular, one goofy. We only do that to our boyfriends anyways!

JORJA: No, but we always get mentioned along with the other one. If Jolene is in a heat, they’ll always go, ‘And that’s Jolene Smith up and riding and Jorja Smith on the beach coaching her. Her twin sister is a seeded surfer, blah blah,” or vice versa. We’re always mentioned in conjunction with one another.

Do you find that irritating that you are novelties?

JORJA: No, not really. It’s gotten us pretty far.

JOLENE: I don’t think it’s irritating at all. I think it’s kind of neat. It’s especially helped with sponsorships and media coverage!

Do you come as a package deal when you solicit sponsors?

JORJA: Yeah, that’s the way we started out because we kind of looked for a gimmick. We knew that, being women, it would be hard to find sponsorships. We started out with Surfers Alliance for about a year, and they really liked the idea of us being twins because we got so much more coverage. Then we went to Hobie, and they’ve just been really behind us. They’ve used us in ads. It’s been to our advantage. We’ve doubled our exposure.

JOLENE: It’s been to our sponsors’ advantage, too, I think.

When you’re in competition and, let’s say, one of you doesn’t make it, does the other one coach from the beach?

JOLENE: Jorja’s been more consistent than I have in the last four years on the pro tour. When I lose, she feels sad and is bummed. When I’m out of the competition, I cheer her on as if it were my own heat. I give her all the support she needs.

Do you think you have an advantage because you do have that really strong support, as opposed to the other women pro surfers who don’t have anyone to support them while on the road?

JORJA: Yeah. Because we are so close, we know exactly how each other feels.

JOLENE: Actually, probably the biggest advantage we have is when we travel. There are a few girls who don’t really have anybody to travel with. Frieda [Zamba] has her husband with her. Wendy [Botha] has a boyfriend who travels with her. But a lot of the girls can’t afford to have somebody come along. Jorja and I are always there for each other, no matter if we win or lose, and I think that’s the best advantage.

Jorja and Jolene Smith

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