This interview, recorded by Chris Mauro, ran in the February 2005 issue of SURFER. Robb was 27 years old.

What I find interesting about your career is how you got lumped in with an era that, in a way, preceded your own. You’re only a year older than Andy Irons, yet you’ve been in the public eye for well over a decade.

Exactly. It’s funny, because until recently the last time I really hung out with people my own age was at the World Contest back in '94. After that, I turned pro and hit the road. I was only 16. Up until that time I was surfing and hanging out with Andy and Bruce [Irons] all the time, but nobody knew who they were yet.

Yeah, and I was 16 when I was doing QS events in California. The Bud Tour was still flourishing back then and Machado and Kelly were going at it. That's how I started to get paired up with those guys. I was going over to the Mainland as a kid, and I’d stay with the Machado family, who absolutely dialed me in. They took care of me for months. Rob had this funny-looking friend named Taylor Steele who liked to shoot video [Laughs]. This was way before 

. I was in Taylor's early high school video project when he was just messing around. I think it was called 

. I guess that’s what dates me, really, because this was around 1990.

Were you aware of the fact that you were under the microscope at such an early age?

Of course, because I was pretty much winning everything. I was still an amateur when I made the WCT. I didn’t accept any prize money my entire rookie season.

I left school at the end of 10th grade to do home school. By my junior year I was on the CT, and did really well right off the bat. I got runner-up to Kelly at Narrabeen in my second contest, and 3rd in the next one at G-Land, so that was great. I came flying out of the gates and ended up 7th in the world my second year out.

How did your parents feel about you leaving school?

They were involved in the process. Everyone who grew up with me knows my parents were the full-on Little League parents. They were at every event, always rooting me on. giving advice, the whole nine.

Oh yeah. It was a lot of pressure. I mean, I always knew it was out of love but there are times when you just want to be a kid and mess around and not take things so serious. Everyone who knows me knows I don’t take life seriously, I never have. So we had our run-ins for sure, but at the same time, because of their sort of tough love I learned a lot of valuable lessons. As bad as I felt sometimes, they were nowhere near the level of other Little League parents I’ve seen. I used to see dads screaming and yelling at their kids. slapping them around, telling them they’re losers. That shit is way over the top.


Yeah, it's been tough in some respects I'm viewed as this old-school guy from the 

 generation, and on the one hand that's something I’m very proud of, I wouldn't change it for the world, but on the other hand I'm still young. That whole time I was running with those guys I was the grom tagging along. I’m five years younger than Kelly Slater.

You're not the new kid anymore. You're not the new thing. It'll come up in different ways. Sometimes it’s a judge's score, and other times it’s just the way a sponsor might perceive you.

Bruce, mostly. Andy too, but Bruce even more. Bruce and I are both sort of going through similar struggles. I was supposed to have won some World Titles by now, and people are sitting there wondering what’s wrong with me, and Bruce is having his own problems getting results, so we talk about that all the time. Especially now since Andy's won three titles.

Do you have regrets that you went on tour so early?

Yeah, Bruce asked me the same question. When he finally got on the WCT, he was like. “Do you wish you would have stayed back with us?

There's a couple of ways to look at it. I could have done the Taj Burrow thing and qualified and not gone on tour. Taj waited an extra year to mature, and I think he learned from me that you didn’t want to be on tour too young. But at the same time, once you start it’s really hard to stop. Once you commit, that’s it, you’re in.

The truth is, I don’t know. I don’t have regrets, but I can easily jump on the other side of the argument. Going pro when I did seemed natural to me because I'd already won everything there was to win: Nationals, the World Contest, the Op Junior. The only thing I didn’t win, which in actuality I did, no matter what anyone says, is the Australian Pro Junior. I beat Beau Emerton In that final, and he and everyone there pretty much knows it [Laughs]. But I had a better amateur record than Kelly did, and school was driving me nuts.

Yeah. When I was trying to talk my parents into letting me home school they told me I could do it, but only if I earned a 3.5 GPA first. I was a solid B student anyway, so once they made that deal with me I pushed it up to a 3.8 and I was out of there. That was my get-out-of-jail card. I had some really good teachers and some really, really lame ones. It was pretty sweet; a year after I left. I remember honking my Mercedes at one of the lame teachers I had who used to give me crap. I just waved and smiled.

So was there ever a moment where you felt like you were choosing the era you belonged to?

Actually, there was. It was during the Billabong Challenge events in the mid-'90s. I was invited to go and compete against the men: Occy, Kelly. Sunny, Rob. It was this huge honor. But at the same time, they were having the Juniors Challenge too, and that was the one that Taj, Andy and Parko were surfing in. I called up Gordon Merchant [owner of Billabong] and told him I wanted to surf in the Junior Challenge and he was baffled. He said, "Why would you want to do that?" All I could really come up with was, "Well, they're my friends." In the end, Gordon told me I had to choose one or the other. He made the case that I’d be better off surfing against the best surfers in the world, and it’s hard to argue with that when you’re just a kid, so I did the Challenge events. But that whole deal kind of had my head spinning for a number of years.

That was it in a nutshell. You were choosing your era right then and there.

Yeah, I kinda felt like the kid in Good Will Hunting. I was standing out there in the hall at a school where I didn’t belong socially, but I could compete with anyone in the classroom [Laughs]. You know, I was the youngest kid ever on the WCT. My first year, I'd get kicked out of the competitors’ area because the bouncers thought I was just some lost grommet. But you know, I got to hang out with legendary guys like Tom Curren and Occy. I’ve even gotten to know Mark Richards. It's not like I want to give any of that back. I love those experiences. As much as I’d love to have a fresh batch of new media hype, I wouldn’t trade any of my years on tour for it. Those guys see me as their little brother, and that's something I'm stoked about.


Aside from just surfing, there’s really only one reason to be on the tour, and that’s to win a World Title. If I don't win it, then it’s like, Wow, what a disappointment that’d be, right? I mean that's . . . .

But do you want to win it for you, or for everybody else out there?

So “What’s the answer” is the question?

Exactly. You could put me in therapy for a month and I don’t know if I could give you a straight answer, because it varies day to day. Sometimes I feel like the champ, like I’m the people’s champ, people come up and say you’re their favorite and it's unreal, and other days are like, Sheesh, what more do you want from me?

Are you having fun? Are you enjoying yourself?

Shit yeah, I am. I mean, put it this way: When I have friends tell me they're going to Paris I can tell them exactly where they should go; same thing for Africa, Australia, Japan, everywhere. I can be almost anywhere in the world without a map and know exactly where I'm going. At my age, are you kidding? I love that. And when I sit in the competitors' area with the current crop of guys, not only is that where I belong, but there’s no place I’d rather be. I love what I’m doing. I’m proud of the fact I’m one of the best guys to ever come out of the North Shore, and I see guys like Mick Fanning and Parko, who are the best guys from Coolangatta, and other kids from Brazil representing their area, and I love it. There's nothing I’d rather do than travel around with these guys and play this game of trying to kick their asses in some really fun waves. It’s fun as hell.

You finished 7th your second year out, and 5th a few years ago in 2001, but you’ve been sliding back a bit with the arrival of the new crew. Explain . . . .

I think it’s just a combination of new guys with more hype coming onto the scene, and an overall bigger number of solid competitors on tour. I don’t make excuses though. I know this is only temporary. I’m constantly refining things, constantly adapting.

After speaking with some of your peers, the consensus is your surfing rarely holds you back, but your head does.

Well, they’d know [Laughs]. I get the brutal truth from those guys. That’s a big reason why I’m training so much. Derek Ho and Sunny Garcia told me to just identify my mistakes and eliminate them. I know mental mistakes are part of the problem, and you can’t be mentally ready unless you’re physically ready, so I’m getting fit. I want to be the best-conditioned guy on tour. I’m getting there too. I think I train harder than anyone.

You’ve been working with Oscar De La Hoya’s trainer?

Yeah, Rob Garcia is a surfer from Hawaii who got into boxing and training. He’s Oscar’s main guy, and they have these training camps in California up in Big Bear. I go each time I’m in California. It’s not just a quick thing for me, I want to be fit for life.

You’re pretty damn ripped these days. Is that affecting your performance?

My boards have definitely changed because of it. Al Merrick has me pretty dialed to the point where I don’t even have to think about them much. I just tell him where I’m traveling to and how much I weigh, and he sets me up.

What kind of waves does it take for a guy like you to go up in board size?

The only place I really go up is Teahupoo. A couple of years ago guys were riding 6’ 8"s and 6‘ 10”s there and I was riding a 6’ 2”.

I don’t want to be going fast there. I want to take off under the lip and barely do a bottom turn, then pump my way out of it. Bruce is the same way.

Do you feel your surfing is getting better with this new injection of guys on tour?

I honestly do. I basically can tell how I’m progressing through Taylor’s videos. One of my biggest goals is to have that final segment in one of his movies. The climax. I’m third from last in 

, just before Kelly and Bruce, and I consider that an accomplishment. I consider myself one of the superfreaks. Tour ratings come and go, but ultimately it's your day-to-day surfing that people remember.


But there’s a huge difference between surfing for a heat, and surfing to make it in a video. They both require different approaches, and some have said you try to go too big in heats when all you had to do was stay on your board.

The funny thing is, I feel like I’m already restraining myself in heats. People tell me to calm down and just finish the ride, but I’m going crazy inside because I am already holding back. So yeah, that’s a struggle for me.

So that radical approach is hindering your heat results?

It used to for sure. But now they're starting to give huge scores for one-move waves. It’s hard to keep up with the judges on this stuff sometimes, but if they’re going to throw a 9.6 for one turn and one air, then I’m happy. It’s too easy.

Do you think you’ll get back to the top here soon?

Yeah. I know I will. It’s not like there’s a performance gap going on. It’s just a confidence thing. Andy had a rough go for a while too. So did Taylor Knox. They’ve both come back big.

Andy told me you were one of the guys who motivated him to get his act back together when he was struggling.

I know, we talked about that and that’s one reason why I’m so proud of him. It’s funny, because we’ve always been really competitive, and good friends. That’s not always an easy thing, because sometimes you’re the best of enemies. But him winning pushes everyone from Hawaii, and that’s a really good thing. At the same time, champion or not, I can walk around feeling like a champion if I want to. Most of us live like world champions. I want the title badly, but more important to me really is being an influential surfer, somebody people point to as their favorite.

What do you think it’s going to take to get back to the top of the ratings?

I’ve been around long enough to know that things come and go in waves. You prepare for the slow times by working hard and not letting them get you down. Pretty soon things line up for you and, bam, you start rolling again. I think when it comes it’ll all come at once, the scores, more visibility, the videos, the surfing. It’ll be an onslaught.

You’re a man now, but are you still a grommet at heart?

For sure. I know too much about life to take it serious. My role models early on were Occy and Ronnie Burns because they laughed at everything that moved. Nowadays, I just look at Occy and laugh. He’s so fun to hang with. It’s hard not to be a grom when you’re with him.

So do you feel like you have to re-invent yourself as part of this new crew to roll into the next chapter of your career?

No, not really. There’s no re-inventing required. I already think the same way Andy and Bruce and those guys do because I’m just like them. People will understand that in time. I plan to be here for a while.

Where do you want to be 10 years from now?

By then I’ll have a couple of killer vacation pads set up at various places. I’ll definitely have kids, too. I don’t really have a girlfriend right now so I don’t know who with, but I’m sure it’ll be some genetic freak [Laughs]. And of course, surfing will still own me.

[Photos: Tom Servais, Pete Hodgson, Hank]

Kalani Robb

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