Yadin Nicol, right now

Yadin Nicol is, right now, in Brazil for stop number three of the 2012 world tour; the Billabong Pro, Rio De Janeiro. Yades may’ve came third in his round one heat against Ace Buchan and local star Gabs Medina, but he’s the kinda WT rookie whose heat you don’t wanna miss in case he throws the day’s biggest move (Yadin hucks and commits to full-rotes with true gusto and is a very exciting addition to tour this year). Stab spoke totally, super briefly with the West-Oz turned Cali local, about what’s bouncing around his head in this very moment.

On the first day of the contest, I felt ok I guess, but not that great. I didn’t really like that left. I just didn’t have that great of a heat so I didn’t think much of it, really. I think it would’ve been fun on your forehand but it was just weird surfing it backhand. It was fast, but then a section would pop up and you’d race, then it’d be backwashy… there was good waves out there, I just didn’t really get them and didn’t have a good heat.

I’ve been to Brazil a few times, but this is my fist time in Rio. I like it, it’s pretty amazing – the city itself is unbelievable. We went up and checked out the Christ statue, which was just beautiful. The fans are, oh gosh, there was a pack of ’em for my heat with Gabriel just yelling at him, screaming, telling him which waves to take. That was funny. With foreign competitors, I guess they’re the same as fans anywhere else, though. I mean, it was pretty mellow on the first day other than the Gabriel thing, and Adriano.

Being a rookie is… good. The first contest at Snapper was a bit weird. I wasn’t really into it that much, to be honest. But the second one, at Bells, felt good. And this one… I dunno, we’ll see what happens (laughs). The tour is kinda just how I expected it to be. I mean, Snapper was what it was, Bells was probably better than normal. But the biggest thing with the World Tour is that you just can’t fuck up in a heat, like you sometimes might be able to on the QS. There’s absolutely no leniency. If you fuck up, you’re gonna lose. If you have a man-on-man heat, it’s rare that both of you are gonna fuck up. And with a three man heat, someone’s definitely gonna have a good heat and get all the best waves. I expected that though, I guess.

You definitely need to go for it more on the world tour, too. I think if the opportunity presents itself, you’ve gotta do it (Yadin threw one of the event’s best full-rotes at Bells, right over the shorepound). They’ll mark you down if you go around a section. You’ve gotta do what the wave is, er, built for (laughs). As far as the rest of this year, I’m looking forward to Fiji a lot and was really, really looking forward to J-Bay. It’s such a bummer that they cut that out (the Billabong Pro, J-Bay was downgraded in 2012). I had fun at Bells though, I kinda like Bells. When there’s waves. If you get the right wave, one with an open face, I kinda like the open face stuff. There’s none of that over here so far, though (laughs).