Can A Freesurfer Go The Other Way? A Dakoda Walters Case Study

Dakoda Walters is about to have surgery on a broken hoof – an injury which he sustained after landing a double-grab air reverse in the semi-finals at the Maroubra QS, which he was awarded a 10 for.

That’s got to be a first, right? Breaking your ankle and simultaneously getting a 10. Noa Deane previously blew his ankle on that North Point alley oop in 2018 — which would have scored a 10. No one to our knowledge has done it in a jersey before.

Specifically the injury Dakoda sustained is syndesmosis of the right ankle, plus some additional bone bruising and hairline fractures. It’s a similar injury to what Liam O’Brien and Sophie McCullogh sustained pre-season that prevented them from making their CT debuts at Pipe. Post-surgery, it will be eight weeks in a moon boot until Dakoda can start thinking about taking a soft top out to The Pass. The hopes of him earning a wildcard into the Challenger Series have all but expired, but that hasn’t stopped WSL staffers gushing over his exciting brand of contest surfing. “His semi-final against Joel Vaughan was the best QS heat I’ve seen in the past five years. Two young, freakishly talented mates trying to out-punt each other,” said regional contest director Tom ‘Waynesy’ Bennett. 

Put simply, it looked more like a Stab High if it was held in a three-foot Sydney beachy. And I don’t think Dakoda’s airborne approach was a coincidence given how well he did in Lakey Peak as a last minute replacement for Mikey Wright. We wanted to ask him about that.

“Stab High was super validating. Just to know I could do that kind of surfing against my favorite surfers with a fairly high completion rate gave me the confidence to take that approach to traditional contests.” In the semi-final, Dakoda was matched up against Joel Vaughan — a good friend on a similar rise in the contest scene. With seven minutes remaining, Joel had banked a very wholesome 17.50 heat total, leaving Dakoda chasing a 8.61. “He was paddling back out after having just taken the lead with a 9.27 when he saw me taking off…He was screaming, ‘fuck youuuuu!’ from the inside as I pumped to hit the end-section. But yeah, I landed it and snapped my leg. I actually had this vision of Conor McGregor’s leg breaking on my way in,” laughs Kodes.

The kind of surfing Dakoda brought to his QS semi-final, was also characteristic of the surfing he brought to the Australian Boardriders Battle. He surfed for Byron Bay Boardriders, and saw them win their first ever national tag-team title. To those outside of Oz, the ABB is one of the most exciting contest formats around, where teams of five surfers including a senior, a female, two open men, and a junior, each contribute their best wave to the team total. They have 50 minutes to get it done.

“There’s way more pressure in that format,” explains Kodes. “You can fuck things up for everyone, and then on top of that, I’m a new-comer to the club… It’s hard to describe the tribal energy at those events; it’s so intense. You’re cheering every time your surfer gets a wave and praying that other teams fall off. It’s a full pressure cooker.” As such, there’s considerably less hi-fi surfing than a regular contest format. The risk of ruining the party for the team skews the incentives in favor of completions. Which is what made Dakoda’s upside-down backside tail waft all the more remarkable.

“The heat had just started and I was the power surfer, meaning I had to surf twice in that 50-minute timeframe. We’d been struggling through the middle of heats, so I knew I had to start with a bang and fire everyone up. I didn’t even know what I was doing when I came off the bottom. I don’t have a lot of success with that turn, but somehow I came riding out of it,” he laughs. 

The gall paid off for them, Kodes banked them a 9.5 and they were away.

Eight weeks of not surfing will make anyone prickly, the upside is that Dakoda now has plenty of time to reflect on what he wants to do. “100% I’d like to make the CT. It’s not do-or-die, I feel like you can do it for as long as you enjoy it, like Dane did. But in some sense it’s the ultimate validation. I think even freesurfers know that, even though those words coming out of your own mouth might make you squirm. I’d love to surf a heat against John John — who wouldn’t?” says Dakoda. “I’ve always been a competitive person and even at Stab High, underneath all the cheering, you could feel that desire to outdo each other.” This echoes Mark Mathews’ belief that, “Freesurfers aren’t uncompetitive people, they just hate losing.”

With his injury, Dakoda now has an $8000 bill to pay for surgery and a hospital bed. We asked if he planned on starting a Go Fund Me, and he delivered his response with passion. 

“No fucking way. I’d feel like the biggest fuckwit asking for people’s money. Crew have lost their houses in the floods, got cancer and stuff. I’ve done this to myself, I can pay for it myself. I see people starting Go Fund Me’s for their QS campaigns, and it’s so heavy. Like, it’s your choice if you want to do something. I’m not going to shake the tin asking for handouts.”

Maybe just buy him a ginger beer next time you see him (he doesn’t drink alcohol).