Josh Kerr, Goat-boatin’, Mexico

Josh Kerr has made his mark on the surfing world as an aerial wizard, but something few know about Kerzy is that he’s a talented tube-rider. Just look at how comfortable he is here, perched on his board in this foaming Mexico tunnel.

Kerzy just re-qualified for the dream tour, having spent the last five consecutive years alternating between being on and off tour. In his first-ever heat as a dream tour surfer, Josh pulled a frontside grab-rail reverse that Kelly Slater described at the time as one of the best manoeuvres he’d ever seen done on tour.

A couple of weeks back, Stab caught up with Kerzy to find out how he’s feeling about his 2011 campaign. Here’s a snippet:

Stab: How do your confidence levels going into next year compare to previous years?
Josh Kerr: I don’t wanna go into the season feeling comfortable at all. I’ve been on and off (the tour), I know what it’s like, so I just want to go in prepared for the worst. Being in the second round every time. I know there’s no easy heats on the world tour.

What’s your prep strategy for next year? Preparation-wise, I’m just going to do what I’ve done this year. It’s just going out there, being confident in your surfing, knowing that you’re a good surfer and… just getting two good waves and surfing them well (laughs). As far as training goes, I think I’ll start trying to be a bit more fit for sure. I’m going to be training with (Professional tennis player) Mark Philippoussis.

The Poo! Yeah, the Poo! He wants to get back on (the world tennis) tour. He actually froths harder on surfing than I do. But yeah, it might be good to be a bit fitter when I start the tour.

Especially with the new format, that could have you surfing up to five heats in a day. Yeah! The new format looks pretty fun. Once you get through those first few heats, the comp sort of restarts with the repercharge round.

And it encourages you to go for broke a bit more. Yeah, exactly. You can find new confidence in that repercharge round. I like those ones where there’s nothing riding on it, y’know? You can kinda let loose a bit more. Which can also give you a bit of momentum going into the final heats.