Josh Kerr on continuing tour love and the Quik Pro, D’bah

Words by Elliot Struck | Images by Shane Fletcher Josh Kerr is an eternal Stab fav. How could he not be, given his enduring youthful enthusiasm, air show world champ trophies and continual penchant for envelope-pushing in the water? In round one of the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks, Kerrzy paddled out to one of the most wave-starved heats of the round, falling victim to conditions rather than his own performance. But them’s the breaks, and Mr Kerr still loves the world tour – now, more than ever. Plus, while Stab was rolling with him, Josh received a text informing him that the event will, as of tomorrow, go down at D’bah. “They’re moving it right now, for us tomorrow,” says Josh. “I just got a text: First call 6:30am, be prepared to compete at D’bah from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow onwards… full stop. Sounds like if they’re gonna move it to D’bah, they’re gonna go all out at D’bah. Such a bummer though, ‘cause that whole setup at Snapper is so good…” Stab: Would you prefer the Quiksilver Pro run at D’bah?Josh Kerr: With the forecast the way it is, probably, yeah. I’d way rather surf Snapper in a heat – I’d rather surf decent Snapper than decent D’bah in a heat. But, I’d rather surf decent D’bah than crappy Snapper (like it is at the moment). Does this still feel like a home event, or have you been living in the States long enough that it doesn’t? Nah, this is still home. I lived here for 25 years… I was born right there (Josh points out the car window). This is definitely home still, and always will be. Are you still as excited about the world tour as you were, say, two years ago? F’sure. Definitely. I’m almost more psyched now, actually. The more I do it, the more I just love it, and realise how awesome of a job I have and how sick it is. I mean, there’s a little grind to it at times, but it could be a million times worse. Do you adore the new WSL? Yeah, it’s amazing, it’s more surfer-focused. For us surfers, we used to have to really band together to get what we wanted out of the ASP, but now they work so well with us that it’s almost like a partnership. They’re amazing, and very professional. This is Josh, and this is D’bah. Expect to see these two entities making sweet music (not dissimilar to this) in the coming days. With the young Brazilian push and everything, it feels like there’s more of the surfing you became most well-known for. Yeah, there’s definitely more of it. And I feel like I’ve only just grown into the complete package, like not even that long ago. These kids have got that kind of surfing that I’ve always loved, but they’ve also got really good rail game and most of them are pretty complete surfers. They’ve got some little kinks, whether it’s big waves or barrels, or sometimes rail, but most of them are rounded and can win in all sorts of conditions. Who excites you the most? Y’know, I still love watching all the good old boys. I just love watching heats… nearly all of them. I love watching Kelly’s heats. And Mick, Joel, Filipe, Jordy, John John, Gabby… there’s not too many dull heats these days. Sometimes even those boys might even have a shocker, but on paper you don’t see many dull heats. Has the current crop helped keep you so engaged? Yeah, it keeps rotating, and the talent on tour is so healthy, it’s so fun to try and mix it up with them all. Every heat you get, you’re kinda like, hoo! That’s a good one! Do you get on tour and believe in yourself that you can be a world champion, and that is the sole goal of you being there? Some people have it, I never really had that thought, that I could be a world champ. I was just more excited to beat those guys that you’d seen coming to town for the Quikky Pro… that was the exciting thing for me. I think within yourself, you’re kinda like, yeah, I can beat that guy, and you know who the real tough guys are for your kind of surfing. And especially at each location, there’s strengths and weaknesses for everyone… you can’t size everyone up, everywhere. So it’s more about trying to beat potential world champs than becoming the champ yourself? Yeah, it has been for me. I like being a spoiler. But I feel like the last year maybe, I’ve really found within myself that I can get up into that world title mix. Kerrzy hasn’t ensured that stalefish grabs aren’t just a child’s game.