Stab asks Gabriel Medina 10 Questions

Photos by Tom Carey

You’ve got to love Southern California when the world tour is in town. In quiet cafes, in shitty beachbreaks and carparks down the immediate coastline, it’s inescapable. Stab recently came by one such carpark, above T Street. Chris Ward was taking selfies with his girl in this carpark. And Charles Medina was hanging. Intense, but hanging, bathed in gorgeous afternoon light. Gabriel Medina was there too, and he was accosted by Stab’s recording device. We got nothing but love for this shining beacon of Brazilian dominance and his polished-in-every-way game. Here are some of his current thoughts, syphoned and now glowing on your device’s display.

Stab: Did you ever think you’d be in a position this good so early in your career?
Gabriel: No. I didn’t have any plans. I was just doing my thing. I would never have imagined the moment I’m living in right now. I’m living the dream.

You copped heat for not taking any wipeouts til the final at Teahupoo. But, you surfed exceptionally smart. Do you feel like a smart surfer? Well, with competitions, you don’t need to be the best to win. For example, Dane Reynolds. He’s really good, but not very good at competing. You just need to pick the right waves and have a plan in your mind. If it’s slow you have to wait, you have to keep surfing to find opportunities. You have to have the plan B, you know. A plan C, too. Sometimes I can start a heat thinking one way, but then it doesn’t work and I have to have that plan B, and plan C, so that I don’t get frustrated.

When no one on tour wants you to win, there’s only one place to go: up.

Who are the smartest surfers? Watching the guys like Kelly (Slater) and Mick (Fanning), I’ve been watching them since I was little. And (Joel) Parko. I watch a lot of competitions back. My Dad too. We speak a lot about heats.

Who is the best surfer in the world? Julian (Wilson), John John (Florence), Kelly, Mick, Parko, Jordy (Smith). I’m watching everyone. But I don’t watch many videos. I think the last one I watched was Jordy’s movie.

Who’s the hardest to draw in a heat? Everyone.

C’mon. Today I was so nervous surfing against Raoni. I respect any surfer on tour. It can be Travis Logie, it can be Tanner Gudauskas, Carlos Munoz, whoever – I still get nervous. I respect everyone and know everyone is tough. Of course, when you get Kelly or Mick or Parko it’s a little harder, but everyone is hard.

Despite its poor visibility, there’s a stalefish going on back there (of course).

What keeps you up at night? Like last night? I was so excited, just thinking ‘I wanna surf, I wanna surf’ and I woke up at 3am. I went back to bed, and just thought ‘no, I don’t want to surf, I don’t want to surf.’

When you say, ‘I don’t want to surf,’ does that settle your nerves? Yeah. I was too excited. I wanted to see what I was going to do this morning, and how the waves were.

All the talk has been about you being World Champ this year: Who’s been the supporter that’s surprised you? Martin Potter. Every event he’s pushing me saying, “Go, go, go, you can do it, you can win this one.” He’s a legend of surfing and it’s good to hear from him. None of the guys on tour have though. They all want to beat me.

Do you feel like it’s you against the whole tour? Kinda, yeah. Like Kelly, he’s been successful for a long time and no one wants him to make heats because he’s always winning. When there’s someone winning, you don’t want them to win. I feel like I’m getting that.

There will most certainly be Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D up in Gabs’ limousine.