Bede’s full Lakeys Interview

There are three world champs and a freesurfer on this trip. Do you feel like you’ve still got something to prove?
Oh yeah for sure. Those guys are my heroes and they’ve achieved so much and I look up to them so much. I’m 26 now and I feel like I’m coming into my prime, it’d be awesome to get a world title. That’s my dream and I’ve got to keep chasing it.

You’re fit and focussed, and I’ve noticed on this trip you watch your clips very critically. Do you reckon you think about your surfing and visualise a lot?
Oh yeah definitely. One of the big things in surfing is to try and work out how you can do stuff better, and it’s awesome here that we can watch our footage with Talon.

It’s almost redundant to ask you guys about training these days, cos basically you’re all athletes now.
Yep, it’s changed a lot. I think Mick was a big part of that when he won his title, and everyone now is putting in so much effort now. With surfing and training it is a 9-5 job now, and you need to put in that time and effort if you want to get results and rewards.

When was the last time you did a video trip?
Man I don’t even know. A long time. Stoked to be on it.

Does video make you switch things up a little?
For sure. That was my plan, to try and lock away good solid keepers early and then really go for new stuff. I’ve been trying a few rodeos, came close today. You watch guys video sections and that’s what makes them stand out, variation.

You ever stuck a rodeo?
Nah, well, kinda. I’m getting close.

When you were with Billabong it was a given that you would have been filmed a bit and had sections in their movies. Now you’re with a smaller that’s not the case. It that challenging?
Nah it’s just something that I’ve wanted to work on the last year. You can’t just be a good contest surfer so I really want to nail some god video sections, good photos and lots of exposure, plus have the contest side of it too.

You love surfing huh?
Yeah definitely.

No-one I’ve ever been on a trip with has ever shown so much enthusiasm in the water, you’re always asking people what their waves were like, or talking about the conditions, it’s like you’re excited the whole time.
Yeah I love seeing people get stoked on their waves and if you ask them about ’em it brings up the vibe amongst the crew. If you’re having fun you’ll be surfing better and you’ll have a more successful trip.

Do you ever get the opposite though, and go through flat spells?
Kinda. A little bit on the Gold Coast. Growing up on Straddie everyone knows each other in the surf, it’s a smaller community, so you’re always asking “oh, how was that one?” and you’re not bummed if someone gets a better wave than you. On the Gold Coast no-one talks ’cos they’re all trying to take the next wave off each other, and it takes a little of the fun out. Sometimes that can get a little frustrating, and you have bad surfs, but I always try stay positive.

How do you get out of the doldrums?
Go surf somewhere uncrowded with you mates. Maybe train a bit harder, take it out on the bag.

What do your mates back on Straddie do these days?
A few of them have got trades in carpentry. Gotta coupla mates working on the mines, another mate’s a trawler, all those sorts of jobs.

Are you Point Lookout’s biggest sports star, ever?
Ah yeah, probably. It’s great, everyone is so stoked if I do well, and I take it seriously too. I know I need to be a role model to the younger guys coming up. It’s a great place to grow up and a wonderful community. All of my friends are so supportive of me, there’s no jealousy and I’m definitely just one of the guys. There’s no special treatment, that’s for sure.

Reckon you’ll end up back there?
That’s a question for a few years down the track. I love the place and I’ll always go back. It’d be good to have a holiday house there, plus one on the Gold Coast so I can go back and forth.

If you cracked a title do you think it’d be a holiday on North Stradbroke? Free drinks for life at the pub?
Haha, yeah, probably. When I won Trestles there was a massive party, they closed off one of the streets, and then after the Triple Crown it was just nuts, so cool.

You’re 26 now. Slater’s 36. Can you still see yourself on tour in ten years?
I don’t know. It’s a lot of travelling. I havent’ really thought about it. If I was still surfing well, but I’m just trying to live in the moment for now.

And Mada is waiting for you.
Yeah it’s great to have something to get straight into once I finish surfing, cos a lot of guys come off tour and have nothing.

Has it got you thinking? Have you already got one eye on being Business Bede?
Yeah I ask a lot of questions of people in the industry all the time, trying not to be so green. Everyone so far has been really supportive.