Perth Standlick – Bondi’s Great White Hope

By Dan Hutton on August 29, 2015 in People

You’re known as a Bondi local; where were you actually born?
I was born in Clovelly, moved to Randwick, and then moved to Bondi. I was about ten when I started surfing at Bondi full-time. I first started surfing in Clovelly, just in the bay. Dad got pretty sick of that, so he started taking me down to Bondi and occasionally down to Bronte when I didn’t have much time after school.

What was it like growing up in the Eastern Suburbs?
It was definitely different to what it is like now. Bondi was a lot different, that’s for sure. We didn’t have a car; we just got public transport around. You could do it then, but I don’t think I’d do it now if I had to get public transport.

What else has changed about the area?
I guess the people are probably the biggest change. There’s such a big influx of people who aren’t originally from here just constantly moving in and becoming a part of the area. I think that culturally changes the place and the overall demographic of people who live here. It has a big effect, because a lot of the people who grew up here can’t afford to do the things that a lot of people who are moving here do. I think that’s one thing that’s pushing the original locals out, just because the price of living is going up.

At what age did you first jump on a surfboard?
I think I was probably seven. That was when I first got my first glass board. My dad and mum took me up to Byron Bay and we had $300 for the little holiday we were on, and we were down at The Pass one day and saw these people surfing. Dad said, “That looks really cool; do you want to try that?” And I said, “Yeah, we’re going to do that.” Dad splashed out $250 of the $300 holiday money on a board for me, unbeknownst to my mum.

How long did it take you to get the hang of it?
I think I was up on my feet in the first day or so, but because of the whole ‘child drowning’ thing Dad used to wrap bubble-wrap around my chest under my wetsuit. He was a triathlete and Mum did triathlons, so I could always swim. I was swimming before I could walk; I was a real water baby. It came naturally. It wasn’t a fear that I had, being scared of the ocean; it just came naturally.

Is it true that you were once a member of Maroubra Boardriders?
Yep, MSA was my first boardriders club back in the day when I was 11 or 12, in the cadets. I went all the way up to the age of 15 and I won the cadets, but then they just kicked me out and put me in the opens. They didn’t want me to do Bondi Boardriders as well, but Bondi was way easier to get to so I just stuck with Bondi. It’s where I surf every day.

When did you realise that you were good enough to pursue surfing as a career?
When I was 12 I won the B-grade men’s title at Bondi and I thought, ‘I’m going to win a world title next year, come on’. It was a pretty quick reality change for me after I did my next contest, but that’s where it all started. After I won one I was just hooked. I thought, ‘Yep, I want to win these things; this is so much fun’. I already had that taste of the podium and people clapping for you. It was the best feeling ever. It is definitely right up there as one of the best feelings you can get.

What’s been the highlight of your surfing career thus far?
The first year I did the World Qualifying Series (WQS) and I missed out on qualifying for the World Championship Tour (WCT) by seven spots. In that year I got a fifth at Sunset, a ninth at Haleiwa, a fifth somewhere else and I managed to get a second place in a six-star event Spain. I missed out on winning it by 0.2 or something like that. That year was so amazing. It was like I couldn’t do wrong, and I wasn’t injured. I had terrible boards though. Froggy (Andrew Froggatt) up at Surf Culture in Bondi Junction actually gave me a board to go to Europe with because I had no boards. It was a second-hand board straight off the rack and it ended up making me $25,000 that year. It was the best thing ever, being in such a bad situation with boards and going to a place on the other side of the world to a contest I’d never been to then getting a good result. I didn’t even know where I was going to stay when I went over there, but I had nice people look out for me and things actually worked out without too much drama. I think it put me in a good headspace to do well, and that was just my year. Things just worked; that’s the only way I can explain it.

Is that the closest you’ve been to making the WCT?
Yeah, it is. Every single year since then I’ve actually injured myself at some point of the year. It’s been a bit of a stitch-up.

How frustrating is it when you’re out of the water due to injury?
Being out of the water and knowing that if you were at full strength you’d be doing well in the contest you’re missing is the most frustrating thing in the world. You can travel overseas somewhere, get injured and not be able to surf the contest you just paid $5,000 for. Then you’ve got to go home and sit on the couch for two months. It’s the biggest mind-f**k ever. Those first couple of surfs back are just the best thing.

How hard is it to make the WCT?
It’s pretty damn hard. You’ve got to have a year where things just work and you’re in the right head space. That’s the most important thing. Obviously having good boards and a good support group is essential as well.

You’ve surfed a couple of WCT events, haven’t you?
I have surfed one, over at Margaret River. I had torn ligament in my ankle at the time, but I wasn’t going to say no to surfing it, because you get $8,000 for just paddling out. I had to grit my teeth and do what I could do, and I almost ended up getting through. It came down to not being able to do a big enough turn at the end.

Have you beaten any of the top WCT surfers in any WQS events?
Every event you’re pretty much guaranteed a WCT guy surfing against you the first round. You always come up against them and if you want to be on the WCT, you’ve got to be beating them. You can’t just be beating WQS guys and hoping that you get by on the WCT. It doesn’t work like that.

How much luck do you need to get through and qualify for the WCT?
You do need luck, but then you also need to make your own luck, I think. You can’t just hope you have a lucky year and qualify. You’ve still got to do all the other stuff behind the scenes and make yourself as mentally and physically ready for it to be able to compete at that level. You need to have very good mental strength to just keep on going even if you have a run of bad events.

Is it still your dream to make the WCT?
Of course. I don’t plan on doing anything else any time soon, that’s for sure.

How old are you now?
I just turned 25 last month.

Who are your sponsors? Would it be possible to do what you’re doing without them?
Oakley is my major sponsor. They pretty much facilitate me to do the whole year on the WQS and help pay my bills at home. Without a major sponsor you’re definitely pushing a big load of shit up a hill, really. It’s difficult. You need that 50 or so grand to do the year on tour. Without that you’d be going on a credit card and you’d be relying on prize money, and it’s just way too stressful knowing that you need to do well in an event in order to get to the next one. You’d lose your mind. I don’t know how some people do it.

What other sponsors do you have?
I use Famous Surf grips, wax, leg ropes and accessories. They actually gave me my own signature tailpad last year, which was pretty cool. I’m also sponsored by Futures fins and I currently ride for Emery surfboards.

Do you prefer competing as an individual in a WQS sense, or as a member of the Bondi Boardriders in a tag team event?
They’re two different completely beasts. With the WQS you’re thinking about yourself and only yourself. You do have a time limit, obviously, because it’s a heat, but with the tag teams it is way more strategic. You’re trying to get your wave, block other people and ruin their time limit, and then get through your other surfers. It’s actually way more nerve racking surfing for Bondi than any WQS heat I’ve ever surfed in my life.

You’re the Bondi Boardriders captain these days; when did you take over the captaincy?
It was quite a while ago. I’ve always had some sort of say in it for the last few years. Being one of the main surfers, you do get a bit of say, but the Australian Boardriders Battle last year was when I officially took it on.

There is quite a big rivalry between Bronte and Bondi boardriders clubs; do you think it’s a healthy rivalry?
I love it; it’s that much fun. We all hate each other and abuse each other, but it’s all in good nature. Everyone’s there having a laugh and it’s hilarious.

Bondi Boardriders are going up against North Maroubra Surf Riders in a grudge match on August 28. Are you intimidated by the boys from the ‘Bra?
Not really. You can’t let someone intimidate you in a heat. It’s happened before and you lose straight away. My goal as captain will be to ensure the boys know that there’s no chance of us losing. I reckon we’re going to flog them, to be honest with you.

Who are the favourites out of you and Maroubra?
We haven’t surfed against each other. I don’t think you can really have a favourite because of the format. It really comes down to how your team goes on the day.

What is the format for the event?
I’m not sure of the time limit or the amount of surfers yet, but it will be a format that anyone can lose. You’ve got an under 16s surfer, an opens surfer, you might have two girls, and you’ve got an over 35s. It’s up to the people on the day to perform, and if you don’t work as a team you’re not going to win.

You recently relocated to Byron Bay; have you found that your surfing has improved as a result of moving up there?
I definitely go straight a lot more because it’s always barrelling. The waves up there are incredible. I see quite a few people from Sydney up there all the time and everyone’s like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe we’ve got to go back to Bondi tomorrow.”

What prompted the move up to Byron?
The lease of some close friends of mine in Bondi ran out and they didn’t realise. The real estate agent finally managed to get in contact with them and said, “You guys haven’t re signed it, we’ve been trying to get on to you for six weeks now and you’ve got to be out tomorrow. We’ve got people moving in there and we need to get into the place.” They said, “All right, let’s go somewhere else; let’s move to Byron.” They had a spare room up there and I put my hand up for it.

Is there much difference between Byron and Bondi these days?
Yeah, there is a big difference. I still like Bondi more in the sense of that homely feel you get here, but the quality of life up there is unbeatable.

Did you have a fallback plan if the surfing thing didn’t work out?
Just to stay in school.

Did you finish school?
No, I didn’t end up finishing school. My year adviser got us in for a meeting and at that stage in year ten I’d only done half a year of school. I was away doing contests and was already making a bit of money. My year advisor got offered to play for Manchester United in England before he finished school. His parents made him stay on and do the last two years of school, then when his chance around again he didn’t qualify. He is a PE teacher now and he said, “I think you should give this a good go and see where it takes you. If not, go to TAFE and do your last two years again.” It was two years out of my life that could’ve set me up for the rest of my life. I had to take advantage of it while I could.

If the powers that be at Oakley decided that your time was up and they were cutting your sponsorship, what would you do?
I’d definitely go looking for another sponsor; I wouldn’t just give up straight away because of that, even though it is so expensive. I think there are certain ways around it now. I could do a crowd-funding thing. I would have to get some sort of a job and I wouldn’t be surfing full-time, but I think I could pull it off for a while and then hopefully do well in the first couple of events, which would then help me get to the next couple. I don’t think I’d get many years out of doing that though.

Sharks… cull or protect?
There has to be something done, because recently where I live you see something of four metres or bigger every day, and it’s not that comfortable. I went in to surf and it was probably four to six foot in front of my house, and it was the most ridiculous barrel you could imagine, but I couldn’t find anyone to go surfing with me and it was literally too scary to go out. I didn’t want to risk going out there on my own and something happening, and then dying of blood loss. You wouldn’t even be able to get home because there’s no one else on the beach. It has been such a scare lately. Two people were attacked just in the last couple weeks at Ballina, and then another guy further down the coast. There was a five metre great white yesterday out the front of my house, and a five metre white down at the beach last week. They saw two at Lennox and two in Ballina, and closed the beaches.

Do you think about sharks much when you’re out in the water?
You definitely do. It’s on your mind when you go for an early at Suffolk Park, or anywhere really around Byron really, but the waves are so good you just block it out and hope for the best.

What’s the biggest wave you’ve ever surfed?
Probably 15 to 20 foot over in Hawaii. If the comp is on, you pretty much don’t have a choice; you’ve got to go out. You’re just like: “All right, all four of us in the same situation. Someone’s got to get through the heat.”

How much of the year do you spend surfing overseas?
I’m probably usually away for about nine months of the year.

Where’s your favourite destination?
I went to the Canary Islands the other year and it was amazing; I had the sickest trip. The waves over there are nuts. There are sick reefs and perfect beachies with no one around. I think that’s definitely up there. Hawaii’s up there too, just because I go there so often and it’s become like a second home. You get there and you know where everything is.

What’s your favourite wave in Australia?
Probably ‘Ours’ (Cape Solander).

Do you have any favourite local haunts where you like to hang out in Bondi?
I like to go to Neighbourhood; that’s one of my favourites. Luis Tan’s is up there too. I’ve been coming to Jed’s for a while for coffee, and I love Porch. Two and Twelve is good as well; the food there is epic.

Who are your surfing role models?
Taj Burrow would be one of the ones I look up to, and Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson, of course. I certainly look up to Wilko (Matt Wilkinson), surfing with him as much as I do; just the way he goes about it. Most people in Bondi Boardriders are role models too. There are so many people who looked out for me and took me surfing when I was a grommet, so it’s hard to name them all to be honest with you.

Would you encourage others to take up surfing or do you think the waves are already too crowded?
I’d encourage everyone to take it up. If you have dramas outside the water and you need to escape from life for a little bit, there’s nothing like paddling out to the perfect wave and just forgetting every problem you have. You can go surfing for four hours and then coming back in to realise what your problems are again. That escape you get is like nothing else.

In an ideal world what does the future hold for Perth Standlick?
A good solid few years on the WCT, and then I’d like to be rich enough not to have to work. I think that’s the ideal for everyone: to become wealthy enough without too much effort and then live the rest of your life comfortably.