Tim Boal Shares His Thoughts After A Big Day Out
"Well
it's been a big day, I knew I had to surf four heats and I did that, so
it's cool. The boys went out last night, but I just went to a
vegetarian cafe and laid low and was pretty quiet and had a chilled
night. I didn't feel tired through the day, even though in the end I
surfed four heats. I probably felt the nerves in the semi more. I
actually fell a lot and in the end scraped through with a six point
ride with about five seconds to go. That
last wave, well I had a 1000 things going through my mind, I mean I was
thinking too much, which for me is bad thing and I didn't even know
what I was going to do on the last turn.
Even then I still didn't think I had the score, but I got it. I think I
had a few boos from the crowd in the stands, as I took out Brett
Simpson, the local guy. I
then had a couple of hours before the final - I just sat and chilled
with my mates Michel Bourez and Patrick Beven and the Red Bull Rising
surfers, and even then I didn't feel to stressed. I just watched the
surf and bits of the juniors and the longboards with Kingy. There was
so many waves coming through, and we just decided to pick the same spot
and be patient, as it was a 30 minute final and I only needed two
waves.
But
it just didn't happen - no waves came through, often for ten minutes at
a time, and then when I caught a good one I fell on the last move. I
think I needed a 7.1 and I would have scored that. You know that
probably cost me the final. In the end I needed a 6.27 and I waited and
waited and finally took off with a minute to go. In the end it was
pretty surreal, the computer went down and no one knew the score. I was
at the water's edge with heat over totally surrounded by people and
media, and so was Nathaniel, and it was pretty weird, such a strange
situation, just not knowing was hard. It took forever and eventually I
was told that I didn't get score. I was pretty bummed, that was my
first six star final, but it's a huge result and I'm not finished. I
think I'm up to 18th in the rankings. The other thing I remember is a
American journalist coming up and asking if I lived in Paris, which was
so funny. Like yeah, of course I do, the waves are amazing there. Right
now, though I'm flying to Japan tomorrow and then back to to home, so
I'm so stoked. It's been such a good week. I'm amping again."
Love the story. Thanks Tim!