The Next Chapter

Layne Beachley: Not done yet.

The Billabong Pro Maui marked the final time seven-time world champ Layne Beachley would don a jersey as an ASP World Tour competitor. After 19 years on the tour, Layne is closing the door of her brimming trophy case, and opening new doors to marriage, a thriving business, the promotion of her recently published book, and whatever else life outside the tour may bring. She took a moment after her emotional semifinal heat to reflect on the legacy she’s leaving, the beginning of her next chapter, and how the next generation (which she’s dubbed the “Silver Platter Generation”) just want to “smash” each other—and how that will bring women’s surfing to whole new level. -- JI

Tell us about the final heat of your ASP World Tour career.
“The last heat of my professional surfing career was shared with the current two-time world champ, Steph Gilmore, my hero. It gave me some time to reflect on my whole career, and with 15 minutes to go, I was with Steph and she had two 8s and I was needing like a 10, or a 9-point-something, and I just started crying, going, ‘I cant believe it’s over, but I’m so glad that I’m sharing it with her.’ I feel like that was the opportunity for me to officially hand the mantle to her and say, ‘It’s all yours now, babycakes. You take it and run with it.’ It wasn’t tears of sadness or disappointment or heartache—it was just joy, gratitude. I’m glad—I’m glad that if I had to lose to anyone, it was Steph.”

How to you feel about leaving the tour?
“I’m ready for the next chapter of my life. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole adult life, so it’s a challenge for me to embrace the next chapter, but I have to close one to open up another, to use the classic cliché. I don’t think there’s any better time to do it than now. I’ve pretty much done all that I can do, I’ve created such a lasting legacy and I’m so proud of the impact I have made on the sport. And it’s a good time to leave while I’m still on top.”

And what will this next chapter be like?
“Next is my brand, Beachley—start building that get it to a point where it’s strong enough and successful enough to start sponsoring other athletes, and finding the next Layne Beachley—and not just in surfing, but in all sports.”

What’s your role in the company?
“I’m a partner in the company—I’m the director essentially. I’m the name. I handle the design process. I’m a hands-on girl and I think that’s why I’ve chosen to walk away from professional surfing as a career, because I’m not as passionate about it as I used to be and I’m not as determined to win.”

What changed?
“It’s just age and maturity—it’s satisfaction. It’s just satisfaction, success, distractions, getting engaged. It’s just that there are so many other opportunities, and I feel like I’ve sacrificed enough now—it’s time to start opening myself up to these other opportunities. And having gone outside of surfing, seeing what else is out there, I feel like I’m limiting myself by just staying here and having my life defined by a rash vest.”

There is a whole crew of new rookies stepping up to the plate. How do you think they’ll fare in the coming years?
“I think they’re phenomenal. I’ll be interested to see what level of longevity they’ll have in their careers because they really haven’t had to work too hard for it, but they are hard workers. So it will be interesting to see how much they want it and how fiercely competitive they all become. Stephanie has a head start on them all, and it will be interesting to see how much they all challenge her. I found coming through the ranks when I was a kid that I was always threatened or intimidated by the world champ, whereas these days no one is. These days, the kids just want to smash you—they don’t care what name you have or what color rash vest you’re wearing, they just want to smash you. I think it’s really healthy, and they’re all talented and committed and driven and supported. You know, they’ve got such an enormous supportive network surrounding them that I never had. We’ll see how long they can keep it going for.”

How does this upcoming generation differ from the previous ones?
“I refer to this current generation as ‘The Silver Platter Generation,’ just because they have it laid out for them. It’s a really valuable opportunity that they have right now to take women’s surfing to a whole different level. Lisa did that before me, and then I did that, and now it’s Steph and these young girls’ opportunity to take women’s surfing to a different place. I know the surf media and the surf industry and anyone that’s interesting in surfing is kind of observing the direction that women’s surfing is taking—kind of waiting to see what direction it takes. I think these girls have kind of relied on me to dictate that and now it’s up to them to do it. It’s exciting. These girls have to be given a little more responsibility and accountability—and that’s where it differs. They’ve been given a supportive network, they’re sponsored while they’re still in school, they’ve got team managers, tour managers—they’ve got the best level of assistance you could ever have, where I was working three jobs and doing everything myself. So, it’s a lot different mindset and starting block to start from.”

You also just published a book, Beneath the Waves. How’s that going?
“Right now it’s only distributed in Australia. I’m looking for an American publisher—I’d love to get it published in the coastal regions of America and also Hawaii. I did a national book tour as soon as I got back from Brazil—between Brazil and the Beachley Classic I did and two-week tour and then two days after the Beachley Classic I went on the rest of the book tour. It’s been mental. I’m really looking forward to settling down and not filling my time up, because I have a tendency to do that.”