Gone Riding: Sunny Garcia and a tale of two sports

Intimidating competitor both in the water and out

One might be led to believe that a 218-pound, 55-horsepower, 450-cubic-centimeter, fossil-fuel-motivated motocross bike and an ultra-light, three-fin, six-foot-something surfboard really don’t have much of anything in common. But strangely enough they do. 2000 ASP World Surfing Champion and multifold Triple Crown of Surfing Champion Sunny Garcia is, if you listen to him, nearly as passionate about the landlocked sport of motocross as he is of the sport that has made him an in-our-time legend. Recently retired, Surfermag.com caught up with the pride and joy of Waianae, Hawaii at the 2006 Racer X Ride Day at the Castillo Ranch MX circuit.

So Sunny, just what brings you out to Ride Day?
Well, you told me about it the other day. I’ve been dying to come out to Castillo Ranch for, shoot, the last 10 years. I came out to get a chance to ride and to check the ranch out.

You’ve been able to ride quite a bit today, what do you think of the place?
It’s incredible. The only problem I’ve had is that I haven’t ridden a motocross bike in about six months. The track today is a little rutted-up and a little spooky for me, so it wasn’t all that fun. But it was fun to be riding today.

How did you end up becoming such a big motocross enthusiast?
Well, I met Pete, Greg and John Fox [Fox Racing] in the early 1990s. They came over to Hawaii and I took them surfing. I had just started riding then and they brought Doug Henry over [Doug Henry is a former multi-time National Motocross Champion]. Doug took me to a track in Hawaii and made me jump my first double jump. He wasn’t going to let me leave until I jumped a double. Ever since that day I’ve been a big fan of motocross.

Over the years I’ve seen you at a hell of a lot of races…
Yeah, I’ve gone to pretty much every single opening round of the Supercross series since 1992. That was back when the first round was in Orlando, Florida. I have not missed a season opener since 1992.

What’s the surfing community think about your interest in motocross?
Everybody says the same thing: “You’re dumb for riding. You’re going to get hurt.” But you know I figure life is about just going out and having fun and not worrying about those kinds of things. I don’t know, I’ve been hurt a bunch of times riding, but for me, I love the sport so much that it’s worth it.

You’re officially retired from professional contest surfing now. Do you miss the WCT at all?
I don’t. Not one bit. I thought for sure that when the season started that I would miss it, but I don’t miss it at all. Not anywhere near missing it. Now I have more time to hang out. I’m working at Da Hui now trying to cross over to the business side. I’m looking forward to it all. Now I have more time to go riding. Now, for sure, I can afford to get hurt and not worry about it.

So when the WCT season opened up with the Quiksilver Pro in Australia last March, I’m sure you checked in on the results and all. Were you bummed you weren’t there?
No. You know what, I called John Shimooka, who does the commentating at the events. He was like, “Do you miss it at all?” I was like, “Tell the boys I miss hanging out with them, but I definitely don’t miss competing. Not one bit.”

So what’s in the future for you? You mentioned working with Da Hui now…
I’m just going to do surf trips and I’m now working at Da Hui. We actually picked up a surfboard blank company. So I’m actually going to Argentina this week to sign the contract for us to be the main distributor here in the U.S. So I’m trying to get myself into business. Now that I’m not making money from surfing events, I’ve gotta be able to afford my motocross habit somehow, so I have to get a real job to be able to afford some bikes [laughter].

What about all this tow-in big-wave stuff? Are you into that?
Umm … I’m slowly working my way into it. You know I’m not a big fan of the tow-in craze just because a lot of tow-in guys are not legitimate big-wave surfers. I think that the tow-in thing has brought a lot of guys who were incapable big-wave surfers into our sport. These guys are going out and almost killing themselves trying to be the next Triple-X big-wave guy. That side of it I’m not for, but you know, it’s a fun thing. I enjoy it and a lot of guys are having fun with it and that’s the whole point. But as far as going out and trying to get photos and be some surf star, I think most of those guys are all kooks. You know, you have that in every sport. Guys who I would say are untalented and have big egos and want to be somebody. Surfing is no exception. We have a lot of kooks in our sport. I don’t know … I’m looking forward to going out and having fun and being part of the whole big-wave thing, but I’m not out there trying to be the next guy to ride the biggest wave.

You’re a former World Champion, so the pressure is off, huh?
Yeah. I think surfing is a great sport and even though I compete, I think it’s something to do and have fun. It’s just like motocross — everybody does it because they love to do it. I just don’t get the “I want to be famous” part of it. Even though I’ve competed, I’ve never been one who wanted to be in the spotlight. I think either you’re really good at it or you’re not. Either way, as long as you’re having fun, it doesn’t really matter.

Now that you can look back, are you happy with what you’ve accomplished in surfing?
You know I would have liked to have accomplished more non-competitive things. Like being part of the board for the ASP. Like getting more prize money or getting a retirement fund set up for the surfers. I wish I would have been able to get more. But I think that now that I’m on the other side I think I’ll have more time to try and help our sport grow. I’m going to be a part of surfing for a long time. Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to give a little more back to the sport. I’m looking forward to finding whatever I can to do that.