The SURFER Interview: Chris Ward

CHRIS WARD: Yeah, I just pay the five bucks for the beer now and keep my mouth shut.

SURFER: Why did it take you so long to commit to the WQS Tour?

CHRIS WARD: Well, I just wasn't in a huge hurry, because I didn't want to go until I really felt like I was ready. I turned pro when I was pretty young. I left high school early to do trips and stuff and it was never my intention to jump right on the tour.

SURFER: What was your thinking in leaving high school early?

CHRIS WARD: Well, the spin I had at the time was I'd go on independent study and learn a lot more by just traveling around the world, and I think I've learned a ton, but the truth of it is when I was in high school all my friends were older than me. Gavin Beschen was a senior when I was a freshmen, and most of the guys we ran with were his age. So after they graduated I couldn't stand to be around school anymore.

SURFER: The whole "Where's Wardo?" slogan has sort of taken on new significance now that you're the odd man out on the WCT tour. A lot of people in California pegged you as our next big hope after the Machado, Beschen, Knox brigade. Yet here we are four years into the new millennium and the new crop of Californians have yet to show up? What's the deal?

CHRIS WARD: Well, I think there're a few reasons really. The main one being that the media and the industry plays a bigger role here in the U.S. because kids start getting sponsored at an earlier age and they're getting recognition in magazines before they've even done anything. For me, once I started getting sent to Indonesia and all these other exotic places, I wasn't in any big hurry to jump on the WQS to surf and compete in crap waves. I liked what I was doing.

SURFER: Who wouldn't? You were getting paid well to get barreled every day.

CHRIS WARD: Right. So that's really where my focus was during the early part of my career. I traveled to all the places I always wanted to go...and some I didn't. But I think another reason why the young California hopefuls are having problems getting on the WCT is because we don't have the same infrastructure that they have in Australia with the pro junior circuits and stuff, and the Australian companies don't really promote young guys until they start getting results.

SURFER: But today you're the same age as Andy Irons, who's already got two World Titles under his belt. Plus, you're friends with him and you guys surf together a fair bit. Do you feel like you're surfing at or near his level?