“Billabong, already have got me doing some really great ventures and I am looking forward to spending more time with my family,” said Occy. “I am looking forward to doing a few wildcards next year for Billabong, at Jeffreys Bay and Mundaka, my two specialty events, so I won’t be totally gone.”
“I’ve got Jay and Mae, and we’re bringing up a family, with hopefully some more on the way and I am looking forward to just settling down a bit.”
ADDITIONAL OCCY QUOTES
Q. What do you hope to achieve in your final year on tour? A. “Well anything is possible you know, I have been training really hard and we have had a great run of surf here on the Gold Coast over the last month and I am feeling really fit. I don’t want to make any wild claims but anything is possible and a want to finish with a good strong year.”
Q. What will you miss most about life on tour? A. “I will miss a lot about life on tour, just looking at the results and the waves that they were in, and just thinking, jeeze I could have done well there I will really miss going to Hawaii and getting to compete in the Triple Crown, it’s a big thing, and I never even got to win a Triple Crown, but I have still got one year left, so hopefully I’ll get one.”
Q. What will you miss least about life on tour? A.“Well, I won’t be missing home, and I wont miss traveling on airplanes and living out of a suitcase. I certainly won’t miss packing up the show each week to get to the next spot.”
Q. Who would you like to thank, who has really influenced your surfing career? A. “I really like to thank Gordon Merchant, he started my career off and we used to travel together and put a lot of smart information in my head. Gordon sponsored me obviously and bought me a ticket on tour when I didn’t have a lot of good results or anything. He gave me the start up and then really helped me along the way.”
Q. Who do you like for the next couple of years? A. “A little inside tip would be Joel, but I think that Andy is going to be really hard to beat to. I think that Taj could give it a good go.
Q. So what do you think about Jay, do you think he’s got potential? A. “He’s got potential for sure, and he will tell you too. I’m not going to push Jay though, he is nearly two now and he loves the water. But we are only just teaching him to swim. We take him in the water and he gets dumped, but he hasn’t been dumped too bad yet.”
“He has already worked out that I surf, because every time he sees me on the telly he says daddy daddy, and when we pull up to the surf he say’s daddy daddy. In Hawaii this year, one morning was completely massive and he was like, daddy daddy, your out there, I was like hang on mate, hang on. So he knows what I do and I’m sure he will want to be a surfer but I don’t want to push him into it too quick.”
Q. So is he a Goofy or a Natural? A. “I think he could be a natural, but I don’t want to say yet”
ADDITIONAL GORDON MERCHANT QUOTES Q. What first attracted to you to sponsoring Occy? A. I was just one of things. I was in Sydney showing the new Billabong collection to Mark Aprilovic in his shop at Cronulla. Mark turned to me and said he had someone he wanted me to meet and out from behind the counter came a small fourteen year old boy Mark introduced as Occy. Mark said that Occy was one of the hottest kids in the Cronulla area and would I be willing to sponsor him and I said I would. I didn’t hear much about Occy till the following year when he got third in the Beaurepaires contest.
Q. How much of a part did Occy play in establishing Billabong especially in the USA? A. Occy was instrumental in helping Bob Hurley get Billabong established in the USA. Occy’s back to back wins in the 1985 and 1986 Huntington Beach WCT’s, competing against Tom Curren in both finals and wining was legendary.
Q. If you had to pick one thing that was his legacy to surfing – what would it be? A. Occy’s ability to surf like most, mortal surfers just dream about.
Q, What was Occy like to watch at J-Bay? A.The time I remember most was the first time Occy surfed Cheron’s Country Feeling contest at J-Bay. Occy surfed with such speed and power he definitely redefined backhand surfing from that point on.
