O&E: It looked fun through the screen, but how was the whole experience? Surfing gameshow challenges, traveling to corners of the US, ice storms, Indo finals... a bit happened.
Dakoda: Yeah, Surf100 is such a cool concept, obviously I enjoy competing but to get to do it in a different way and more of a freesurf feel was really cool. I feel like it’s something I’ve always wanted to be a part of since watching it last year. We travelled heaps over the two weeks, through more of the US than I’d seen previously and surfing in the coldest water I’ve ever felt. So yeah, a hell experience to be a part of.
Did it ever get grindy and stop being fun? What didn’t we see?
Not really. The whole thing was pretty bloody fun. I mean we did a few long road trips in a jam packed sprinter or flew around the country to then be in a new place and surf for a chance at 100k... that’s not one-bit grindy. The only time it didn't feel fun was when you thought you were going to lose hahaha.
Did the $100k prize mean there were mind-games played on land or, did everyone keep business to the water? You all seemed way too nice to each other given what was on the line, for example being all nice splitting peaks in New Smyrna...
Nah not at all to be honest, we were all pretty mellow characters I’d say. We are all mates from competing on the challenger and what not for a while now. I mean we all want to win, $100k don’t get that wrong but we weren’t f***ing each other over for that. No way.
You worked hard, nailed a bunch of challenges to get the first spot in the final. How'd you feel when Parko & Noa got thrown in after you and Dimitri did the hard yards to make there?
I mean we all kinda have to work for our spots. Parko is a world champ in our sport, and Noa is probably the most polarising & best freesurfer in the world currently - so they are pretty deserving. But yeah, doing all the challenges we did to then have them there at the end is hectic.Makes us both want to beat them even more than normal. Plus, they’ve made way more coinsthan us two hahaha.
So the shows over - What's next for Dakoda?
I’m off to Brazil literally tomorrow, for the QS6000 event. Then Harley and I have a film dropping at the end of October that we’ve worked on for over a year. So just figuring all that out now. But hopefully just keeping on surfing, make more cool s*** and qualify the challenger in 2027. I’d love another crack at qualifying for the World Tour.
More on that movie to come...
