“Willsy,” Jesse Faen’s interview with Danny Wills, ran in the November 1998 issue of Surfing. Wills had just scored the first of back-to-back wins in Japan, which put him in the 1998 world tour ratings leads for much of the year. He finished the season ranked #3. This version has been shortened and slightly edited.

Congratulations mate, dream come true or what?

Yeah, totally, it’s unbelievable. I never thought it would happen this early in my career. No way, not at all. I had a really bad year last year, I had two injuries and was feeling really down. But I got off to a good start this year and it sort of keeps going. 

I had a little boy, Jayden, and I’ve been happy ever since. I think that has a lot to do with it.

The prizemoney must have pretty much paid off your home loan back in Australia, huh?

Yeah, she was stoked, she got goosebumps and started getting teary and stuff, it’s unreal.

Let’s talk about the tour in general. How have you found it since you qualified last year?

Last year was hard, I was really down and not very confident. It took me up until almost the end of the season before I started getting confident and started getting the right attitude toward things.

In Portugal, I just got a ‘I don’t really give a fuck’ sort of attitude. I think that’s pretty much what you’ve got to have because everybody is here to win and anything can happen in a 25-minute heat. And then Mick (Campbell) took out that event and was just on fire so confident, and he’s just really good to hang out with, you know? He keeps you on an upper all the time.

You and Mick really seem to be spurring each other on a lot now.

Yeah, it’s good. If he does well I want to do well and vice versa.

Too bad you guys didn’t make the final together, that would have been a dream, huh?

That would have been a dream, hey? It would have been a bloody hard final though, cause I would have hassled the shit out of him (laughs).

How do you think your upbringing at Byron Bay, a pretty mellow area, has affected your competitiveness?

Mmmm. . . hard to say because there are so many guys around my area that surf well. There’s always been guys to look up to and guys you want to try and surf better than. So there’s always been that competitive side involved, but I guess it would have been even more if I grew up in Sydney, or somewhere like that. It’s a little bit more laid back, for sure, which maybe makes it harder coming into contests ’cause I really don’t need to hassle back at home to catch waves, I go surfing. A lot of times just by myself, in fact. Whereas, at the CT events you’ve got the entire top 44 out there hassling. So last year I guess I just got my head around that and realized I had to deal with it. It’s what I’m here for, you know?

A lot of surfers in America might not realize how well-known you were as a grommet back in Australia with the video

How has it been dealing with all the attention from such a young age?

It was pretty hard when I was really young, I was like 14 when I did that movie, and there was a lot of attention and parts of it I really didn’t like. I mean, I got more out of just being able to go surfing with Tom Carroll [during the shoot] than anything, but then all the media were just carrying on there for a while, and after that I sort of faded away. I didn’t do many contests for a while; I did school. I don’t think I competed for two years. Then I was working a job [at a bar] and was sort of in two minds. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a professional surfer or whether I wanted to just keep my job.

Aw, I got so sick of working at the bar, I was like, “Fuck, I don’t want to be doing this, I want to be a professional surfer.” So l quit and that’s when I came down to Sydney and did Pro Junior. That’s what kicked it all off. I did alright in that, then did the Aussie pro tour for a year or so, and then Quiksilver asked if I wanted to do the WQS and I thought, “Yeah, shit, why not?’ So I did that, but then sort of had a few dramas at home and only really did half the tour. I think I ended up at 60-something in the ratings.

Mum and dad split up and there were just dramas, you know? I was in a really bad state of mind and wanted to be home with me dad and help him work through it. I only needed a few results and I might have qualified, but you can always say if you’d done did this or done that, so I just thought, “Fuck it, my family needs me more than I need to surf in these bloody contests.”

And then the following year you did the QS and qualified.

Was the WCT everything you expected it to be

I didn’t know what to expect because I never really watched the events. I watched the Billabong one year up at Kirra, but I didn’t really have an idea; I didn’t know much about it at all. I’d seen it on television and stuff, but I guess it was what I expected it to be. It was as hard, you know? Which I knew it would be because everyone at that level is just a bullshit surfer. Every heat is stacked and you never drop your guard because you just get a flogging if you do.

What was the highlight of the tour for you last year?

The highlight was when I beat Kelly in Portugal and ended up with a fifth. That sort of put me back on track.

Yeah, that put me out for about three months and got me thinking.

Going crazy on motorbikes and skateboards and all that sort of stuff (laughs). I never got hurt doing as a kid, but as soon as you get a bit older there’s that fear factor and a bit of, “Maybe I shouldn’t do this?” So I stopped doing a few of those things and just tried to get a bit stronger in my surfing.

What about G-Land? There were of reports of you ripping there and pulling a couple of really long backhand floaters.

Oh, it’s just the most bullshit place ever. I love G-Land and J-Bay, they’re unreal. G-Land was epic, me and Mick were frothing cause we’d never been before, or to any really perfect wave before, a left, anyway, so I was just amping. I had a great time. Didn’t do as well as I would have liked in the contest, but I had no expectations last year, really, I just wanted to feel it out and requalify and have a good stab at it this year.

How positive were you feeling at the beginning of this year?

Really positive. I have a beautiful little baby boy and had no worries at the start of the year. I was just amped to try my bloody hardest, do my best, and if it works out, great, if it doesn’t then I’ll try again next year.

How does it feel to look at the ratings and see yourself at the top above Kelly and Occy and everyone else?

I had a little look the other day when I was at home by myself (laughs) and was thinking how this looks alright (more laughs). And then I got a few faxes and the boys were just like, ‘Well, it’s a long year, don’t enjoy it too much.’

I’m wondering, does surfing actually feel like a job to you now?

In the sense like you actually feel like you’ve got to go do a job.

I think it’s still fun, but it’s also—you’ve got to treat it in that serious sense. I mean, right, you are here to do a job and if you blow it, well, you’re not really doing your job. I’ve got a family to take care of now, too. It’s not just myself anymore. I guess I was probably a little bit selfish in the past, you know?

A lot of people must have mentioned the prospect of a world title to you in the last couple of days. How does that sit with you?

I’m not even thinking about it because there are twelve events this year and this is only the fifth one, so it’s only really just started. I’m not thinking about it at all. I’d be absolutely stoked to stay in the top five, or even just make the top ten at the end of the year would be great. Let’s look at the ratings at the end of the year. If I think about it too much I could easily blow it and end up getting 33rds for the rest of the year. So I’m just going to stay right away from that. We’ll see what happens.

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos