Parts of this interview were used in "Lisa Andersen: Against the Tide," by Matt Warshaw, which was published in the March 1996 issue of Live magazine. Andersen was 26 when the interview took place, with a two-year-old daughter. A few months later she won the third of her four straight world titles.

Partly. We moved a lot. I went to like five different schools as a kid. When we moved to Ormond Beach I was devastated. I hated my parents for about three months. Going to another new school when you're a tomboy is hard.

My new school was right on the beach, and everybody dressed like surfers, so I did too. I hung out with older people; with guy surfers. It was great for a while.

Then it was like, 'We're going to party.' But all the time. 'Come on, Lisa, sneak out, we're going to party.' My parents saw that it was getting out of hand, and surfing looked like the cause of it.

And that led to a big fight with your dad?

He was scolding me at first, and that wasn't enough, so he went into my room, got my board, and started to jump on it. Destroyed it. The fin boxes went through the foam and popped out of the glass on top. I was just—oh my god. I cried.

You ran away from home and landed in Huntington. How long were you there for?

I was there four months, living with this guy who was a drug freak; who kind of beat me up a few times. Then I lived at Greg Mungal's house in Newport for a while. I became friends with Tricia Gill, another girl surfer, and her aunt offered me a place to stay. I cleaned the house and walked her dogs in exchange for room and board. That lasted a year and a half, maybe two years, then I met [pro surfer] Craig Comen and ended up living with him, and that's when I began competing pretty much every weekend.

How long from when you first arrived in Huntington until you made the world tour?

Your first years on tour, you were living with [pro surfer] Dave Parmenter, in Central California?

Yes. The first year we were together, Dave was still doing the tour himself.

People always seem to want to take care of you.

That's true, yeah. Everywhere I went, people took care of me. That's why I hardly ever had to work. Craig took me under his wing; he took care of me for a long time. The Mungal family took care of me. Even now. Even though I'm married [to world tour judge Renato Hickel]. I go places, to Australia, pretty much anywhere on the tour, and I'm taken care of. And it's a good thing, too. People like that have kept me away from a lot of danger.

What about your own parents? What ended up happening there?

My mom and I are close. She's traveling with me this year, helping me with Erica [Lisa's daughter].

We're not in touch. We're strangers. I send him photos of Erica and he doesn't reply.

When I was pregnant, all of a sudden he became concerned and wanted to get back in touch with me, and meet Renato; he took us out to dinner. When Erica was born it seemed like he wanted to be a part of all that. Then he just sort of disappeared again.

Are you different now than you were when you first got on the tour?

I'm stronger as a person. I'd rather be alone now, or at least a lot of the time, and that wasn' t the case five years ago. At 20 or 21, you know, you're looking for security. Or maybe not security, exactly, but you fantasize more at that age about what things will be like when you get older, about the perfect man, stuff like that. Then you grow up a little and realize it only works that way in the movies. At this point, I mostly want to be alone, listen to music, drive the car, go surfing, then come home and be with Erica.

For five or six years you were this sort of famous underachiever, where people thought you were going to win everything, and it never happened. Then you had a baby, and the very next year you won a world title. What was the connection between having a baby and finally succeeding as a pro surfer?

After pregnancy, I all of a sudden had a lot more energy somehow, and a lot more confidence. I found out later that female athletes lots of times come back stronger after childbirth.

Maybe it has something to do with having a second really important thing in your life, instead of just one?

Maybe, I don't know. I think it's more that you've just been through the worst, most painful thing you'll ever go through and nothing else seems all that difficult anymore (laughs).

I can see where, on one level, having a baby could be really distracting, but on another level it could really focus you as well.

Yes, Erica put pressure on me, for sure. I had to take care of her, and surfing was the way to do it.

No, not at all. In fact, I was suddenly much calmer. I knew what I wanted to do. Finally. Without a kid, you're a lot more likely to go out at night, do dumb stuff, whatever. That's not the case anymore.

Even before Erica was born, you were known for mostly steering clear of the other women on tour. You were with Craig, or Dave, or by yourself.

I'd hard to focus on the event, on winning, when you're hanging around with the girls. I don't want to end up surfing against my roommate, you know? There aren't many girls doing this full time. And to surf the way I want to surf, to compete well—I guess is just a matter of concentration, which is something I can only really do well when I'm alone.

The money is so out of whack between the men the women, they make so much more than you guys. How does that affect your day to day like a professional?

For the guys, being on tour, it's a lot of partying and a lot of girls. For us, it's just saving money, saving money, looking for a cheap place to have dinner, hoping you have enough money to get to the next contest. All the time, on tour, you see the girls going food shopping together at the market, while the guys are always eating out, usually at nice places.

There's this big secrecy about how much money pro surfers make. Nobody seems to have any idea what the other surfers are earning. Do you want to smash that down and say how much you make?

More than any of the other women, though.

Sure. But that's just because I'm world champion.

Did you double your income after winning the title?

You were criticized a few years back for saying you didn't want to surf like the other girls, that you want to surf like the guys.

Of course I use the guys as a standard. I never expect to get there, that would be impossible, but it's good to aim high. Everybody wants to surf like Kelly Slater, guys and girls. That's my point. Try to surf like the best. Aim high, you know? That's all I was saying.

[Photos: Tom Servais, Simon Williams, Art Brewer, Russell Hoover]

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