"Dropping in on Nicky Wood" ran in the May 1990 issue of Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly shortened and edited

You made a lot of cash at the Billabong. [Wood won the 1990 Billabong Pro.] What did you do with it all?

I banked it back in the U.S. because I want to buy some property. I’m banking most of my money in the U.S. so I can buy a condo or something in the future. Maybe a place in Hawaii that I could live in from November to January and rent out for the rest of the year.

You seem to have a knack for winning the big contests. This year the Billabong, and Bells in ’87. Does it feel better to win in Hawaii?

Yeah. It’s real nice to win in a different country, ’cause this is the first time I’ve done that. It was a big buzz.

And how’d it feel to beat out a guy like Cheyne Horan [in the Billabong contest]?

Pretty strange. I went to Japan with Cheyne and Geoff McCoy when I was around 12, and he was a full-on hero then, and I’m still battling it out with him now. I feel like I’m near my peak, and here's Cheyne at 30, still putting up a tough fight. The guy’s a full fitness guru. As long as he’s still competing he’ll be hard to take down.

Did you expect to do so well in Hawaii this year?

 to do well. If I didn’t have a good showing I wouldn’t have made the top sixteen.

I did a bit of swim training back in Australia and I had really good boards this year, so that gave me a lot of confidence. Usually I get a Hawaiian guy to make my boards for the North Shore, but this year I had Gunther Rohn, who makes most of my boards anyway, shape all my boards for to Hawaii. I’m probably paying his rent right now.

Most guys have a hard time adjusting to the speed and power of the wave at Sunset. You didn’t seem to have to change your approach during the Billabong at all.

At the size it was for the contest, around eight- to ten-foot, it was a lot like surfing big Merewether. There are sections that are real similar, where you can make big drawn-out turns.

You've had a good bit of trouble your knees in the past. Are they still giving you problems?

Well, they still crack some when I bend, but nothing like the grief they were giving me back in ’88 when I had to miss going to Hawaii because of knee surgery.

What happened? How'd they get so bad in the first place?

I just grew too fast when I was younger and that caused problems in my knees. I was getting heaps of pain and swelling after every surf. It was a nightmare.

Just working on strengthening my muscles, especially my thighs. If I don’t build ’em up, my knees will for sure go bad again.

How man contests do you think you’ve surfed in your life?

That’s funny you ask because my old man and I were just talking about that. I don’t know for sure, but easily 300— probably more.

Aren’t you getting just a bit sick of it?

No, not at all. A lot of my mates are working regular jobs right now and finding it really hard. I’m pretty fortunate, I think.

Contest surfing can be pretty stressful, though.

It can get you down when you’re in a slump, for sure, like I was in last year. But when you’re on, everything is great. You have to take the bad with the good.

Have you got any goals in mind for this year’s tour?

Last year I was thinking I’d crack the top ten and this year I’d go for the top five, but that didn’t really go. I’ve just learned to take things as they come—just give it my best effort. I was really stoked to even make the top 16, ' cause I was pretty much blowing it most of the year. I’ve come to realize that it’s a bit hard to plan ahead with what you’re going to do or where you’re going to be—anything can happen. Anything, mate.

"Looking for Nicholas Wood," by Derek Rielly, ran in the October 1995 issue of Australia's Surfing Life. Wood was 25 and had just dropped off the world tour after a 10-year run.

Basically just having a rest at home. After I got knocked out I didn't really feel like doing the WQS, that grind. I'm pretty well deflated how I got knocked out last year, mate. You know what I mean? 'Cause I was only just out of the 16 there for a while. And then I missed Brazil. And it came to the Coke, I was winning my three-man heat and I got an interference with Taylor Knox. We crossed over, he knocked me flying off my board, and they called it on me. It should've been called double (interference), I reckon. Anyway, I still had a chance after that. I surfed against my best mate Poto and, we had a really close heat. I only needed a 4.2 score. Fuck, the waves didn't cooperate and I didn't get it. I found it hard to pick myself up after that.

I didn't hang in Newcastle is because I've been there all my life. Know what I mean? And the chick's got a bit of work up here. (Nat, Nick's wife, runs a bikini dance troupe.)

Yeah, brah! Been surfing two or three times a day. We're going to hang out here for a year and then get some land around Angourie or Lennox.

What happened on the Australian WQS leg this year? You missed heats, didn't turn up for contests . . . .

Fuck, I had bad luck, bra. I ended up missing a few heats and stuff and it woulda seemed to people that I missed them on purpose but it wasn't like that. Things happen. I should've been more prepared. I want to forget what happened in the past and pick it up. That's been my main problem—trying to pick myself back up. I spoke to you last year and I was lookin' at the (world) title! I thought the next couple of years would be my best chance. I'm pretty pissed off at the moment, but I brought it on myself. It's destiny. It was probably meant to happen.

I was too crook to travel the last two years; I had to go into hospital because they thought I had cancer. My stomach was fucked, I lost a fair bit of weight and I went into hospital and they put me out, stuck tubes down my fucken throat and had a look in there and I and two holes in my esophagus. Fuck, at my age, mate.

I've really gotta watch what I eat and shit. Pretty uncomfortable. To tell you the truth, I thought I was dying. I still don't really know what's up. The doctor said, fuck mate, you'd better have a rest. But I didn't, and went straight back on tour last year. The year before that I did the whole thing without even knowing, just went through hell, and then went to hospital after the season ended. That's when they told me what was up.

When you're born you're fresh. I want to get back to that. If you take a lot of drugs it fuckin' disorganizes you. I'm old enough to face those facts. Pot makes you do nuthin'. I realize that I've only got a few years left and I want to do it clean. Pot's not good for a professional athlete. I'm not saying pot's fucked. Pot's all right if you want to kick back, no worries. I'm just saying it's not good if you want to compete. For me, it dregged me out pretty much. So I'm comin' back clean and mean, OK?

Most of the stuff I've been telling ya mate has been from the heart. Fuck, the stuff that's happened. That's why I didn't want to do the tour, because I've been on the world title run for eight years. Now I'm 25 and taking a backward step. So I have to sit this year out, get my fitness back, and have another shot at it.

Yeah, they picked me up last year and, fuck, I bombed out. But I had a good speak to 'em and they're backing me up. I'm trying to look forward and get on with it. It's do or die for me next year. I've finally got a bit of time to sit down and have a look at where I've been, what I've done and what I can do. You need that time to think. When you're traveling full-on for that long it becomes one big fucking headspin, I tell ya.

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