Stephanie Gilmore: 20 Year Issue

Photo by Chris Searl

This interview appears in the 20th-anniversary Issue (buy a copy here) and is apart of the Analog To Digital: 20 Years of Culture and Change Podcast Series (listen to it here).

If someone told little 16 year old tomboy Sammy, that I’d be interviewing the person on the cover of Monster Children Issue 36 when I grew up, I’d have to lay down on the grass to calm down for a minute or four.

For some people interviewing a musician or an actor might be the highlight of their career, but for me it is Stephanie Gilmore. There a few people I look up to more. Stephanie Gilmore is actually the reason why I picked up a Monster Children magazine all those years ago, and probably surfing for that matter. Seeing her on the cover in a time when females rarely made it cemented her in a league that few had ever been. She bridged the gap of how so many boys perceive females athletes and did it with more style than anyone on the planet. She didn’t just become the best female surfer. She is the best. Period. Sometimes when you do finally meet your heroes, the fantasy is tarnished a little. Maybe they say something a little off or try a joke that doesn’t land. Steph? Still the most grounded, coolest, intelligent, wonderful human absolutely everyone says she is. In fact, even better. Steph has played an enormous part in Monster Children, surfing and women as a whole. What reads below is a pure fan girl moment from one significantly less talented boardshort wearing Goldy grommet to another. 

All right, let's do it. What were you doing in 2003?

2003, okay let me think how old I was. I always remember what stage of my life I was in because I won a professional surfing contest in 2005 and that’s when I was 17. So in 2005 I was 15, I was going to Kingscliff High School. I was a full blown tomboy surf rat, probably wearing white board shorts and a white Ripcurl trucker hat. I was just all surf, surf, surf. I probably had a really bad neck tan from my wetsuits. I would have just been surfing Snapper. That’s all I did basically. 

Where are you now?

Now I'm just pretty much exactly the same, just maybe a little more leathery and I got a few more trophies. But yeah, still here in Rainbow Bay, surfing Snapper Rocks. A little more traveling under the belt. Still in love with surfing and still chasing some weird dragon known as the world title. Love chasing those freakin’ world titles even though I’ve got a lot of them. So it’s weird, not much has changed but at the same time I feel like I’ve probably done 400 laps of the globe since 2003.

Photos by Chris GURNey

My next question is a bit of general consensus one from all my mates who look up to you including myself and it’s how do you do you be as cool as Steph Gilmore, which is not a question you can answer, but I suppose the better question would be what is style to you?

You know, it's funny, everyone's always like, oh, you're the most stylish. Realistically there is no right or wrong style, you know? What I think is cool style can be totally different to what you think is cool style. But it seems like in surfing, there's a real attraction to flow and fluidity on a wave. When whoever is on the wave is just so intuitive that they're not thinking, they're just feeling. To me, I would say the most stylish surfers that I really love to watch the most are the likes of Tom Curren, Dave Rastovich and Lisa Anderson. When you think about them, you just flash to the way they surf, it's seamless, it's magical, it’s iconic. Yeah, there's no thought to it. It's just like they were meant to be on that wave at that very moment in time doing what they're doing. At the same time, I love a Dane Reynolds who is so aggressive, but equally so graceful. I think that my style of surfing is obviously very fluid because I grew up here on the Gold Coast where we have lot of really long waves and we can just iron everything out. I got to watch Joel Parkinson and Chelsea Hedges, a lot of amazing surfers up here. I have always been attracted to the way Joel surfs. I wasn't trying to copy him in any way, but at the same time I always thought that’s how you should surf if you want to surf good.

Totally. What is the biggest change in surfing that you've witnessed in the last 20 years?

The obvious one is just the amount of people in the water. It is crazy. There is so many people in the surf and there is an incredibly high number of women in the surf. I'd say that's been the biggest change that I've seen. Women of all ages, little girls all the way up. I have older woman come up to me and say ‘I feel kind of crazy because I’m just starting surfing at 40, is that too late?’ No, that is awesome! There’s no age limit to reach where you can't start surfing. That's a ridiculous thought. Then in the competitive realm, there’s been a lot positive changes for females. We've got equal prize money as of 2019 which was a huge step in the right direction. For surfing to lead the way in that respect was super cool. Sport is a great platform to pave the way there because everyone's allowed to see how much money you get on your check when you finish the contest. To set the example for a lot of other industries around the world. Then also going back to women and getting the women in heavier waves, like at Pipeline and Tahiti. Scary, scary waves, but in the name of progress for women in professional surfing, we needed to be at these events and these locations. So yeah, a lot of awesome changes have been happening.

Yeah, of course. Obviously, I mean, you're undoubtedly being extremely pivotal in that. From the outside, I suppose that WSL does look like it's working towards equality. Is that sincerely felt as someone on tour? Are there still gaps?

There's always something to work on for sure. The tough thing about surfing is you can never make everybody happy when it comes to wave quality because say we show up to a contest and there may only be two days of decent waves. If at any moment they run the women in some poor conditions, everyone's quick to jump on that saying ‘back to the old days, put the women out when it gets bad,’ without taking into account the men are also surfing in bad conditions as well. That's just the nature of surfing. Randomly we'll get a five day swirl that just pumps the whole time and everyone gets great waves, but that's really rare. I also think the number of women can definitely increase. There are so many incredibly talented women. I feel like they could make the numbers equal to the men and open that up because I think the talent is there now to have large numbers. But I also like the idea of a quick run through. They could almost lessen the men and finish everything in one swell. That'd be pretty cool. The amount of young women that I see out in the water who are just so excited to become a world champion at some point in their life makes me think to grow the sport by opening it up to more people and allowing more rivalries to happen, more stories in the sport. The talent is there. So that's probably the next step. There's always things to work on but the cool thing about surfing is it is a young sport so we actually have a lot of flexibility with being able to make changes. Right now they got a new format for the world title and it's very controversial and they have the ability to try these things and test it out. If it doesn't work, no one's gonna be completely upset if they change it back to the old format. We don't have some hundred year old traditions that we have to stick to.

Photo by Tom Hoy

Yeah. Speaking about the tour, you did an interview with us a while back and said that the reason why you've been able to kind of compete at such a high level is because competing on tour feels fun for you while a lot of other surfers don't enjoy the pressures of competition, it feels more like a job. Has that mindset of enjoyment always been the case?

I feel blessed that I've been able to kind of tap into this ease with traveling and competing. I know some people really struggle with packing up and taking off for the year but for some reason, I don't know, I've just always loved the idea. New locations, testing myself on this world stage, accepting of the wins and the losses. A lot of people don't understand that we're all being taught how to win, but you're actually going to lose a lot more than you win. It’s important to know that I've won a shit ton in my career, but if you still look at my stats, I've lost more than I've won. The best thing that I've taught myself over the years is to be able to detach. It’s made the traveling easier, it’s made the losing easier. I also think I just have a really good perspective on my life, practicing gratitude for what I get to do for a living. It's absolutely insane that I get paid to go surfing. I've been on tour for 17 years and still to this day I wake up and I'm like, oh man this is so cool. I'm renovating a little house at the moment and my dad is one of those people who are like nah don’t pay anyone you can do it. So I’m in there ripping up tiles or whatever. Now I've got blisters and my back hurts. It really only takes one day of doing a real job to realise. I got so much respect for the tradies out there. That is freaking hard work. 

Absolutely. Is there anything that actually freaks you out or are you just always cool, calm and collected?

No, I freak out for sure. I'm such a wuss in big waves actually. Like Pipeline was so scary. I grew up surfing perfect two foot right-handers over nice fluffy sand. As much as I've had success in all kinds of different waves I have so much to learn in my surfing which is really what keeps me coming back for more on tour because they've added these events. Paddling out at those locations feeling like I'm a rookie, that’s a pretty cool feeling. 

Did you ever feel pressure in your career to be or act a certain way to sell more shit or be more marketable? I mean you’re in a bikini most of the time there’s kind of this undue attention to what you look like right? Pressures that the boys certainly don’t have. 

Yeah definitely, I am still am very much a tomboy. I'm always going to choose comfort over what looks more beautiful or something. I have a lot of memories where I had to do a photo shoot in a bikini or dress in a certain way or I had to wear makeup and I was always uncomfortable. It wasn’t me. But at the same time when you become a  professional surfer, a professional athlete, there's so much more that goes with it that you have to be.You have to able to have a bit of push and pull with that. I think of the Maria Sharapova's and the Serena William’s, the women who were able to blend this glamor and fierce athlete at the same time. To be a fierce athlete, but then also be glamorous and beautiful on top of that, like that's the upper hand over the boys already. Now it’s nice to be at an age where I'm completely comfortable to no don't put the eyeliner on me. It also pushed me in a good way. I couldn't stay in my board shorts forever. 

Why do you think that there is such a camaraderie that exists in women's surfing that I suppose isn't as obvious in other sports and among the men. I don't just mean like on a professional level either. I'm a below average surfer and everytime I paddle out it’s always the chick cheering me on to a wave. The boys would never do that. Why do you think that is?

Less testosterone and ego? Even I’m at receiving end of that kind of stuff from men. I remember a surf at Lowers last year there were a bunch of guys following me around the lineup and they would drop in, trying to rip in front of me just to kind of like make a point like I know you surf good but this is my beach. Were you trying to impress me? I was really unsure (laughs). Maybe women just a more of a balanced approach in the surf because they've come into surfing later in life and they don't feel like they need to like impress anyone. There’s less of a need to be the star of the show in a pack of people in a lineup. Surfing is funny. I see people fighting in the surf all the time and I'm like are you guys for real? You're going surfing, how can you be angry at each other? 

Yeah I’ve never understood that either. Is there something that you do in competitions, like a little routine or whatever that works for you that you've been doing the whole time? 

It’s always changed for me. Sometimes I’m super committed, I’m not eating anything bad, no alcohol, nothing. I'm so clean, I'm training, the mindset's great and I'll win and then other times I'll do that and then I'll lose. Other times where I'm just partying the whole time and I'll win the contest. And then there's other times where you party the whole time and you lose the first heat. So It's hard to say there's a right or a wrong way to do it. But I think for the longevity of it there’s got to be a balance. I couldn't be 100% committed to the program for 17 years, otherwise I would have lost my mind. Warm the body up, drink lots of good water, good healthy food, a bit of red wine, a bit of chocolate.

You were apart of Team Average Sri Lanka - which I know is a reference point for a lot of people discovering Monster Children - can you tell us a story about Dylan from that trip? 

I didn't get the tattoo, that's for sure. Everyone was getting these TA tattoos but I don't have any tattoos so I was like, oh, I don't think I'm gonna start with a TA (laughs). The thing that I loved about the Team Average trips is that they brought together a bunch of people who you would never usually see on a trip together. It was the first time I got to hang out with Dylan Rieder. I'd never been on a skate trip before, but to see how they operate was fascinating. They're just driving around, looking around the streets being like I think that's skatable. Oh, look at that weird gutter. It was cool. And created lifetime friends, such a special trip. 

When the tour does finally finish up for you, not saying that it's gonna be anytime soon, where do you see your life going? Post tour life.

Look I'm 35, there’s a body clock there that sort of ticks if you want to have kids. The question for me now is do I pop them out now and then come back or do I just finish my career and have kids after that or just not have kids at all? There's so many options and questions. I look at someone like Kelly, he's 50 and he's still going strong. You just see how much he loves it, he just genuinely loves being on tour so you can follow that.I don't know, it's a tough one. After though? I would like to get into surf filmmaking. I think that there's a lot of cool female stories in surf that have never been told. Caity Simmers has been really hard out making cool edits of her and her friends surfing. She has said there's just has never been that many videos of girls ripping. So that could be cool. Surfing is the best thing ever, the plan is to milk it for as long as I can. There's still plenty left in the tank. 

Photos by Chris Gurney

If you could give your 2003 some advice, what would it be?

Stop eating so many lollies. That's a good start. What else? Wear more zinc. Read more and write more. 

Do you have any memorable fuck ups, aside from losing a critical heat? 

To be honest, my most memorable fuck up was when Spider-Bait asked me to get on stage at Falls Festival and play a song with them and I messed up the opening chords. It was so embarrassing. That’s my worst one. That’s pretty bad. 

Not too bad in the scheme of things. That's a pretty good run. Okay so obviously you were the cover of Issue 36 and then guest edited Issue 52. Do you think Monster Children has gone downhill or uphill from there? 

Oh, uphill for sure. Print's not dead, long live print. 

Cool, love that. Where would you like to see surfing moving forward?

It seems like everything's very acrobatic these days, I can only imagine it's going to get more and more like that. With the amount of wave pools that are getting built it seems like there will be more skate tricks involved. I could also see it shift in the way snowboarding is set up where you have your back country guy which is like the free surfer, and then the park crew which is like the wave pool surfers and then the ocean surfers. Split the tours into that kind of format. At the end of the day, the best feeling in surfing is going fast and getting barreled. So I don't think that's going anywhere anytime soon. That's most important. So yeah, as long as I'm surfing, that's all I'm trying to go for anyway. 

Will you ever ride a twinny in a WSL heat?

Yeah, maybe. There's definitely some incredible designs coming out. Ryan Burch in particular, who's been making some really special twin fins that which are incredibly high performance, I've had a lot of moments in my career where I'm like, yeah, I'm going to ride a twin fin in my heat and then I just chicken out every time because I know the judges will be like, that's lame. You suck.

Surely not. Last question, what is Monster Children to you?

Every now and then  it's a bunch of emails from old friends. Nah, it's cool. Monster Children to me is a really nice old friend that has been there for some really defining moments in my career. Doing the issue really made me step outside my comfort zone, having to be the person who was doing the interviewing. I feel like I did probably the least amount of work of everyone but it was something that was completely new to me. And Hollywood, he's probably taken the most beautiful photos that I've ever seen of myself throughout my life in different careers. I would say, yeah, it's like an old friend that has reminded me of some really pivotal moments in my career.

Listen or hold a copy.

Photo by Todd Jordan