Luke Thompson Talks about J-Bay, Brus and Beyond

The World Surf League (WSL) J-Bay Classic Presented by Corona Specialty completed the first Thruster Round for men and women in clean, three-to-four-foot waves at Supertubes. As the onshore wind arrived, it created the perfect conditions for the Sealand Airs For Good expression session which saw local youngsters and international invitees go to air all for a good cause.

Trials winner Luke Thompson is proving to be a real threat in the Supertubes lineup when he earned an excellent 8.00 in the Thruster Round for his powerful surfing in the pocket. Thompson is currently third on the leaderboard behind Mickey February who showed his versatility and skill at Supertubes when he scored a solid 7.67 in the Thruster Round to add to his incredible 9-point ride from the Twin Fin Round; and Josh Kerr pulled a big full rotation for a 6.67 to move into second overall,

We caught up with Luke to chat about what is, what was and what should be:

You’ve won two on the trot now (the eThekwini Surf Pro and J-Bay Classic Presented by Corona trials) how important is confidence in a comp situation?
Flip, yeah, confidence is a big thing. It’s also quite interesting, actually – the psychology behind it. I feel like sometimes you either have it during an event, or you don’t, or you’re sometimes a very confident person, or you’re not. For me in surfing, I think my confidence comes from more than just my ability. I’ll have confidence in what I believe in, if you know what I mean. So if I believe in a plan or strategy or, something that I want to do in a heat and how I want to surf my heat, that’s where my confidence will come from. More so than from my surfing. I’ve had a lot of good results in my life where I felt like my surfing hasn’t been that good… And, I’ve ended up with some terrible results where I felt like my surfing was amazing. So for me, I just trust the confidence that I have in my plan and my ability.

What are you expecting from the rest of main event?
It’s been so much fun already and I’m just expecting that to continue. I mean, it’s one of the most iconic waves in the world, supers, and there are so many icons here  – Occy, Mikey, Steph, Sean Holmes, Josh Kerr. It’s unbelievable. So, for me, I really just want to enjoy it. And have as much fun as I can and take it all in. It’s not often you get to see guys like this competing in a rash vest together, let alone just hanging around the place together. So, it’s a pretty cool opportunity.

What is the plan for the short to mid-term?
My big plan is to qualify in the next three years. There are a lot of steps on the way to that goal though. Like, you can’t just decide you want to qualify and qualify. But for me, it’s just focusing on the process of qualifying. Right now that means focusing on what I have to do, which is pretty much getting results and making heats. My even bigger goal though is to love every minute of surfing and just carry on improving and enjoying everything I’m doing. Right now I think I’m definitely doing that.

You do seem to be having a good time, especially with the ‘bru crew’ – tell us a bit about that?
Yeah, the ‘bru crew,’ the team bru, is pretty cool. It’s a company started by Dan Mace called Bru Bar, in collaboration with House of Macadamias (HOM). The bar itself is a pretty awesome concept: It’s a healthy caffeinated energy bar that can pretty much just keep you going all day. It’s about 45 per cent macadamia nuts, and I’m pretty sure that’s the highest macadamia nut ratio in any energy bar. The benefits of macadamia nuts are huge — they promote brain health, and heart health, help with blood clots, and are anti-inflammatory. So they literally have endless benefits. On top of that, having the opportunity to work with someone like Dan, who’s such an amazing person and a genius, is pretty cool. We’ve got a really cool team at the moment. The brand itself speaks for itself. We’ve got people like Jordy Maree, and this guy Tiger Kretzmann, or ‘Tyrone,’ doing some pretty cool stuff. We just picked up an MMA fighter. It’s pretty awesome to see the broad spectrum that it has. It’s not just targeting one market, it’s going around the globe. The concept of the brand is amazing. I really think it’s going to take off. It’s more than just a team for us; it’s more of a family. So to get on it, to be a part of that family, it’s pretty special.

Bonus Round To Determine Finalists

Luke has it all to surf for tomorrow (Friday). The next call will be on Friday at 07:45 AM for a possible 08:15 AM start. A Bonus Round has been added to the competition after the completion of the Twin Fin and Thruster Rounds. Competitors will be able to choose either a twin fin or thruster surfboard for the Bonus Round. The points will be tallied up to determine the top four men and women that will advance through to the Semifinals. While there won’t be a live broadcast, fans will be able to follow updates on the WSL J-Bay Classic presented by Corona on the @wsl and @jbayclassic social media channels and catch up on all the best highlights from the day on WorldSurfLeague.com.

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