Fergal Smith Interview
Fergal Smith is a wiry fella with a big smile and the inner intensity you’d expect from a lad pushing Irish surfing into fresh, hectic territory. He’s soared from a twiggy unknown with solid plums to become one of the best surfers these shores have produced — and he’s still only 20! His 110 percent attack and humble nature gain respect wherever he goes and whoever he meets, from UKPST competitors to the heaviest of locals hooting him into Pipe bombs. Mickey Smith (no relation) caught up with him between swells in his home town of Westport, County Mayo.
CARVE: So Ferg, how did you get started in surfing?
Fergal Smith: It all started on Achill Island where my family went every weekend in the summer after working all week on our veggie farm. For four or five years I surfed Keel Beach with my Dad and brother Kev. When I was 14 someone told me that the Irish Championships were on at Easky. That was a big eye-opener, to see people in Ireland who could surf! I really wanted to improve, so I’d get the bus up to Easky at weekends to surf and watch Cain Kilcullen. Caino was the first really good surfer I ever met. Soon after, my brother and I started exploring and surfing any wave we could find, driving up and down the coast and sleeping in our little Citroen Saxo. After doing a few contests I got selected for the European Juniors in Portugal, in the Under 18s, and I finished 11th in Europe. That summer I won the Irish Junior title and started to pick up a few sponsors. In 2006 I won the Irish Open title, and when I finished school I went to Sasha Stoker’s High Performance Surfing Centre in Oz for six weeks’ training. Then CARVE asked me to go on a trip to Indo, with a crew of the best Under 21s from Britain and Ireland. It was pumping, and that was the first time I realised I was as good as the top surfers of my age in Britain. Soon after that I rode the best wave of my life at G-Spot, then scored the best sandbar in Ireland as good as it gets...and I found a crazy new desire to surf heavy waves! In April last year I got my first covershot after scoring all-time Bumbaloids with [bodyboarder] Jack Johns. What a day! That couple of hours did more for my surfing career then any contest result could ever do. I was so fired up for the winter after that, and the waves certainly didn’t disappoint! Wherever I am today though, I owe it all to the people I’ve met who’ve pushed me into new and exciting things. Thanks boys!
You’re one of the most focussed geezers I’ve ever met. What is it that fires you up?
I really want to push my surfing and make it my life. And I also want to try and push Irish surfing into a new realm. So I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Personally, I think that if you’re getting paid to surf you should be putting 110 percent into it — that’s your job. It shouldn’t be a case of just slapping a sticker on your board and away you go, happy days. Since I’ve been sponsored I’ve been doing everything in my power to become a better surfer.
What kind of training do you think works best for surfing: mental or physical training?
I don’t think you should do one without the other, but when it gets heavy it’s your mental confidence that dictates whether or not you catch the bomb. So if there’s one thing to be fully on top of in surfing, it would have to be your mental game.
What would you say has been the highest high of your time in the water so far?
It finally peaked at Riley’s last December, on my last wave of the last session, after a hard week [a few days earlier Ferg had been taken to hospital with an injured knee]. I got towed into a beast of a barrel by Steve Thomas, it spat all around me, and I just stood there totally blinded...then the next second I was riding into flat calm water.
What’s your take on the bodyboarding versus surfing thing?
The bodyboarders I know have no problem with surfers, it’s just some surfers have a problem with them, which makes no sense to me. I love surfing when the bodyboarders are out, especially when it’s real heavy. I know they’re going to charge and being out there with them lets me see how they do it, and pushes me to have a dig too. Basically, any guys who are pushing surfing in heavy waves are guys I enjoy surfing with.
What do you think about the tow scene in Britain and Ireland at the minute, and what needs to change for things to progress?
I think tow surfing needs to grow a lot here. Tow surfing is basically about riding waves you can’t paddle into, and that means challenging yourself to get barrelled off your nut in heaving slabs, as well as riding big lumps. Jetskis are an amazing tool when used in the right situations. But I would hate to see the tow teams here forget how to use their arms. In Hawaii, the guys towing into the biggest waves are the same guys who are paddling into the biggest ones at Pipe, Backdoor and Waimea.
It sounds like Hawaii had a huge effect on you. Did it change your perspective on surfing as a way of life and as a profession?
Hawaii was the heaviest thing that’s ever happened to me. I mean, I grew up on a veggie farm in the middle of nowhere, then the next thing I know I’m sharing a room with Koby Abberton, paddling out to the outer reefs with Nathan Fletcher, and hanging in the Volcom house with the heaviest locals on the North Shore! That trip was so different from my usual way of life! Hawaii was everything I expected but one thing really surprised me – the bigger the waves got, the more the boys hassled for bombs. When it’s 12-foot-plus everyone’s still out there for a heaving bomb! I had never seen so many guys willing to kill themselves for a big barrel! It was great! It makes you so much keener when you see everyone up for it like that.
Where did you stay?
Well, I got the luckiest break ‘cos I got to stay in the Analog house. I met all the North Shore locals. The only way you start to get waves at Pipe is through knowing the boys and having a dig.
What was the most memorable session you had over there?
They were all pretty memorable, but I’d say the best day was my last day of the trip. I paddled out at 12-foot Pipe but I snapped my board first wave and came in gutted. I had no boards left so I went back to the house, and I was sitting there sulking when I heard someone calling my name. It was Kealii [Malama, Garrett McNamara’s tow partner], who was sitting in his jeep with all this tow gear ready to go, shouting, “Fergal, come on, jump in!” Tom [Lowe] jumped in too and we went off to find some waves. I couldn’t believe that one of Hawaii’s top tow surfers wanted to tow with us! We went out to a wave called Hammer Heads...it wasn’t massive, only about 10- to 12-feet, but that session was the best learning experience ever. We got to try all these mad tow boards, and Kealii got me driving him into loads of waves, and he told me everything I was doing right and wrong. What a day! It was the best possible end to my trip!
What happened when you got hurt out there?
Well, I was out at Pipe when I got cleaned up by a second reefer and I cut my head. I didn’t hit the reef, my board hit me on the head. I needed a few stitches but it wasn’t too bad, I was back in the water in three days. The experience showed me again how easy it is to hurt yourself, but I think you need to have a few little knocks along the way, it’s part of paying your dues and it keeps you on your toes.
Where do you want to take your surfing next?
I’ve been competing for quite a few years and I love the challenge, but when it comes to surfing knee-high crap and trying to get a wave slightly better than the other guy to win, it doesn’t feel like I’m pushing myself. We have the craziest waves in Ireland which are hardly being surfed. For me, it’s far more interesting to try and tackle these amazing waves.
Are you ‘living the dream’?
Besides not having a girl, I suppose I am living a bit of a dream. When I finished school I had a dream, or at least a plan, and so far it’s been working. I may not have any money or real qualifications, but who cares, I’m getting to surf every day and travel all around the world.
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