KL:
Do you think you've become more or less competitive?
HB: I guess less competitive, only because I keep
losing. You know, you get to a point where you’re
like, "man, this is kinda lame, ok, they're
better, whatever, I just want to surf." But
I'll always be competitive to some extent.
KL:
Do you have a five year plan you'd like to share?
HB: Yeah, what my plan is, I'm gonna do the tour
this year, and I'm gonna finish pretty well, maybe
top 10 you know, so just miss qualifying for the
'CT. And then next year I'll have the confidence
and actually believe that I can qualify, and I
will. And then my final year I'm gonna do just
the WCT, no 'QS, and then I'm gonna retire. And
by that time, the camper will be done, and we'll
have bought land in Oregon, and mainland Mexico,
or maybe Nicaragua since you're actually allowed
to own land there, and I'll get married, and drive
back and forth between Nicaragua and Oregon every
six months.
KL:
Not bad. So there isn't anything else you have
an itch to do, career wise?
HB: You know, no, I just want to surf. I mean,
I like to write and I love to take photos, and
share them with people, and I could do that without
getting paid for it, and if I get some money on
the side, sweet! But it's not like I need to prove
myself career wise really.
KM:
Your boyfriend's hoping to retire relatively soon
too?
HB: Yeah, well he wants to do that for sure. But
he wants to have more money in the bank before
he retires. Like, he wants to have a million dollars
in the bank. But says he'll settle for half a
million if we have the properties, so, will we
have that in 5 years? Maybe. We're both really
good at saving, so we'll see.
KL:
Tell us about IWS – Who started it and why?
What issues are being worked on right now?
HB: IWS was founded in 2000 by Rochelle, Layne,
Megan, Prue, Kate Skarrat and friends; basically
they looked at the tour and the difference between
the men and the women and decided they needed
to organize themselves. Originally they were thinking
'we're over the ASP, let's start our own tour
and get a marketing person and a lawyer and all
this.' That's how it started...
KL:
Then along came you…
HB: …and in 2001, when I graduated college
and went from having all this school work to just
surfing, I told Rochelle I was into it and I started
helping out, making t-shirts and helping make
a website, and about 6 months later, without even
asking me anything about it, they're like, "yeah,
we want you to be the president," and I was
like, "whoa, heavy, ok, sweet." And
from there, I kinda became the person doing it,
'cause no one else really wanted to, and I believed
in it, and thought if I built it up to be something
really cool, then people would be stoked and want
to participate. That really hasn't happened much,
but it's a cool thing and a lot of the people
who aren't involved in the tour are really psyched
about it. It is just kinda a union and a name
to call ourselves when we meet and talk about
things. The goal is to try and change the rules
in the ASP rule book to be more friendly to what
we think is best. My goal with it was to be able
to raise money to sponsor events and girls, like
Laurina McGrath, who don't have a sponsor, but
totally deserve it. If we don't help each other
then who is going to? We've been able to help
out in small bursts, you know 500 bucks here and
there. So you know, it has been somewhat successful,
but I'm getting to the point where I'm sort of
tired of being the only one flying the flag, and
I'm looking at my 5 year plan and where does IWS
fit in? And why am I doing this if nobody cares?
I mean, I'm going to keep it going, and if someone
comes along and says "this is rad!"
then I'll be like, "Yes! Let's do this!"
Until then I'm kinda keeping it on the down low.
