Stephen Walsh

What was your best wave this season?

I got a couple of hell ones at Pipe and Backdoor. I was staying with my brother in town (Honolulu) so we’d get up at five or so in the morning, drive 50 minutes or so and paddle out at Pipe or Backdoor at dark and get a few barrels before the crowd hit it. One of the waves I got at Backdoor was probably about six-to-eight foot and it just seemed to stay open forever. It was one of the best waves I’ve ever caught.

Which Black Knight contender do you think performed well over there?

I reckon Hippo surfed pretty sick. I saw him get this eight-footer at Backdoor one day, which was fucked up. I was paddling out at Pipe and looked over and saw him get spat out from the mentalist barrel.

How’d you go with the chicks?

I’ve got a chick at home so I didn’t even try. Because I was staying near town, it meant that I was out of the scene.

Talk us through your worst wipeout?

On one of the bigger days at Pipe, I was sitting in the take-off spot and this massive thing started to break on third reef. I had to wear it on the head and I did the whole stand-on-your- board-and-bail thing. I snapped my leggie and had to swim in. It was a nightmare.

Funniest thing to happen to you in Hawaii this year?

When I was on the flight over there, I went to go to the toilet. Anyway, when I opened the door there was this full-on 90-year-old granny in there taking a dump. It was fucked and so creepy. She was so embarrassed and didn’t come out of the dunny for ages.