Hardy Boom Podcast and Interview

It has always been recognised amongst his peers that Ryan Hardy is one of the best wave rides of any form to surf the world famous Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. But now he has officially conquered Pipeline in an amazing display of elite bodyboarding during the IBA Pipeline Pro Grand Slam event. It has been quite a whirlwind since he rode his final wave in with the buzzer being drowned out by the roar the Aussie supporters on the beach, but whilst in transit on the way back to Sydney for top shelf photographer and friend Phil Gallagher’s wedding, Ryan answered a couple of questions that we at VS were keen to get an insight on. Here’s what tha passionate super star he had to say.

Is there a sense of relief to nail a pipe title?
The biggest feeling for me in winning the pipe comp is the feeling of being triumphant. The first year I came to Hawaii I watched my idol Bullet win the pipe comp in the biggest heaviest waves I’d ever seen against all the best guys in the world and it the was fucken craziest shit I have ever seen. Witnessing Bullets win planted a desire in me that that has built up over 13 years of coming to Hawaii and now having raised my own pipe trophy above my head, it’s definitely one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. Right now it is a relief knowing that yessss I’ve finally done it, but yesterday was just absolutely phenomenal, a blurred memory of stress and utter panic, maximum effort and total elation. I’m soooooo stoked man you cannot believe it, the fucking stress and pressure that it takes to push through and get to that point where the siren goes and holy fuck your number 1, the fucken pipe champ… wwwooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

How did you find the level of competing?
The level of competing was, as you’d expect, world class. Watching the first couple of days while it was 8-10ft was amazing, so many guys were charging and getting sick pits, then come the final day when it had dropped it was all about big moves and some sneaky pits. The best shit that was going down was airs at backdoor, they were the most impressive and obviously scored the best. Nearly every heat guys were getting massive air so everyone was going for broke pretty much, there was no way you could play it safe out there, it was more or less like you had it to surf it like a beachbreak and hit the biggest sections you could to get through your heat, it was pretty nuts.

How did you VS boards go for you?
My boards were feeling primed. I rode my old soggy faithful dow in my first heat cause it was pretty solid early and more about the barrels. But then as it dropped a little and was more about the boosts later in the day, quarters onwards, I used a near new dow stringer and it had a dreamy amount of new dow recoil so it was fast and had sick pop off the lip…Fuck yeah VS!!!

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