Interview by Carolyn Emge
The 6/6/66 was the birth date of devil incarnate Damien in horror film The Omen, and in real life prophets predicted pretty dire events to occur that day. Apart from all those sixes evoking the number of the beast, three planets were in adjacent signs – Venus in Taurus, Mars in Gemini, and Jupiter in Cancer – each at a position of six degrees, giving the day its own astrological reading of 6/6/6 too. Oooooh, spooky!
Yet despite signs to the contrary, we didn’t experience the Rapture or plunge into the fiery pits of Lucifer’s lair. Nothing really bad happened (although Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination for Californian Governor that day, paving his way to future US presidency. However, thrust into the world that day was one Aussie bloke who’d make the most positive of prophets nervous: Ross Clarke-Jones. A direct descendant of a headhunting tribe from the jungles of Borneo, Ross was born with a shock of dark hair, intense eyes that betray the soul of a man possessed, and a devil-may-care attitude. Luckily Ross grew up to become a big wave maniac instead of an axe-wielding one, but he’s still got a soft spot for raising hell. Fast cars and partying hard are a specialty of this twenty-year veteran of the pro surfing scene. We caught Ross mid pedal-to-the-metal during one of his frequent mad dashes to Melbourne’s airport from his home in Torquay.
LL: Thanks for letting us talk your ear off for the ride – you like driving fast huh? RC-J: I love driving. The past five months we’ve been in Europe, so I even bought myself a Porsche twin turbo.
LL: To ship back here?RC-J: Nah, I blew it up, it’s in a garage in France. The mechanics think I pushed it too much, but it’s built to be pushed. It’s got roll bars and everything! So I can’t see how it could be my fault.
LL: What’s the attraction with cars?RC-J: Speed, for sure. It’s similar to riding big waves; you’re always trying to draw the best line to improve performance.
LL: Speaking of performances, your autobiographical doco The Sixth Element seemed pretty personal for a surf flick?RC-J: That was intentional; there wasn’t any point making me out to be god-like with no flaws. It needed to explore lows, like injury, divorce. These things happen. People can relate.
LL: Yep, probably more than your need to tackle 60-foot waves.RC-J: It was meant to be motivational, to help people overcome fear. I’ve done a few corporate speaking gigs, which was how the movie came about. I was putting clips together to illustrate a speech and realised I’ve got loads of stories to share. It’s been successful outside the surfing industry, especially at festivals.
LL: You intended to help people overcome fear, but you must have overcome your own to lay yourself bare?RC-J: For sure. Although in the end I was like ‘if you ruin me, well, then you ruin me’. I had to trust the guys to tell my story. The director was a friend, so I felt confident he wouldn’t deliberately exploit me for the sake of money or publicity or whatever.
LL: Your first film, cult surf classic Mad Wax, is a DVD extra, but I’m sure it’s the main buying point for some oldies?RC-J: I’ll be in some remote part of Africa and people still go ‘Hey, it’s The Whiz’ (Ross’ character in
Mad Wax). It’s had so much staying power. There’s been talk of making a sequel using the same crew of Tom Carroll and Elko (Gary Elkington) and adding some new faces, like Kelly Slater.
LL: Sequels are tricky. Not scared of ruining the film’s legacy? RC-J: Not if it’s done well, with lots of time spent developing a real clever script. No one’s done anything like it since, plus enough time’s passed that it wouldn’t tamper with the original’s image.
LL: Did you ever think it’d be as big as it was? RC-J: Fully, Quiksilver were predicting it’d be huge too. I wasn’t even supposed to be in it – I muscled my way in there! I was a teenager just out of school, so it was a massive kick-start to my career launching onto the pro surfing tour.
LL: That was over 20 years ago. Has much changed on tour?RC-J: We used to party a lot harder. The guys these days aren’t even on the same dance floor.
LL: You must have seen lots of faces come and go?RC-J: Occy’s the only one my age still competing at the top level. He and I both turned forty this year, there’s only ten days between us. I was born on the 6/6/66 while Occy was 16/6/66. We were the two little devils on tour!
LL: Have you always enjoyed the constant travelling involved with pro surfing?RC-J: I was born for it. My great grandfather was an English explorer, the first white man to enter the jungles of Borneo and come out alive. He brought back a Princess from a headhunting tribe and married her – my great grandmother. It’s very well documented; he was even knighted for his efforts. His name was Sir William Howell.
LL: Is your wild streak from your Borneo head-hunter blood?RC-J: Yeah I chop people’s heads off if they shit me! Just joking. But it’s interesting looking into the culture of my great grandmother’s tribe, finding out why I’m the way I am. They’re really nomadic; they’d camp out and next day they’d just vanish, and I’m the same. I’ve never enjoyed being stuck anywhere too long. I’ve been home for four days and I’m itching to leave.
LL: How does your family handle? RC-J: My kids have travelled as unaccompanied minors since they were little, just chucked on a plane to meet me wherever I am. They seem to enjoy it. Guess it’s something that’s passed down too.
LL: You spend lots of time in Hawaii yeah?This’ll be my twentieth consecutive winter. I stay three to four months every year, so it’s like home. It’s just this rock out in the middle of the ocean that picks up crazy energy. The law of physics that transfers energy is so evident there – whenever the big swells come rolling in you can literally feel it in the air. There’s nowhere like it. Ooops, speed camera …
LL: Hopefully it didn’t pick up your car’s energy. Anyway, winning the Eddie Aikau memorial comp there in 2001 must’ve been a highlight?RC-J: I’d been waiting 15 years to reach that moment! It was life changing. I’d never won a major contest, and then I win the most prestigious accolade in surfing! They don’t run if the waves are less than 20 foot, so there’s only been four winners in the contest’s history. When I eventually won, it was like a dream.
LL: Weren’t you also awarded the X Dance Athlete of the Year this February?RC-J: Yeah, I was surprised. I never get awards. And it was an overall title, so some other athletes involved were pretty jealous. That made it worth something! I was just glad Sixth Element got an award; it was finalist in so many categories. But now I’m back to straight surf movies, I’ve got two coming out; Horoscopes, and Tai Fu where we tackle one of the largest typhoon swells to ever hit Japan.
LL: Surely you still occasionally get nervous riding big waves?RC-J: Equipment can do it – one little nick in the fin, and the whole board can lift out and slide, like there’s oil on the road. It’s pretty scary riding massive waves with no traction. But I’ve been doing this for 23 years, so it’s second nature. Only if there’s been a lack of preparation or I’m feeling under the weather can fear sneak in, but usually it never even registers. I’m old enough not to risk it; when you’re young you do this for sponsors or money or film opportunities, even to impress a girl. For love, basically. But now I’m secure in my motivations, and I’ll pull the pin if I’m not feeling confident.
LL: What size waves you chasing these days?RC-J: Still the 60–80-feet range, but I hope to tackle 100-foot. There are rogue waves that size, but they’re rough and not always ‘makeable’ – not particularly beautiful-looking waves. You’d be riding massive unbroken peaks, so equipment would need to be radically modified, and jet skis would need to go at least 150 km/h to outrun a waves that magnitude. So there’s work to be done, but it’ll happen. The past few years big wave surfing has advanced more than any other area of surfing. It’s blowing out the upper limits of human endeavours.
LL: I heard you’re a bit of a closet artist too.RC-J: Yep, I’m a bullshit artist from way back.
LL: Ha ha. So you’re into surrealist art? And paint and sculpt?RC-J: Well, I really appreciate art. I got into it when I spent some time in Brazil, but I just don’t have time anymore. I also enjoy interior design.
LL: Just decorating your own house, or for friends?RC-J: Anywhere.
LL: Hotel rooms? RC-J: Yeah! Redecorating with vomit and alcohol.
LL: Pro Hart, rock star style?RC-J: More Jackson Pollock, throwing stuff manically. Just joking. But even at school, art was a favourite. There’s something to be said for maths and physics, but I really dug art history, and creating stuff.
LL: Have you ever made money from art?RC-J: I sold a couple of paintings in Brazil. Nothing commercial: I thought about designing some board shorts but it didn’t happen. The only painting I still have I did around the time I met my wife. It’s kind of a Dali-style silhouette with big eyes on a big head and a big golden heart dripping over one tit.
LL: She was flattered?RC-J: I just hope she knows it was meant to be abstract.
LL: Is there anywhere people can see your work?RC-J: There’s a rental property in Jan Juc with a lime-green feature wall I painted. The real estate has a photo of it on their website.
LL: You serious?RC-J: Yeah, at least they used to. It’s Jens Gaunt realty. The house was in Sky Court.
LL: Instead of seizing your bond, they featured your painting in the rental house section? What’s the attraction with painting places you don’t own? RC-J: Ha! I was supposed to paint a mural in a shop we’re opening soon too, but I won’t get time. My wife Marcia is a fashion designer, and she’s opening a boutique called
Les Arch De Corps in Manchester Lane in Melbourne mid December. It’ll stock Alexander McQueen, really high-end stuff.
LL: Fashion eh? Another surprise. What else have you got happening that’d astound people? RC-J: Well, I’m not having breaky tomorrow! I’m en-route to the Red Bull Air Raid final in WA; I’m going up in one of the stunt planes. Race car driver Mark Webber also gets a go, but there won’t be many other guests – you’ve got to handle 6 gs of pressure. It’s just not something the average person can do without training or you’d pass out.
LL: You definitely don’t fit the bill of ‘average’.RC-J: Nope. I do my best not to.