The Coffee Break Interview – with Jeff Hubbard
The Coffee Break Interview ? What’s that new format ? Not familiar with the new Spongercity.com interview format ? It’s basically short interviews with pros that we’ll be doing regularly on the website with unusual questions that are not just related to bodyboarding. We’ll ask questions about books, life, girls, whatever, but not bodyboarding-related questions or only weird ones… Different approach, different questions, the time of a coffee break basically… The rules are simple: The questions are not your classic ones and the last rider being interviewed chooses who’s gonna be interviewed after him (or her) !
This month Jeff Hubbard did us the favour to be our guest for this new Coffee Break Interview as Ben Player suggested Jeff as our new Coffee-Break-Interviewed rider. Thanks Jeff for taking the time to answer our questions.
Read the interview, enjoy and discover who we’ll interview next at the end of Jeff’s interview as Jeff has choosen his successor in the next Coffee Break interview.
Hi Jeff, how are you ?
Doing great just surfed fun pipe all day now relaxing watching the “hangover”
So this is our “Coffee Break” Interview format and as you know the last interviewed rider chooses who gets to be interviewed next. Benny Player was the first rider we interviewed with this new format and he chose you for this new coffee break interview as you also like coffee, oh and he added you get nuts when you drink a good one. So what’s up with coffee Jeff ? You’re also a coffee lover ?
Yeah i froth on a good cup of espresso or and ice mocha so amped on them.
What else gets you nuts appart from coffee ?
Good waves , pipeline especially
I guess you’re in Hawaii the moment ? Any good waves ?
Yes great waves almost every day
Getting ready for the pipe contest very soon ?
Yeah training hard and looking forward to the comp waves look epic
This year (2011) was really competitive on the tour and it was also the first time bodyboarding has had such a good great tour with good media coverage, webcasts, venues, riders, commentators etc. what do you reckon ?
I totally agree. it was a great step forward for the sport.
You surfed amazingly well all year and came short at the very last moment, with PLC being crowned 2011 world champ. Has this motivated you even more for the 2012 title or has is pissed you off ?
Yeah i am excited about 2012 and really looking forward to the year on tour ahead. So more motivated now.
You’re a great competitor, super smart in your heats and of course an amazing free surfer but do you adapt to contest formats sometimes or pretty much just charge and hit the biggest sections anyways ?
I pretty much try to go big all the time. It works well since the contests are so difficult you have to go all out all the time.
You’re one of the rare pro rider i now (if i remember well) who went to Uni and studied for a while and got a degree or diploma. What did you study and why ?
I studied business and got my masters in international business. it was awesome to learn super interesting and challenging and made me a better person for sure.
You’re really close to your little bro David, both on tour and out of the tour since both you guys follow the IBA world tour. How is it having a family member with you on the tour ? We’ve seen you two motivating each other before heats, we’ve even seen Dub giving you a massage before a heat in Puerto this year for example. Do you reckon it makes both of you stronger to have a brother on tour ?
Yeah its great to have that support when you really need it when you are getting ready for some heavy heats ect. Even if we don’t stay together all the time we still amp each other up and have a lot of fun every where we go.
Have you competed against each other already ?
Yes and we have a heat at pipe this week too !!
You and David have different personalities though, don’t you ?
Yes for sure.
And you have another brother as well yeah ? Is he bodyboarding too ?
Yes his name is mike and he surfs and bodyboards really well!!
How come you dont DK more when you see your bro David ripping on the knee as well as ripping prone ?
I think I will dk more this year it is super fun and I am doing dk at pipe this year and kinda scared ha ha.
What inspires you in general ? in life ? in the water ?
My family friends god and just enjoying life and all it has to offer us humans.
Do you follow or do other sports ?
Yes i enjoy soccer and football.
What books are you reading at the moment ? Anything you’d like to share ? Any good books ?
Reading healthy eating -healthy world. really good book
A lot of people first noticed you in the NO FRIENDS videos in the late 1990’s, how were those years ? The NF crew ? These vids were a serious influence on many many people i guess and to these days the NF vids have kinda set a standard in bodyboarding videos and what is cool with bodyboarding: travelling, filming, a crew or good friends etc. Do you still see or chill with the NF crew ? Stoker ? Roach ? Skipp ? Ronk ? Ross ? Do you miss these days ?
Yeah those were awesome fun days for sure and yeah miss them some times ha ha
You’re one of the rare pros (with the exception of a couple other guys) to be sponsored by a more mainstream or surf-oriented clothing company called Oceancurrent, how is it riding for a bigger company or a more mainstream company ?
Its awesome they support me so well and are supporting the sport amazingly i am really lucky and amped on them. great clothes and great people.
You’re from Kaui, Hawaii yeah ? You spend a lot of time on the North Shore of Oahu in the winter and surf Pipe everytime it breaks. How is it between islands ? Is there a rivality or a sort of priority for north shore guys when you surf at Pipe ? It’s hard to imagine for people who have not surfed in Hawaii before but there’s a serious pecking order at Pipe and it’s hard to get the good ones on crowded days yeah ? Where do you sit in the pecking order there ? People know you and you get more waves or is it still hard to get waves with the locals ?
I am from kauai and have lived on oahu off and on for the last 20 years. I know all the locals and respect them they respect me. I get my waves but there are so many guys tring to get waves at pipe I choose to sit in certain spots to get the most or best waves.
Can you still feel a rivality between bodyboarders and surfers in Hawaii or elsewhere in the world ? Yeah a little bit in hawaii but no that much mostly maybe in california most of those surfers over there are just such kooks.
You must have travelled quite a lot but is there a place you never surfed before and would love to surf ?
I have been to a lot of places but would really like to go to ireland and and try surf a few waves over there and check out the scene one day.
If it was not a surf trip but just a classic touristic trip, where would you like to go ?
Maybe Italy to check that zone out as well.
Would you rather return to Cloud9 with the crew who went with you in WELFARE (McGee/Booth/Skipp/Burk etc.) or go back to indo on a boat trip with the NF crew (Botha/Stoker/Skipp etc.) ? I know this is a hard one ! haha
Yeah thats a tough choice but probably cloud 9 with the welfare crew we would own that place no one else would get a wave off our crew thats for sure ha ha!!!
Bat tail ? You’re one or the rare pros who consistently ride a bat tail board, what’s the difference and what’s better for you ?
The bat tail offer better projection and faster better boosts which i really like to do most of time in most waves.
What kinda board do you ride ? PP or PE ? Thin board with 2 stringers ? Who shapes them ? Dan Sivess now ?
Dan Sivess shaped my new boards. Thin board one stringer mesh pp. They go insane.
Is there any question we should ask you ?
Not really too many questions already JK lol
Is there a question you’d like to ask us at Spongercity ?
Keep it up every one enjoys the website and interviews thanks
Alright, thanks heaps for your time Jeff, we hope you’ll score and get sick waves in the pipe comp, it’s now time for you to choose who will be interviewed next for the next Spongercity Coffee Break interview, who do you reckon we should interview next ?
I think you should interview Amaury Laverhne as he does not like coffee but likes doing interviews.
thank theo aloha
Cheers Jeff,
Theo – SC Editor.
