Harrison Roach

Har­ri­son Roach is a tal­ented Aus­tralian surfer who was recently fea­tured in the films Picaresque and The Present rip­ping on an Alaia. A surfer who can ride any­thing, Har­ri­son has been a fea­tured rider in count­less mag­a­zines. We took some time to ask Har­ri­son a few questions.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I grew up (and am still grow­ing up) in Sun­shine Beach, Queensland—just a two minute walk to the beach and a four minute drive to the Noosa Point breaks. The lifestyle here is laid back. As chil­dren, my friends and I spent every moment of our spare time in the ocean. It was all I wanted. If it was flat, I’d swim. If it wasn’t, I’d surf any­thing I could get my hands on: long­board, short­board, body­board, what­ever. That’s what I did then and what I still do now.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I got my first surf­board for Christ­mas in 1994. I was four years old. My dad bought a sec­ond­hand foam short­board from an older kid’s father. It was bright pink and I was stoked. My first fiber­glass surf­board was a year later as Dad man­aged to get his hands on the board from an old Noosa local. It was a 5’11” Sam Egan chan­nel bot­tom with a Cheyne Horan star fin. I wasn’t quite sure what the fin or the chan­nels did, but I loved that board, and Sam Egan was the leg­end father of Luke Egan!

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I’m not sure I remem­ber the first time I stood on a surf­board, but I remem­ber the first time I rode an unbro­ken green right-hander. After fin­ish­ing my ride, I couldn’t help telling every­one how good I was; I was a cocky lit­tle grom­met even at five. That first real wave on the chan­nel bot­tom made me feel like a king and, since then, I’ve been obsessed.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
I have always looked up to pro­fes­sional short­board­ers. They are freaks! I had new favourite surfers every time a new video came out. I watched The Hole more than a thou­sand times. Mar­tin Pot­ter was the king! When I first saw 156 Tricks on VHS, I was obsessed with Oscar Wright. When I saw The Blue­print, Shane Dorian was my hero. I had never heard of Miki Dora or The Seedling or “logging”.

The first long­boarder I ever thought was actu­ally cool was Tom Wegener. He was our friend Margie’s new boyfriend and he let me ride his heavy sin­gle fins. He stressed to me the impor­tance of trim­ming. Trim­ming was a con­cept I was unaware of as a kid. How­ever, the guy who I looked up to most was, and still is, Dane Peter­son. He has been my men­tor and brother as I’ve grown up. I have never seen any­one surf as good as Peto on a longboard.

Who inspires you?
Dane Peter­son inspires me—his surf­ing, his pho­tog­ra­phy, his crafts­man­ship … even his ding repairs. What­ever the guy puts his mind to comes out amaz­ing. Jordy Smith inspires me. I came sec­ond to him in two junior con­tests one year; he is on another level in every aspect of surf­ing. I learned that the hard way. Kai Neville inspires me. His new surf film (Mod­ern Col­lec­tive) blows my mind every time I watch it. He has taken the best young surfers in the world and shown them in a new light. These guys are tak­ing over. As Mugatu said, “So hot right now.”

What inspires you?
Mod­ern Col­lec­tive, Chris­t­ian Wach’s hang tens, Peto’s flow and my girl­friend Eadie’s drop punt skills with an AFL footy.

Tell us about your most mem­o­rable wave.
I was on a boat trip in 2008 in the Telo Islands, in West­ern Suma­tra, surf­ing a wave called Coffins with Adam Kobayashi. It was a solid swell and pretty sketchy when we first got out. I got stuck inside on a big one, broke my leash and got clob­bered on the reef. AK, the hell man he is, rode straight in over dry reef and got my board. I would have left it for the locals rather than do that.

By the time I got my board back and put on another leash, it had cleaned up and was look­ing big and per­fect. I pad­dled back out a lit­tle hes­i­tantly after my pre­vi­ous beat­ing. I watched AK go down hard on a huge one and the but­ter­flies in my stom­ach got even more agi­tated. After five min­utes of wait­ing, another boat turned up with five blokes just to watch. I couldn’t let any more waves pass. I caught the next big one that came and got what was the best bar­rel of my life. The but­ter­flies were gone, adren­a­lin was pump­ing and I was ready for more. I think I got the best bar­rel of my life 10 times that day.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
To smile. When you can smile gen­uinely, you can be gen­uinely happy.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
I wish I started play­ing gui­tar when I started surf­ing, then I could be a surfer and a rock star! (Laughs)

What are you most proud of?
My extended fam­ily and my close friends. They make the good times great.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing means more to me than I could explain. Some­times it annoys me; I can’t stand being away from the ocean even though I love the coun­try. My uni­ver­sity degree has been put off for the last four years and I want to try live in Tokyo. Because of surf­ing, I can’t. I’d go crazy if I did. I’m obsessed with surf­ing and the ocean; my life revolves around it. With­out it, I’m lost.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My fam­ily, my girl­friend, my friends and the ocean.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Always Kelly Slater. Always Joel Tudor. Every­one in Mod­ern Col­lec­tive. Also, Mark Matthews, Rasta, Kas­sia Meador and Chris­t­ian Wach—all unique surf shred­ding people.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I have a 5’6” Neil Pur­chase JNR sweet pea quad that I have surfed way too much. Raggs Right in the Mentawais is my wet dream.

What’s your favorite meal?
Mum’s home­made chicken curry.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Beck—Modern Guilt and Gnarles Barkley—The Odd Couple.

What are you most grate­ful for?
My upbringing—my par­ents have always encour­aged and sup­ported me.

What’s next for Har­ri­son Roach?
Maybe a Har­ri­son Roach fea­ture film? Other than that, it’s Costa Rica in six days with Matt Williams, George Trimm and Eadie. VASSUP!

All pho­tog­ra­phy cour­tesy of Dane Peter­son. All images are copy­righted and may not be used with­out per­mis­sion.