ASP Women's World Champion surfer, Carissa Moore, has been handed wildcards to surf against the men later this year. Red Bull caught up with Carissa to find out more.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing takes place at the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii in November and December of this year and Moore – the first Hawaiian to win the world title since 1981 – will be there, thanks to wildcard invites to the Reef Hawaiian Pro and Vans World Cup of Surfing.
Carissa will surf against 200 of the top male surfers in the world and after spending some time in California at Lowers recently, Red Bull took the opportunity to have a chat with Carissa about the wildcard invites.
Has your schedule settled down at all after the ASP Tour wrapped up?
Since the U.S. Open finished, I was at home for a few weeks, then I went on a fun surf trip to Mexico, and I’ve been in California for the past ten days or so training with some coaches. I’ll be heading home soon, and then I’ve got a boat trip to Indonesia at the end of October, before the winter season starts.
I thought I wasn’t really going to have too much on the agenda, but now I’ll be doing two of the three events at the Triple Crown. I’m very excited and I’m very honoured to be able to surf in the guys’ division.
Were the wildcard invites a total surprise?
The wildcard invites for the Triple Crown were something that I talked about and joked around with my dad about, but I never thought it would become a reality. It was a total surprise and very flattering to be given that opportunity, so I’m psyched.
Are you going to take a different approach to training for those events?
I’ll probably just keep up the same training I would regularly do for the women’s Triple Crown. As far as outlook for results, I’ll probably keep my expectations low, because everybody kind of expects a girl to lose [in that situation]. If anything better happens, that’s awesome.
You achieved your World Title goal relatively quickly; do these wildcard invites help to give you a new goal and some extra motivation?
I have to admit, after I won the ASP World Title and checked that off my list, I was kind of depressed for a little bit, like, “What do I do now?” Just because everything I’ve done in my life up to this point has been to accomplish that one goal, and after you check it off, you’re like, “All right, the skies didn’t part, nothing changed…” (laughs).
I’ve been having fun re-assessing my goals. To have a performance goal to surf like the guys and compete with the guys, that’s very motivating and inspiring.
What’s next for you?
I’m loving life, so I hope to keep doing the same stuff -- traveling the world and doing what I love. I don’t know about [winning] more world titles, but I’d love to…
You’ve definitely had a lot of media attention this year; is there anything you like to do to escape and/or just blow off a little steam?
I just bought my own house, so cleaning and re-organising my place has been fun. Going shopping for new stuff to put in my house after I clean, that’s been the ultimate therapeutic, get-out-of-pressure-zone activity for me. I like hiking and cooking, too.
Keep up with Carissa on Twitter and at her official web site.
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