Jodie Cooper, 55

First Openly-Gay World Tour Surfer, Big-Wave Charger, Assault Survivor, Zero-Shit Taker North Coast, New South Wales

- JED SMITH

“The fact that you’re surfing means you’re lucky. Surfing is such a positive and powerful thing to do. It’s medicinal, it’s physical, it’s all sorts of things.”

When it comes to good surfing, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You don’t have to be the best surfer in the world to do what is good surfing for you. The only thing that is going to make you surf better is to surf more, but that’s not about enjoyment, necessarily. If you want to improve, you have to put in the effort and time and have the right equipment.

No one can climb the mountain on day one. You’ve gotta take baby steps and have a long-term vision. When I used to go to Hawaii, I used to say, “You know what? It’s 8 to 10 foot, I’m not even gonna catch a wave. I’m just gonna paddle out and sit in the channel where I know I’m safe and I’m just going to watch it and come in,” and I’d be proud because I went out when no one else did. Before you know it, the next time you go out you’re going, “I’ve seen it big, maybe this time I’ll paddle over and try to get one.”