Life In The Excellent Range

Now retired after 18 years spent living large on the World Tour, Taj Burrow isn’t the least bit concerned about what comes next.

- Sean Doherty

If the world were a tennis ball, Taj Burrow would be a big ol’ Labrador, standing there slobbering, waiting excitedly for someone to throw it. To say he’s enjoyed his 18 years on the World Tour might be understating it a little. The son of hippie folk who fled California for a godforsaken corner of Australia, Burrow jumped straight back on a plane—business class, of course—and made the world his oyster: surfing, partying, after-partying, chasing “the big city lights.” He joined the Tour ranks when he was 19 years old and quickly became the millennium’s most bankable surf-video star and the Tour’s resident bon vivant. Now, at 38, with boundless enthusiasm for surfing still twinkling in his beady blue eyes, Burrow is returning home to the Yallingup countryside to settle down, raise a family, and surf on his own terms. Looking back over his career for a defining theme, you could easily focus on the world title that eluded Burrow. But the truth is, that stopped causing him sleepless nights long ago. Besides, as one of his friends puts it, “World champ? Mate, who cares? He’s the world champ of living!”

SD Retirement. Why now?

TB : It couldn’t be more obvious to me. Having a grom and enjoying it so much, I just feel like I’m getting sick of traveling and the speed of the Tour and having to maintain your fitness and your diet and your surfing ability. I can barely keep up with the Tour when it’s just me, but doing all that and being a dad at the same time is too much. And I don’t feel competitive at all these days. I feel more competitive on the Ping-Pong table than in the water. I don’t like that feeling when I’m about to surf against someone. I just don’t enjoy it anymore.

SD Was there a moment when that became clear to you?