Zen: What are the positives of growing up down here on the North Shore?
Fred Patacchia: Biggest positive for me here on the North Shore is the situation that I’m in. We are surrounded by the ocean, the best waves in the world and the best surfers in the world. People on the North Shore are real supportive of professional surfing. Anywhere else in the world they don’t even see it as a real job, it’s more of a lifestyle to them. But surfing has gotten a lot bigger. There are a lot of job opportunities even after your professional career.
How do you feel about the changes happening on the North Shore?
With professional surfing getting bigger and the North Shore being the proving ground for surfers, it’s just gotten really crowded. The spirit of surfing and just having fun has kind of gotten away. The spirit of Hawai‘i is going away. There are so many people moving here from all over, there’s no Aloha left. With all the surf companies buying out all the beachfront houses, it’s so corporate down here.
How was going from the North Shore to entering the world stage?
I handled it pretty good. It wasn’t much of a change for me. Being away from my parents was the biggest part. Just having the freedom to do whatever. Driving on the other side of the road, the legal drinking age is lower, it was stuff like that. Luckily all my friends like Jason Shibata, Sean Moody and Joel Centeio was all with me on tour most of the time, so it was like taking the North Shore with me on tour.
You’ve been traveling forever now. How’s the toll on your mind and body?
Honestly it’s getting boring. It’s wearing on my body and I really don’t like doing it anymore. It’s just not that fun traveling 18 hours with a huge bag of surfboards to the same places every year. Some of the places we go to don’t even have world-class waves anymore. We need some new spots to freshen it up.
What changes can the industry do to help make it more interesting?
That’s an easy one. I think there needs to be more money in the events. People make more money every month from their sponsors than they do all year in the events. Some guys can sit at home all year and make way more money that way. That’s why we just started this union called WPS (World Professional Surfers). We are gonna work towards making the tour better for everyone.
Back to the North Shore. How’s the development out here?
I think everyone’s been doing a good job out here; the North Shore Coalition, and Keep the Country Country, they all do a great job. I want to become more of a part of that, have more of a voice in the community and support the things that I believe in. I think the North Shore needs to be preserved. I think we are at maximum capacity out here, especially commercially. Maybe down in Hale‘iwa they can expand but farther than that, it should stay the same.
Where’s the best place to go on the North Shore?
The beaches for sure, Pipeline, Sunset, you don’t get this much energy from the ocean anywhere else in the world. Just check out the scenics you know, it’s the best out here. One thing you shouldn’t do is slow down at Lanis and check out the turtles. It makes life horrible for all of us.
Any future projects?
Me and my friend Andrew Oliver just started a website. It’s called insurfnews.com. It’s kind of like a sportscenter for surfing. We are gonna be analyzing and bashing guys on the real. So that’s something we’ve been working on a bunch. It just went live. Other than that, the Dream Tour. I’ve been training a lot and gonna do the best that I can this year.
Last words?
I just want to thank my parents and everyone else that laid out the North Shore way of living. You know, all our parents and their whole generation. They showed us the way and we are gonna show our kids the same way to live on the North Shore.
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