Words.YTAfter an overwhelmingly busy year in ‘05, Dane Reynolds took a step back and spent most of 2006 focusing on the progression of his surfing and the release of his first signature surf film. A year off from extensive tour schedules allowed the Ventura regular foot to perfect his aerial wizardry closer to home, and get in some travel time as well. Now, mid way through his highly anticipated first WQS season, Dane is blowing minds with a string of solid results. Although he hasn’t racked up a win yet, his strong performances have kept him steadily rising up the ratings where he sits at number three. With all eyes upon him, Dane is now a shoe in to grab one of the qualifying slots for ‘08’s Dream Tour and has silenced any critics in the process. He recently caught up with us here at West Coast Surf Mag and had a chance to speak his mind about the progression of surfing, travel, his surfing influences, his quiver, and the pressures of competition.

The Progression of Surfing
”Surfing’s got such a slow progression compared to other similar sports (skating/snowboarding) because we’re dealing with so many changing things. You can never find the same section twice. That’s what keeps me interested though. I think that surfing will continue on the same path. Kids will start doing bigger and bigger airs at an earlier age. More money will be involved. Just natural progression. Hopefully wave pools will start creating legit waves and progression will rocket from there.”

Travel
”I miss home, but more just family and friends... Not so much the place, although I do love Ventura. It’s extremely hard being away when you call home and hear it’s 6 foot. Now that’s frustrating. Life on the road is good though. I’ve got nothing to complain about. I feel like I’ve had a lot of good experiences I never could have had if I didn’t travel so much.”

Influences
”When I was younger the only video I had was Feral Kingdom, which has sick stuff of Tom Curren and Shane Powell. So they were big influences from a young age. Then I was introduced to Taylor Steele movies and from then on Taylor Knox was always a favorite. These days I think Parko and Taj are my favorites out there. As far as airs go, Jamie O’Brien and Josh Kerr do the sickest shit for sure, but Bruce Irons does the biggest airs out there. I travel a lot with Ry Craike though, and he’s a huge influence because we surf so much together and he’s so damn good. My favorites to surf with though, are just the brothers from home. Adam Virs, Sean Hayes, and the Ellison brothers... that’s pretty much my typical crew in and out of the water.”

Quiver
”I ride a 6’2” Bobby Martinez model. I don’t experiment too much because I travel so much I can’t afford to have a board I don’t like when I’m on a 7 day trip and you’ve got pressure to perform you know? I’d like to experiment more someday, but for now I’m keeping it simple. I think I got 60 boards last year.”

Competition
“I think that competitive surfing is restricting. You have to surf to the judges criteria. You have to please the judges to get their score. And a lot of the time you can’t go 100% because it’s risky, and in a 20 minute heat with three other frothers you can’t afford to take risks. You just have to break down and lose the ego and surf at 80%. Not fall, and collect your two 6.5’s and continue on. Air contests kind of suck because the judges can’t usually do the airs themselves, so they don’t see the subtle differences, and therefore can’t give a quality score. I swear an air reverse wins every single air contest. I don’t really understand expression sessions. I think an air reverse wins 90% of those too.”