Words.Ryan Richardson Santa Cruz’s Jason “Ratboy” Collins has been a West Coast stand-out for over a decade. What else can you say about Rat? He and his West Side peers’ king size 360o airs in the nineties were quickly adopted worldwide as the new standard in both the freesurfing and professional surfing realms. Nowadays, it seems that every pro that’s successful on the ‘CT and ‘QS is capable of busting an air reverse, and they bring it out when a section calls for it. WCSM recently had a chat with Rat in between golf swings during an afternoon round of 18.

How’s the golf scene up there? There are some sick courses, huh?
Yeah, Monterey peninsula has some insane courses. Of course there’s Pebble Beach. I’ve played there like four times. I have some buddies that work there and I have a few hook ups at other good courses around here.

Are you a scratch golfer or what?
Last month I was a 1.9 handicap, I’m 2.5 right now.
Damn!

Many people don’t know that you are a full-on angler. How often do you get out and drop a line?
In the summertime it takes up probably half my time. Since there isn’t much swell its ideal conditions for fishing.

What kinds of fish are you pulling in?
Albacore, Halibut, King Salmon, and White Sea Bass. That’s pretty much it. Sometimes you catch the random weird fish that you throw back. The albacore are running good right now as the water gets warmer. A few weeks ago I used to have to go over 30 miles out to get ‘em, but now I only have to go like 12 miles out.

Your freezer must be stocked.
Nah, I usually ‘que it up with my friends, or if I catch enough I’ll sell some of it. I’ve had my commercial fishing license for five years now. Hold on one sec...I gotta hit this ball real quick…(long pause, then a loud snap from a tee-off with a driver)…alright…aagh, f*ck! I hit the cart path and it bounced out. That would have been a good shot.

The seas can get heavy off Santa Cruz; I bet you gotta have a solid boat.
I gotta good boat. It’s a Parker 2120 with a Yamaha 4-stroke on it. Its 21 feet. Its cool ‘cuz I can trailer it around and it’s still big enough to cruise. It has a fully enclosed cabin and stuff which you kinda need when you’re out in the elements. It has a 200 mile range so I can go wherever.

It’s so important for pros to have a good relationship with their shapers. You’ve been with Stretch for a while now, so you must be satisfied with his boards.
Yeah. Basically, I used to get a lot of different boards and would get one randomly from Stretch, and that’s how I got to know him. I started getting his boards about ten years ago, but he was just starting out and I couldn’t get boards all the time. Now he has a full-on factory and pumps out a lot of boards for everyone.

I notice you always ride smaller, fishier boards. How do those shapes influence your surfing?
I have more fun on those types of boards. My normal board is Stretch SurfTech 5’10” x 18 and 3/4” x 2 and 1/4”, a little wider and thinner than a standard short board. I think they plane more and are easier to ride. Nate’s boards are sick too. I was tripped out when I heard he was riding for Stretch. They refined that four fin and made it insane. I used to ride four fins back in the day, but didn’t really like ‘em. But with all the modifications they made and seeing Nate surf on ‘em I was a believer. It’s crazy how good he surfs on those boards. I think he really got Stretch into making those designs and gave him some good feedback and stuff. Hold on, it’s my shot again….(CRACK!)…..Shit, I’m just getting’ hosed out here. Hit the cart path, hit the trees….I started out alright and it’s a perfect day up here….

Maybe I’m making you lose your focus.
No, no, not at all. It’s just me. But yeah, I ride all different types of boards, not just the fishy ones.

I’ve even seen some footage of you in the past looking like a champ on a longboard.
Yeah, I have always had a longboard around. To be honest, I have more fun riding a longboard than I do a shortboard. Because sometimes I take shortboarding for granted ‘cuz I do it so much. It kinda feels like it’s a job sometimes and with longboarding there’s no pressure to perform at all. You’re just kickin’ it and having fun. I usually go with a few buddies and just f*ck around and stuff.

How do you feel about our talent here on the West Coast?
There are a lot of great free surfers, but we don’t have that many guys on the World Tour. We have sick guys like Dane and Bobby on tour, and then of course there’s Curren. He’s pretty much the best ever. Watching him surf is epic. I am so stoked that I have had the chance to surf with him. Same with Bobby, that guy’s so good it’s crazy. I think Dane and Bobby are our best chances on tour. Bobby showed what he’s got last year and Dane is coming on ‘ya know. They’re just flaring up right now. I’m kinda bummed on the whole tow-at air scene though. All these hoaxsters are blowing up on PWC’s before they even learn how to do real airs. All my airs are the real deal, not fakies ‘ya know?

Yeah, there is some mixed reaction on those airs and the photos. While we’re on the contest tip, how was that win at the VQS championships?
I got in as an alternate. Sixth alternate. So it was cool because I wasn’t even supposed to be in it, and to make it all the way through my heats and into the finals was sick. I didn’t know if I was going to advance or not after the semis, so I was amped when I got to the finals. I usually don’t do to well in small beachbreaks, and it was kinda small that day. I was riding a four fin and it helped for sure.

That contest gets just as much press as the WQS contests here, so that must have been a huge win for you.
Yeah, they had live web feed of the heats and stuff. The US Open only has live scoring which is totally weak. There were a lot of good surfers at the VQS champs too.

Santa Cruz has had an abundance of World Class pros for decades. Who inspired you when you were just getting started?
My biggest influences were definitely Flea and Barney. And all the older guys too, like Richard Schmidt and Vince Collier. And just all of my peers that I surfed with helped motivate me because I thought they surfed way better than me.

What’s your plan for the rest of ’07?
I’ll do the Cold Water Classic for sure. I go to Alaska every year in the fall and try to hang up there for a while. The town I go to is near Yakutat. There are only 1700 people there and their mostly native so it’s really cool. There are some kids getting into it up there and stuff. Yeah, Mulcoy went up there like ten years ago and got that cover shot, and we have been going back every year since then. The mayor of the city actually gave Josh (Mulcoy) and Layne Beachly the key to the city and had a huge ceremony. Afterwards they had a big reception in this huge mansion and are now really receptive to us and stuff. The first few times we went there the people thought we were crazy and would be like, “What? You’re surfing out there” The waves are really good though. In WWII they had 40,000 troops based there in case of a Japanese attack so the roads are really good and there is a lot of access to the beaches. It’s bitchin to go up there and surf, fish, and hang out.

I always see you surfing down here in the winter. And it always seems like it’s one of the best days of the year.
That’s ‘cuz when the swell is too big in SC we go down to SB. It takes a half a day. So we pay attention to the conditions and head down there when it’s good. I’ve been doing it enough years so I can tell when the direction and swell is right for all the points. It’s fun to hang out with all the boys down there. There’s a lot of good surfing going on too. It would be insane if those islands weren’t there so you guys could get some southern hemi swell. (Laughs)

Could you imagine how sick it would be? This coast faces due south ‘ya know?
It would be outta hand! We gotta do something about that!

I know!
(Laughs)

Alright man, I’ll let you get back to your game. It was nice catching up with you.
Ok. I’ll talk to ‘ya later. Take it easy Ryan.

Later bro.