Surfer interview — Gabe Kling

Story by Nick McGregor
Photo by Jimmicane

Qualifying for the World Championship Tour is one of the toughest accomplishments in professional surfing. And there’s only one way on the Association of Surfing Professionals’ premier tour: finishing in the top 15 of the World Qualifying Series by accumulating points from a series of 40 contests spread across the globe.

Florida has produced its share of WCT stars, including nine-time world champion Kelly Slater and twin brothers CJ and Damien Hobgood, but only one St. Augustine surfer has ever qualified – hometown hero Gabe Kling. The affable, ever-smiling regularfoot finished 43rd out of 45th on the WCT in 2007, and had to return to the WQS (the equivalent of being sent back to baseball’s minors) in 2008. But he made it through again, earning another chance at the big leagues.

Unfortunately, Kling suffered a major ankle injury this March surfing in Tasmania, so he’s been out of the water for the last five months. That afforded Drift the chance to check in with the Oldest City’s first and only World Championship Tour surfer.

Drift: Take us back to the beginning. You started surfing at Vilano, right?
Gabe Kling: Yeah, as long as I can remember I’ve been surfing. My brother Lance first pushed me into a couple waves when I was 4 – there’s actually a couple of photos of me on this red longboard that Lance took with a waterproof camera after he pushed me. He was 8 years older than me, so I always surfed with him and his crew. Surfing Vilano, there was a handful of really good surfers and plenty of guys that ripped. It was fun growing up there – I wish that wave was still as good as it used to be.

D: Did you enter the competitive fray right off?
GK: I think I surfed in my first ESA [Eastern Surfing Association] contest at 8 or 9, in the menehune division. There were only three people in it, and I got third, but one of the kids got busted for lying about his age, so I ended up getting second in my first contest. I surfed ESAs solid from then on, and slowly made my way through ESA and then NSSA [National Scholastic Surfing Association].

D: You were selected to the NSSA’s National team in the 1990s, traveling to Southern California several times. Was that your first introduction to the wider world of professional surfing outside North Florida?
GK: Yeah, the NSSA team was cool, because any time we got to go surf somewhere like Lower Trestles with no one out, that was like a dream. Just going to California was a big surf trip for me back then. I remember as a grom I saw one of the Hobgoods out in California, and I was like, “How many times have you been to California?” And he was like, “I don’t know, 10?” And I thought, “Wow, that’s awesome!”

D: You won the Junior Men’s division at the ESA Eastern Surfing Championships twice, in 1997 and 1998, when that was considered the premier title on the East Coast. Was that beginning of your sponsored life?
GK: Yeah, the second year I won I had just started riding for Rip Curl, and they were giving away a slot in the trials at [their Rip Curl Pro WCT event at] Sunset Beach in Hawaii, and I won that. That really helped me look good in their eyes, so they started supporting me and put me on a couple of trips. The ESA is definitely a great way to get noticed.

D: Then you started the WQS in 2002. It’s notorious for being a tough experience — many people call it “The Slog” or “The Grind.”
GK: The WQS definitely requires a lot of traveling. My first few years, just being from Florida, I was excited to travel and go places. It can be pretty tough to go halfway around the world when the waves are probably better at home in Florida. It was a bit of wake-up call. But after you get a feel for it, you come at the contests with a different approach – a little more professionally. Once I started doing that, I boosted my confidence, and got a good result or two.

D: Tell me about your rookie year on the Dream Tour. Was it overwhelming to suddenly be surrounded by the 44 best surfers in the world?
GK: It was a big jump, and I didn’t do well in my first year. The WQS and the WCT are quite a bit different. You can’t make any heats surfing on the WCT just getting waves and riding them; you really have to catch the eyes of the judges, especially being a rookie. So it took a little bit of adjustment, and I learned from my little mistakes. I also hadn’t surfed a lot of the waves we were going to – I hadn’t surfed Jeffreys Bay [in Australia], I never surfed Teahupo’o [in Tahiti], or a few other ones. It was definitely a learning experience; I feel like just getting to surf shoulder-to-shoulder with those guys helped me so much. By the end of the year, I felt like I was coming into my own, so it was pretty tough to come so close to getting a second chance.

D: That year you didn’t requalify through the WCT, and once again came within a few spots of qualifying via the WQS. But you came back in 2008, did the grind again, and earned yourself a second chance.
GK: The year I had was definitely tough. I didn’t do well on the ‘CT, but on the ‘QS I had one of my better years – I won my first six-star, I had a fifth at the U.S. Open, and I had some other good results. At the end of the year I was two or three places out, and it took a little bit to come to terms with coming that close, again. But once I got past that, I realized that my schedule was going to be a lot easier, and I just took it for what it was – trying to get back on again. It ended up working out.

D: So you’re back on the WCT for a second chance, and then in March you injure yourself surfing a WQS event in Tasmania. Explain what happened.
GK: I strained the meniscus and MCL in my right knee, and then my ankle suffered a partial tear in the ligament – like a high ankle sprain. I think my knee’s fine, but I haven’t really been able to test it, because anything that would hurt my knee hurts my ankle first. I’m fine just moving around, but my ankle’s been slower to heal.

D: Tell me about the experience of getting injured literally halfway around the world.
GK: There was no cell-phone service, even for the Australians over there. I thought I had broken my leg at first; they did a couple tests, told me to keep the ice on it, and made a little bed for me. It was such a small community that they had this doctor flown in – he was like the celebrity doctor. He came in and checked it out, took an x-ray, and said he thought I had chipped my bone. He kind of told me to walk it off [laughs], and was like, “You should just stay here.” At the time I was thinking maybe I could surf Bells [the next WCT event], and he was like, “Just stay here for a week and see how it goes.” But I couldn’t walk at all, so I figured I’d go home and get it diagnosed. [The doctor] was really cool, but if you don’t know surfing … he probably knew rugby, where they just say, “Walk it off.” I ended up getting on a flight a day or two later and heading home. I left all my boards because I couldn’t carry anything. Actually Jimmy Wilson brought my board bags home after Bells a month later.

D: Have your sponsors been supportive throughout the year?
GK: Yeah, I’ve been in touch with ’em, letting ’em know I’m still alive [laughs]. I’ve talked to Brandy Faber from Matix and DVS, and they’ve all been supportive.

D: You’ve spent most of your off time here at home in St. Augustine, right?
GK: I was out in California for the first week and a half getting diagnosed, and I’ve been using this doctor out there to get [therapy] done. But for the most part I’ve been in St. Augustine.

D: Have you been getting a lot of support from the local community? Any fundraisers or events like that?
GK: No fundraisers – the insurance through the ASP covers it all, so I don’t really need that. I’ve had plenty of support from the local community, and they’re all behind me, but every time it’s the same question: “When are you getting back on tour?” I wish I had an answer; I’ve been saying “as soon as possible” a lot. I love hanging out here, and the first month or two were fine, but I’m itching to go get barreled somewhere.

D: This is the longest amount of time you’ve spent away from contest surfing in a decade. Have you questioned your competitive drive at all?
GK: This is also the longest I’ve ever been out of the water, and I’ve gone back and forth, where I almost don’t want to get too fired up. But I know as soon as I do hit the water, I’m going to be more fired up than ever.