TRANSITIONING

Big wave guru, Thomas Traversa discusses a potential midlife crisis, winning the PWA Wave World Championship and Red Bull Storm Chase in the same year, and the implications of sailing Nazaré.

- Thomas Traversa

COMPETITIVE OUTLOOK

I have reached a bit of a crossroads in my career. I feel like I am coming towards the end of my competitive side. I turned thirty-eight in December of last year… so while I am still competitive, I see that finally there is a new generation of sailors coming through and they are pushing the level, with regard to both jumping and tricks. I still feel like I want to compete because events always provide motivation to keep improving and pushing yourself, but at the same time, I feel like this is the end of my competitive career and I don’t really know what to do next. I feel like I am in a transition period, which could go either way.

On the one side, I am thinking about being able to focus on nice trips with big waves, but then on the other, it’s really hard to let go of the competitive side of the sport as it is fun to be at events also. We all meet up and it always provides you with the motivation to keep training, while trying to improve. However, I’m wary that I don’t want to compete for too long as the idea of just passing one heat at each contest doesn’t sound particularly fun or appealing.

MIDLIFE CRISIS