“When I take it back to having fun in the surf and not feeling like I'm competing all the time, that's when I'm frothing.”
For those who love to FROTH, WATCH HERE.
My Name Is Isabella Nichols, Born in Denmark, Raised on the Sunshine Coast (Australia), Living on the Gold Coast.
You said you're originally from Denmark. Are you the only professional surfer from Denmark that you know?
I think I'm the only World Tour surfer from Denmark. There's a few really good surfers that do the Challenger Series and some regional events from Denmark. But there hasn't really been any that have come out of there recently. I think you'll start to see more now that the Olympics are putting a lot more money into surfing over there. It's crazy the World Tour events now have got big Danish flags hanging up and it's nice to see that they've done that and to acknowledge my Danish heritage.
That's just from you being on tour?
Well yeah. So I originally had two Australian flags on my jersey and halfway through last year I actually got a Danish and an Australian flag just to represent both sides of me as a person. Which is really cool.
What is frothing?
Frothing for me is that feeling of total happiness and I get that from going surfing with my mates and just having a good time surfing on a fun board or discovering a place where there's no one out and there's fun waves and surfing for hours.
You said you've been riding a bunch of fun boards when you're off tour, what boards are those?
Twin fins, single fins, anything chunky and short. I like soft boards. I've actually just started surfing them. I've taken them out at Snapper a bunch and done crossovers with friends and I actually really enjoy surfing them. Finless boards too. When I take it back to having fun in the surf and not feeling like I'm competing all the time, that's when I'm frothing. Now sometimes it feels like short boarding is work and work is fun when we surf good waves. However, I can surf the shittiest, windy onshore, one foot waves on a fun board and be so stoked. Whereas you kind of can't get that riding a shortboard.
It's like you're a little kid.
Yeah. Like flashbacks to Noosa when I was 10 years old or 11 years old, surfing kneehigh waves and just having a ball. It’s the same kind of deal.
It's cool that you get to do what you love every single day.
It's pretty cool. Sometimes it's tough, you know, competing, you're like, ah, this is like one of the hardest jobs being a sports person, but I know I'm gonna look back and wish that I enjoyed it a lot more. So every time I'm feeling a little down I'm like, it's all good. Just enjoy the process, enjoy the moment. Which is sometimes really hard to do when it's a tough time. I'm gonna look back on this time in my life and be pretty stoked.
Can you just tell us about the Aussie sun?
Fire out. This hole in the ozone layer is so ruthless that if you go out in the sun for more than 10 minutes without sunscreen on, you will turn into a crisp. Even the people who are the most resilient to the sun here just get cooked.
