Steven Sawyer's Self-Shaped World Title Aspirations

“I just wanted to surf the best that I could surf on those waves because it's the most perfect wave to showcase surfing, so everyone gets an equal chance,” Steven says. “That's all I need, I just need the opportunity to be there and I feel like I can crank it. But feeling the pressure, I freaking love it. I feel like I do a lot better under pressure than I do when I'm just relaxed. If you feel like you don't have pressure, that's when you let your guard down,” he says.

The wave pool event is the one event on the longboard calendar where getting barreled is not just an option but a requirement to drop excellent scores. The surfers who could slot themselves inside the pinched tube in two sections of the wave were the ones who would prevail. With Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay his backyard, it is no surprise that Steven would be dominant when it comes to this aspect of surfing. Throughout the rounds he looked more or less unstoppable so when he came into the final against Frenchman Edouard Delpero, who was dropping high excellent scores all event, it looked as though Stevie was a strong chance to pull off the back-to-back. But as it went down he fell on both of his rights, and victory was handed to France. Combo’ed with only one wave left to surf, Steven took off on the left and surfed with an unbridled flair, dropping a 9.6.

“I only realized I had fallen once I was going over the falls,” Steven describes, “because my head was thinking a second ahead of where I was at so I couldn't believe it afterwards. Even if I had scored a 10 on the last wave it was just tickets, so I was just obviously bummed about that. But I was still super stoked to have made two finals in a row, I felt that I was supposed to be at that event and that was the proof of it.”

“On my last wave I just thought ‘what the heck let's just flipping do this thing,’ I want to score a perfect ride! It was an epic wave, it was my best wave of the whole contest," he adds.

Speaking to SURFER from El Salvador as he prepares for Finals Day, Sawyer confessed that he hadn’t been planning on coming, even if he did qualify in Abu Dhabi. Since he won his maiden World Title seven years ago, a lot has changed in his mindset and how he approaches the tour.

“I used to want to just win a Title, that was my whole scheme and plan. There's so much more to life after surfing and a World Title doesn't actually give you any glory in your own personal life because that trophy, I'm not gonna be able to take with me when I'm dead,” Steven explains.
“What I can do is even if I touch one life and show them that there's so much more to life than what we actually perceive and just opening their hearts up to what's for them, in terms of who God is and how they can serve God,” he says solemnly.

For Steven, surfing has become so much more than just a way to gain competitive glory, it’s a conduit to community and it is clear in his carefree, playful demeanor as he moves around the contest area that the joy is all about being there, with people from all across the globe, sharing in these moments of deep connection. In the end, it was his partner and fellow WLT competitor Crystal Hullett who encouraged Steven to travel to El Salvador to take on the Finals. Coming in at sixth seed means Sawyer will have priority in the first heat, which makes a huge difference in getting first choice of a set wave, especially at a wave like El Sunzal where the returning paddle is close to five minutes so every choice of which wave to take is critical.

So now, with his own shapes under his feet, Steven will take on the Finals for a chance to bring home another World Title to South Africa. He’s the only South African to have done it since the tour started in 1986 and will be the only South African in the draw in El Salvador this week. With motivation greater than just the trophy, Steven when he’s relaxed is basically as dangerous as he can be.