Earlier in the year, we caught up with New Zealand’s wild child, Jeff Weatherall, to catch up on his updated life in Encinitas, California, and what he has been up to the past few months.

So Jeff, what’s been keeping you busy lately? Living the dream as usual buddy?

Life has been keeping me busy bro. Since moving out here, I’ve found that everyone and their brother wants to stop in and check out what this Cali dream is like. It’s been awesome - I definitely have been living the dream. I moved in with my visa lawyer extraordinaire Becky Mendoza from Actionsports Law Group, and Zac who is the head shoe designer at Reef shoes. Living a block from the Pacific Ocean keeps me sane, and I’m only a few minutes awat from the lake at Carlsbad Lagoon. I’ve been west coast, east coast, west again and east and west…

What events are you doing this season?

I started with the Wake Games and got into the finals. That’s always a good way to start the season – especially as I didnt ride any comps in the US season before.

My focus is not on the US Pro Tour any more. I feel like I’ve been there, done that… and I want to really focus on a new stage of my career, coming up with ideas that are both creative and challenging, and most of all, something that will be exciting for the wakeboard public to watch.

Got any extreme plans on the horizon?

Like I said, I want to do something different. The past two months have been spent working hard on some concepts we have and want to bring to life. At this point, we have been pitching our ideas to the companies we want involved in these projects so as we can gain the funding we need. I dare say I’m gonna be real busy. It’s a very exciting time for me at the moment.

So is there some decent surf nearby?

Yeah as far as the surfing world goes, in California we are right in the heart of it all with a ton of good spots around. Trestles is very close, and so is Blacks Beach – two spots really famous for good Cali waves.

What’s the area like where you live? Good food? Nightlife etc? 

Encinitas is an awesome little world. Just north is the Carlsbad Lagoon where I ride every day. DC has there vert ramps in a warehouse close by, the surf’s at my doorstep, and the entire moto/surf/snow/skate industry is all nearby. I honestly don’t know why more riders dont live out here. I know Amber Wing talked a few years with me about moving out here. I love it. I can ride my bike to the bars, can walk to the beach, can wakeboard everyday… What more really could you want? And to top it all off, there’s loads of really motivated people out here. There is always action going on, no time to be bored! Also, there’s word of a new cable being put in very close to my house… Can’t say too much, other than it’s been approved by the council and will have work started on it within the next few months.

Do you have a Cali crew you ride with?

I do have a Cali crew: Jesson Vedal, Matt Osmeyer (Epic Boats boat designer), plenty of crew at the Lagoon, and for the most part, I always have guests in town wanting to ride a lot. Let’s just say I get a very diverse crew of people to ride with all the time - I love it.

Have you been back to Tahiti with Jesson to surf, ride, and hang with that crew?

I haven’t been back to Tahiti since 2009, but Jesson and I have always kept close contact as we are really good friends. We spent a lot of years on tour travelling the world and riding together. Now, he is married to Gretchen who also used to be a pro rider. They have a beautiful little boy and live in Canyon. These days, he still has his Mastercraft and rides for fun, so whenever the crew is in town, we go up there and shred with him. We are currently planning a trip to Tahiti later on this year. I certainly hope we can make it happen.

Obviously you won’t be missing the competition side of things. You’ve always been a serious competitor, so it must be nice to take the pressure off.

You know I’m not saying I’m retiring, because I definitely will be doing different events here and there. But to be honest, after the last 10 years of doing nothing but travelling the world doing contests, I’m bored and I’d like to take my career in a much more creative direction. Harley can have the comp scene! He’s representing Australia so well right now, and to be honest, the motivation to ride small wakes, in shit locations, with crap crowds, just doesn’t entice me to want to go on the US Pro Tour anymore these days.

I feel that I’ve set out and won all and more that I ever dreamed of, and I’m stoked about that! But now I want to blow peoples mind’s in new creative ways, much as the peers I look to be inspired by in other sports do. Think Robbie Maddison and Travis Pastrana, and you’ll see the type of creativity I’m talking of.

Are there any clues to what you have in the pipeline?

The past few months I’ve surrounded myself with a team of people that are helping me bring new concepts to life. We have spent a lot more time in boardrooms lately pitchin’ these ideas than I have spent on the lake, but it’s going to all be worth it when it comes to light. I can’t say too much yet, other than a lot of it will be very life threatening!

How do you deal with the thought of death by extreme sport?

Since the death of two of my closest friends Mark Kenney and Ritchie Wells, I’ve looked at life and death in a certain way. They both taught me a lot in the short time they were with us, and they’re both always in the back of my mind. The biggest thing I learnt from them was that you never know when it’s your time to go, so take every opportunity and chance you get. I guess that’s why I’m always so motivated. I don’t want to die, and I don’t have a death wish – the things I do I feel are all calculated risk. At the end of the day, to go out pushing the limits of what can be done at the peak of your existence isn’t a bad way to go out, I dont think. I’d certainly take that over being wheelchair-bound. I just don’t think mentally I could cope with that. At the end of the day, one thing is for sure on this earth: We all gotta face death! I just hope mine’s quick and painless when it comes.

How have you found the response from potential sponsors for this? 

So far, we have had nothing but awesome reactions and disbelief in what I propose to do. I hope I’ll get much the same reaction with the rest of the wakeboarding world. More importantly though, I want to push wakeboarding back into the limelight for the mainstream public. Our goal is to get as much people seeing our sport and wanting to know more, therefore getting much more people involved. The more people that love it, the better everything is for everyone.

You recently had an Aussie / Kiwi crew over. What was the occasion, and how long did they stay?

Mate, my house has been a constant turnover of crew visiting. First off, dirty man came in town on his way to Maine to work as a camp counsellor at a summer camp (God help those kids if he’s in charge, haha!). Next up, Lipsy came in town, followed by Greggles and DP, who were fresh off travelling to Orlando and doing some base jumping in Utah! I’ve just been having a blast being a total tour guide showing all the crew a good time on their travels. Just so happens that wakeboarding is always a big part of all that fun…

Didn’t Brad come and visit too? If so, fill me in a little about that. You guys have been friends for years. What did he think of your set up?

Yeah, Brad arrived the other day. He’s just in from NZ, and he’s looking fit, healthy and motivated as ever to ride and progress. He’s stopping on his way through before hitting the road to Texas, Orlando etc.

At the moment we’ve so far had opening day at the Del Mar horse races. Surfed, paddle-boarded, wakeboarded, partied… all the good stuff. Tomorrow, we got gun range on the cards, and maybe a bit of sailing.

Brad was first introduced to me by Richie Wells. He was his little protege, and ever since then he’s been coming on strong. When I first met him, he was a 16-year-old boy… Now he towers over me. He’s a big unit, but damn the kid can wakeboard! Over the years, weve travelled and had some awesome times on the road. And of course, time spent like that always forges a good friendship… Yeah, we are competitive and I know he always wants to beat me or one up me, but so he should – that’s the nature of progression. But once we are off the water, it’s nothing but great mates, and we do what we can to help and support each other.

Your family on the road travelling is the closest people to you. All the Aussie boys and Brad of course are, and have been, my family for the past 10 years. We’ve all been through a lot together… Daniel, Josh, Ike, Chriso, Dean, Scotty BP, Mitch, Brad, Hank, the Mackey brothers… All the crew that has ever travelled to the US. We all have good times, and we’ve all seen each other go through rough patches too. But as a loose family, we all get through and make it at this game were playing called life.

What did you guys get up to? Looks like you hit the road a bit!

It’s never-ending here… Surfing, stand up paddleboarding, wakeboarding out at Canyon Lake with our mate Chad Lowe who runs the Golden State wake school out there. (And for the record, he is ripping! Such an awesome style to watch.)

Tell me about your camera set up – looks like you have some sweet pole thing going on!

So in amongst our pitches to new companies, GoPro was one of the big ones on our list of people we really wanted on board. We had a meeting that went amazingly well, and they have since come on as a sponsor. So I’ve been spending a lot of time experimenting with all the new equipment we have – and loving the results so far.