On the way to his first surf back since returning from Brazil as U16 World silver medallist, we caught up with Progression Squad member Lukas Skinner about the competition and his history-making result.

Q) Second in the World, huge result, but what does that result mean to you?

LS) The result means the world, and its probably my biggest achievement to date, especially with what I have been through over the last few months. Being able to come back to a big result, there’s not really any words to describe how much it means to me.

Q) What was your goal going into the event?

LS) Of course a bit of me really wanted to go there and win, but I haven’t been surfing so I was mainly just there for fun and for the experience. But yeah, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go there and win in the back of my head.

To come second was really just the cherry on top of how much I enjoyed being there and competing at the event.

Q) With the injury, how did you prepare for this event in particular?

LS) I only got back surfing about three weeks out from the event, and even then, I was only just getting to about 50%. I actually started surfing again about two months ago, but I re-injured my foot, so that set me back.

I was training hard with Paul Coker (physio) and trying to get myself 100% for the event. So, a lot of rehabbing and probably surfing a couple of times a day but only at around 50%. I went to the Red Bull APC in Austria, which was insane! Then, when I got out to Brazil, it all sort of clicked and I was back to 90%.

Q) What was your vibe after your first surf in Brazil?

LS) Initially, I thought it was going to be a long 10 days…

I got off the plane feeling pretty rusty, but the foot felt really good which was the main thing. It was then just getting used to the wave and the backwash as it was a really hard wave to surf.

Q) Tell us a bit about the wave and how you adapted to it.

LS) Macumba is such a hard wave to surf, so for the first couple of days I was probably being a bit hard on myself, but I thought, everyone is in the same boat, so it’s one of those waves where you just need to stay positive. I think, as long as you are positive about the wave, you’re going to get positivity back from it. That and I was surfing loads… I was surfing all day, every day before the competition.

Q) It was noticeable watching that your air game was on point throughout. Did you feel that from the start?

LS) The funny thing is that at home I wasn’t letting myself do any airs, I probably hadn’t been doing any for about four months. I think I did two in the first two surfs when I got to Brazil, and my consistency rate was through the roof, so yeah, I was pretty stoked.

Q) It’s a big comp, it’s not an individual thing, there were 12 in the Surfing England team, so what was your daily routine?

LS) The team were insane. All my teammates, all the staff, Beau (Bromham), dad (Ben Skinner), Karma (Worthington) Jenny (Briant), Jamie (Wride), it was just insane, but our daily routine was pretty narly. I was only getting about 5hrs of sleep a day. We were getting up at 4am every morning and it was getting light at 4:30am. We were the first team on the beach pretty much every day, and first in the water. We would then go back, have brekkie, and then continue surfing all day. It was pretty much that on repeat. I think it was a really good thing for the whole team. We were the loudest on the beach, we were the most prepared, we had the best setup.

Q) You’ve had some good individual results this year, but what was it like doing it as part of a team, with them supporting you, and you supporting them?

LS) Its hard but you learn a lot. There are so many heats going on, you are literally on the beach for 12hrs a day, and that in 30-degree heat is pretty hard, but we were all there for each other. It was a lot different to a lot of the other events where you are pretty much on your own, so you have to adjust to it and we all did a great job of that.

Q) We are speaking as you are just about to paddle out at North Fistral. How do you feel about getting in the winter suit and heading back out there.

LS) The waves are pumping but it’s absolutely freezing. I think I’m pretty stoked for it, so I’m going to go and get my wetsuit on.