Catching up with Nic von Rupp

Thermal: Travel, and the job of a pro surfer, seem pretty inextricable. How would you describe travel helping your own career?

Nic von Rupp: I’d say traveling is everything. It's pure joy. It's all those opportunities you get to maximize while you can, as much as you can. I could stick around home for the rest of my life, but I'm not going to be able to go to Indonesia every year and chase waves, or go Tahiti for a swell. Pretty much all the money I've gotten from my sponsors, I've reinvested into growing my career—into traveling, and surfing all these waves I've always dreamed about. And documenting that journey, too, of course. So, it's been a passion that evolved into a profession, I guess.

Awesome. So, basically, it’s essential to your work. Especially, when it comes to big waves, I take it…

For sure, a hundred percent. Diversity in your surfing is really important, too; I mean, I’ll surf all kinds of waves. Funny enough, I come from a very wave-rich country or region, where I don't even have to travel that much. But people always told me, "Hey, you need to go to Hawaii to prove yourself to be a big-wave surfer,” or whatever. And I’d done that. But it came to a point where I was like, I don't need to go to Hawaii. I've got some of the best waves in the world right at my doorstep here in Europe. So I just want to focus on documenting that. And, then that's where my career started evolving, stepping outside of the normal big-wave career track—it worked out fine. But I mean, having Nazaré at my doorstep and this coast—that’s become as important as going to Jaws.

Yeah, has this newfound focus on Portugal been pretty wild with a place like Nazaré putting the country on the big-wave map?

Portugal has been booming, for sure. Tourism has always been pretty popular over here, but for surfers it’s definitely grown, in all aspects. The huge difference I’ve seen though, is people moving here. People moving from all over the world. It's great because Portugal is great; it’s very diverse, very balanced, it's a safe place. People are educated, and you're very close to everywhere. You're six hours away from New York, for example.

Totally. When I see someone like yourself, I don’t normally see you with a huge crew. Like, this recent score in Indonesia. You seem like more of a lone-wolf…

Yeah, you know I was just thinking about this the other day. I do push for my friends to come, but…to really be committed to score: you got to be ready to leave tomorrow. It can be hard getting to these places. You sit on the boat for 16 hours, or you get there and you don’t score immediately, and I feel like a lot of people don't want to go through that. They want show up and blow up, and most of the times it's not like that. You have to spend money, you have to dedicate, you have to sit through those long hours until you score. You have to be persistent, and I don't mind doing it by myself. I definitely have a lot of friends around the world, which I meet up with to surf, but at the end of the day, I'm going to go anyways, regardless if I'm with a crew or with not.

It’s easy to be comfortable. Especially, if you’re already at a resort with good waves. It comes down to budget as well, and I've been fortunate to have some budget from my sponsors. But obviously, scoring with your friends makes it so much more special—like it did at Greenbush, scoring with Nate and Dennis. I remember telling another friend not to leave though and to wait for Greenbush, that it was going to be good. Then, of course it was epic and he was telling me how lucky I was. I'm, like, "Dude, I'm not lucky. I'm just committed, man." I'll swim all the way to America if I have to catch a swell. So, I don't know, it is what it is.

I hear ya. So as someone who’s dedicated such a large part of your life to travel, what appeals to you about Thermal?

I mean, with traveling, I love the strike-missions, but also, for example, I went to Costa Rica last year with my girlfriend and we were just cruising. Chasing swells can be pretty exhausting, really, [laughs]. So, in a place like Costa Rica, we were taking it slower, enjoying all the great restaurants, looking for waterfalls… I mean, trips are made of activities. You'll always remember the trip that was different to the others, as opposed to one just sitting in a hotel. You remember the adventures. You remember the moments where you went outside of your comfort zone and got a quad and drove it to a secret beach—stuff like that. And with Thermal, I think that's what you're doing: creating experiences for people. Many, that are different, like going surfing in Norway or Madagascar. I think they’re putting together trips that are outside of the ordinary. I think that’s great, because they’re putting together trips that are fuller. Something you'll remember for the road, for the memory book.

Sure. And, I know a guy like yourself is pretty independent, but can you remember a time on a trip when a guide has made the difference?

Totally, man. I mean, as far as a guide, I definitely know people around the world that have guided me, whether that’s professionally, or just by chance. Just having someone local, helping you out, and supporting you in some way makes all the difference. I mean, in Costa Rica, I went there for a month and a half and just having local people there show me around was a huge difference, whether it was going to the right waterfall, going to the right surfing spot, going to the right restaurant—it definitely just makes life so much more easier.