From fjords of Iceland to jamming with Taylor Hawkins: It’s one big adventure being seven-time surfing world champion Steph Gilmore

“I know I’m not ready to retire yet.”

It’s not an answer to, “When will you stop?”

Rather, it’s a response to, “Why do you still love it?”

She smiles easily at the thought, then releases a stream of consciousness so smooth, it’s as if she’s on her favourite right-hand break at Snapper Rocks, faultlessly blending thoughts with actions, all of which feed to a central theme: “I’m still thinking how to make my highlight reel better.”

And anyway, why the hell would she stop? It’s one big adventure being Steph Gilmore.

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It’s the waves the seven-time world champion hasn’t mastered which keep her curious, an incredible concept given what she’s achieved.

She wants to find a way to master thumping reef breaks. She wants to conquer waves that send her left, instead of her favoured right.

Places like Teahupo’o, the Tahitian pit of fury, where riding monstrous walls of water atop a shallow rocky bed equates to survival as much as success.

“There are so many places I’m looking at, thinking goodness that’s terrifying, can I go there and get a good result?” Gilmore tells CodeSports.

“Do I have the desire and have the mental tools to go there and get a result? That’s exciting to me.

“I know within myself I haven’t put up those wins in challenging conditions. Feel like my surfing has got so much room for growth.

“It’s just that eternal feeling of wanting to get better.”

Surfers a decade or more younger than Gilmore, 34, continually push the sport on, with a blend of relentless power and a lack of fear.

The latter isn’t a block in Gilmore’s mind, but she confesses she feels a little “light on waves” and needs to work on bringing more power to her craft – especially in those smaller conditions.

“It’s fascinating. You can be a seven-time world champ, and be defeated by a couple of groms in waves you’re supposed to be dominating at,” Gilmore says.

“You can only laugh at it and say ah well, still got stuff to work on.”

And yet, there’s so many reminders of why Gilmore has done what she’s done. You don’t need to drift back to 2007, when she became the only surfer to win a world title in her rookie year, to be reminded of her greatness.

In 2019, she won the event in Indonesia at the Keramas break. In the final, she produced a perfect 10, a prototypical Steph Gilmore ride: not trying to mutilate a healthy six-foot wave, rather, blending in with what it allowed her to do. This included stopping, waiting, and pulling into a barrel so deep she needed a torch to get out.

“That win to me was the highlight of my career,” Gilmore enthuses.

“So how do I do that more often? That’s what I want to find.

“Want to make that magic happen, because if I could win eight world titles, that would be badass.”

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The northwestern fjords of Iceland are far-removed from the world surfing tour.

It is a remote, harsh, cold and spectacular place. Long brown grass relieved of nutrients from the endless winter sways in the breeze, snow-capped mountains feed waterfalls which eventually fall into the ocean, and a perfect break peels its way into the fjords.

“(It) was such a special place. I went there as part of a 2019 film, Self Discovery for Social Survival,” Gilmore says.

“Was thinking, this is the land before time!”

It’s exactly the type of place which explains why father-time has not caught her.

Contests are about using an entire skillset to impress judges. But in between those intense engagements, surfing is about working on the skill set with a completely free mind somewhere in the big wide world.

“Once a contest is done, if someone hits me up and says, ‘Wanna go to this faraway place where there is surf?’ I’m in” Gilmore says.

“I love travelling so much.”

After the recent world tour event in Portugal, Gilmore, on a whim, headed down to the island of Madeira. “Some special vibes there,” she says.

Another trip to Sardinia, the Italian rock plonked in the middle of the Mediterranean, stands out. “Great waves there.”

Even China. China?! “Oh, yeah, there’s surf there.”

“Feel like I’m just a really well-paid tourist!”

On dry land, Gilmore gets her adrenaline fix with a guitar. Like her incurable travel bug, it’s beneficial to her surfing career.

“It’s so nerve-racking. Get on stage and don’t stuff up, totally out of your comfort zone, just go with it and trust yourself,” Gilmore says.

“There’s some similarities there, getting more comfortable with the uncomfortable.”

Experiences so far vary from thrashing out some Black Sabbath with a bunch of 12-year-olds at a Surfrider Foundation event in California, to playing ‘Bitch’ by the Rolling Stones with late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, and his side-hustle, Chevy Metal.

As Hawkins belted his drums, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother fame handled the lyrics, and Gilmore was front of stage, making a white guitar talk with a big wide grin.

“Playing guitar on stage makes me feel like more alive than ever,” Gilmore says.

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At the centre of Gilmore’s existence remains competition.

The fire still burns, so it hurt Gilmore to miss the first event of 2022 at Pipeline, the iconic Hawaiian North Shore break, which like Teahupo’o in Tahiti, is about executing to survive.

“I got Covid three days before the comp, and was tripping out,” Gilmore recalls.

“Had travelled around the world for 18 months, didn’t get it.

“Went to an Arsenal game with 60,000 screaming drunk Englishman, travelled on planes, trains, Ubers, never got it.

“Then just before Pipeline, it hit. Was like, really?!”

Gilmore emerged from isolation one day after the event started, but had plenty of time to see one of the most remarkable performances by an athlete … ever.

Kelly Slater, just days before his 50th birthday, won the men’s event at Pipe.

“Kelly is maybe from another planet, but he’s a been a huge inspiration to me,” Gilmore says.

“He’s looked after himself, when everyone was going hard in the 90s, partying, they burnt out pretty quick.

“He’s so well-balanced in his life, surf-obsessed, willing to take time and rest … wants to make sure he’s doing things he enjoys.”

Gilmore also takes inspiration from Ash Barty, who recently retired at half Slater’s age.

“She’s just willing to do it her own way,” Steph says.

“Not interested in following the playbook, not interested in doing it for sponsors. The expectation around athletes is always pretty high. It’s just so inspiring she said nope, not feeling it.

“That’s got to be the scariest thing in the world. It’s really wild.”

Gilmore hasn’t felt what Barty acted on. But like the fellow Queenslander, who she shares sponsored billboards with, destiny remains strictly on her terms.

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Gilmore’s dreamy stream of consciousness returns when the scene of her regular Easter getaway is considered.

Bells Beach is where world surfing gathers on a cliff top overlooking an ocean amphitheatre.

Come finals day, the unmistakeable riff of Hells Bells by AC/DC screeches through speakers into the ears of competitors who descend the 100-step staircase lined by legends of the sport.

“It’s so overwhelming, really hard to compose yourself,” Gilmore says.

But she has, ringing the famous bell four times after dominating some of the most-pure right-hand breaks the ocean can offer. Her favourite kind of wave.

This year, she goes to Bells with a little pressure. The 2022 World Surf League has a mid-season cut. Only ten women surfers will progress past the fifth event. Gilmore is 14th after three events.

Gilmore has to get Bells right.

She’ll lean on her worldliness. Her approach. Her way of configuring her mind and body, because when it comes down to it, she owes nobody, anything.

Steph Gilmore just wants the adventure to roll on.