Steve Macca MacKenzie is a specimen that really reflects what is great in Australia. From his very first visit to the Hawaiian Islands he has gotten a kind of respect from his peers that normally take many seasons. Always a very dangerous person to draw in heat, as he will beat you on pure style alone. Known to throw a few back with the boys on occasion and have a good time but doesnt need hyped attention and lets his riding do most of his talking. Look for Macca to go pretty far in the event, especially if Mother Nature sends big waves.

Sasaki: Hey, what year did you win the contest??
Macca: It was in 1997 with Kainoa in the final.

KS: Geez, youve been coming here year after year, what is this, your fifteenth??
SM: I think so, that or my fourteenth. Its been a while. First time was in 88 I think, so whats that?

KS: Have you entered in any of the other events on tour this year?
SM: Yeah, I entered Tahiti. I was going to Reunion but in the end I pulled out. I heard that only one event was going to be rated, then two and then points from the WQS would count and stuff, so I wasnt sure what to do. Also, it didnt look like a good investment to go that far and spend all that money, so I decided to take that money and do the contests back home in Australia.

KS: What makes this contest so special?
SM: The venue. The venue is pretty much everything. This is the whole focal point for bodyboarding since international bodyboarding competition started. Its always been the yardstick to measure other events by and the Pipe contest has always been the most important. If you can win an event out here then youre that much further ahead. Winning an event elsewhere just doesnt have the same feeling and to me its just a contest win compared to one here.

KS: How have you been doing on the tour at home?
SM: Ahh, pretty good. I finished second on the Australian tour. Sean Virtue beat me and it was really close, it came down to the last contest and I had to beat him by two positions and it ended up going to the finals where he got first and I got second, so it was a good little match up there. I dont know when was the last time I was so excited about two foot waves in contests.

KS: Wow, so it was kind of like a battle of generations of sort as well?
SM: Yeah it really was. Only like four years ago or so I had Sean at a junior elite camp and I was coaching him, he was one of the top young juniors coming up and here it is like three or four years later and hes on the Aussie tour and Im competing against him. Its a good feeling as a coach but then sometimes I gotta scratch my head and tell myself that I better not teach these young fellas too much.

KS: Well, how much will your experience come in to play here at Pipeline, over a guy like Virtue who has maybe three seasons under his belt?
SM: Its going to be tough, but if the conditions are a little bit tricky and shifty then my experience in the line up could come in to play. It will come down to finding the good ones. Its easy to ride when the conditions are good but not so easy when its ugly and thats when experience is important, knowing where to sit, you know that if you get caught on the inside at Backdoor you know to paddle around or to keep punching through, or not.

KS: Whats your most memorable wave here at Pipeline?
SM: Maybe during the contest that I won, probably the first or the second wave that I caught in the semi-final against Daniel (Rocha). Both of those waves I scored tens so that was pretty memorable.

KS: And then in the finals you just clicked.
SM: I just kind of got lucky, as it was really tricky. The semis was really big and heavy on the inside and then during the finals it jumped up a few more feet and it was breaking all the way from the outside, pretty much from Rockpiles and white washing all the way through. You had to really time things, get through the big sets and get some medium inside ones (25 feet face). I just go into a good rhythm and Kainoa was just unlucky. It could have gone either way and we were both exhausted at the end of the day. I remember paddling out just thinking to myself that I wouldnt even make it out, as I was so tired, duck diving waves at Gums getting slammed. I remember catching the first wave and getting caught inside and taking ten footers right on the head thinking I was going to get washed in, then all of a sudden it sucked me out and I was back in the lineup for more.

KS: You have at least two, three or more years ahead of you. What more do you want to see in bodyboarding and in your career?
SM: For me, I just want to be able to compete against all the top guys at the best venues in the world and to be able to win more contests. That would be a good feeling for me. For the sport I think, theres a lot of confusion at the moment between the Qualifying tour and the Super Tour, theres division among the administrators. Its a bit of a heartbreak after so many years of trying to get a good tour going at good venues and it feels like were going in circles, but on the other hand we do have some good venues. The top end of the sport, the elite is really important but we need to put back a lot to the entry level and we need to encourage people to start. In Australia were doing pretty well with our domestic tour, still there are a lot of things we can do that arent being done at the moment and its always been an uphill battle for bodyboarding as a whole against the surfing community. Theyre never going to give us any breaks and we shouldnt expect any at the same time. You know, if it was the other way around we wouldnt be doing them any favors. Its just time that bodyboarders out there go out and do something for themselves and for the sport, everyone is sort of asking themselves whats in it for me and they need to step back from that and put more back. For me I need to remember why I started, you know contests are just a means for me to travel more to good locations and compete against your mates and also get a good income from that but really, if that wasnt the case I think Id still be bodyboarding. I think a lot of people forget why they started in the first place which is the love of the sport. A lot of guys can pass on some good knowledge to those starting or about to get into it, its a really rewarding thing for a rider.

KS: Anything else?
SM: I just think its a matter of some people stepping back, swallowing some pride for the benefit of the sport.