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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Veteran ASP World Tour surfer Fred Patacchia talks about the challenges of being the injury replacement surfer as well as what the future holds for him and his growing family&amp;#8230; &lt;\\/em&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;TransWorld SURF&lt;\\/em&gt;: Fred Patacchia, you started the year one spot removed from the world tour but you\\u2019ve managed to surf in every event as an injury replacement for Dusty Payne. Knowing he is a friend of yours, is it a bittersweet feeling?&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Fred Patacchia: Yeah, it\\u2019s definitely bittersweet. Especially because I\\u2019m a big time advocate of Hawaii surfing and the future of Hawaii surfing and there\\u2019s only two of us on tour right now\\u2014me and John John Florence. Dusty\\u2019s my buddy and to see a talent like that get hurt early in his career\\u2014I\\u2019m sure he\\u2019ll bounce back 100%\\u2014but it\\u2019s hard to see things like that. You never want to see anyone get hurt, but it\\u2019s just the fact of the matter, the ways that we\\u2019re surfing and the things that we are doing these days, guys are going to get hurt and there has to be that injury replacement.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So as an injury wild card, how much lead-time do you have before you know you\\u2019re going to be in an event or not?&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;It\\u2019s different for every event. Dusty\\u2019s injury was pretty severe but he\\u2019s been nice enough to give me a heads up on what he\\u2019s doing and whether or not he\\u2019s going to be in the event. So I\\u2019ve been getting a good two weeks in advance almost every time. At Snapper they called me almost a month before. But now that he\\u2019s recovering, who knows if he\\u2019ll be back for Tahiti? Either way, my whole thought process is that I\\u2019m going to be in every event. I\\u2019ve bought my ticket for every event and I plan on staying with the Quiksilver guys. I\\u2019m going to have my equipment there and be ready to go whether or not I get in. You see a lot of guys that are somewhere else when they get the call and then they have to rush over, and who knows if they have the right equipment with them. I\\u2019ve noticed in the past it\\u2019s always a last minute thing. So for me since I\\u2019m the first alternate and history has shown that 90% of the time maybe even more like 98% the first replacement gets in. So basically I\\u2019m just going to be there, everywhere.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At the next event, the Billabong Pro Tahiti at Teahupo\\u2018o, people get hurt warming up all the time. It doesn\\u2019t have to be big, so I guess it\\u2019s a good thing to be there and ready to go.&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Exactly. People warm up and injuries happen. Just recently at the Volcom Fiji Pro, Raoni Monteiro got hurt, and who knows how long he\\u2019s going to be out? Surfing is a dangerous sport and it takes a toll on your body and injuries happen. The way I look at, last year I injured my knee and somebody took my spot, that\\u2019s just the way it goes.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So you can\\u2019t get sentimental about whose spot your taking, because someone\\u2019s going to take it regardless.&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Yeah exactly, and I\\u2019m sure Dusty\\u2019s gotta be a little stoked that if he can\\u2019t surf, at least one of his boys is replacing him.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Representing quite well might we add.&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The worst part about being the replacement is that you\\u2019re the lowest seed. In four events I\\u2019ve had Kelly Slater twice, I\\u2019ve had the number one seed Parko once at Bells\\u2014and he\\u2019s really hard to beat at Bells. It\\u2019s hard to get out of that little rut of going against the top guys that are going for World Titles. I\\u2019ve been doing well; my score line has been good so I\\u2019m challenging these guys to beat me. And once I break out of that seed area and stop getting those upper echelon guys that are going for World Titles, that\\u2019s when I think I can really take off. If you talk to anyone about those seeds, it\\u2019s the toughest part getting out of that area. And when you do get out of that area and start getting the number five or six seeds that\\u2019s when you\\u2019ve got to capitalize and be like, \\u201cAll right, I need to beat this guy and move on to the 9th round or the quarters.\\u201d But you start hitting freaking Kelly Slater in the 17th round and he\\u2019s a tough guy to beat!&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;iframe src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.youtube.com\\/embed\\/FlU1mb_Tl6Q?enablejsapi=1\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"360\\\" frameborder=\\\"0\\\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\\/iframe&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;strong&gt;Switching gears a bit, you recently became a father. Congratulations, how is that treating you?&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;It\\u2019s exciting and a new part of my life. It\\u2019s trippy man, you leave the hospital and you have a kid, and you\\u2019re just like \\u201cWhat do I do?\\u201d [Laughs]. It\\u2019s a fun learning curve and it\\u2019s been a great time. I\\u2019ve been taking her to a lot of places. She wasn\\u2019t even a month-old and I brought her to Australia for two months. She\\u2019s been loving it and so have I. We were joking around when we were in Australia that she was getting an accent, she was going \\u201cOi, oi!\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now that you have family and everything does it light a fire under your ass? Do you feel like you have more people to surf for, like baby-needs-new-shoes kind of deal?&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Not really. A lot of people say they do but for me I\\u2019ve always been pretty focused on competition\\u2014it\\u2019s what I love to do. I don\\u2019t think it\\u2019s lit any new fires. If anything, it has given me new perspectives on surfing. You know, when you have a kid you don\\u2019t get to surf as much and at times you don\\u2019t want to surf. You would rather stay home and stare at her and see the new things that she\\u2019s doing. So when I do surf, I try to take advantage a little more of my free surf. I treat them a little more like practice sessions than just going out and surfing. It\\u2019s like, if I haven\\u2019t surfed in a week because I\\u2019ve been watching the baby, I will bring three or four boards down to the beach and make sure I know which is the best one and these are the ones I\\u2019m going to bring and this is the one I\\u2019m going to ride in my heat. I guess I structure my time surfing a little bit better now, but surfing wise and competing wise, I\\u2019m still the same guy. I wear my heart on my sleeve, I go out there and leave it all in the water. That\\u2019s just what I do and what I\\u2019ll do until my surfing career is over.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which leads into my next question. As you get older and think about life after the world tour, where do you see yourself in the next five or ten years?&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;That\\u2019s a question I\\u2019m asking myself right now: What I realistically want to do and how much longer do I want to be on this tour. So I was in Brazil for almost a month and I started missing my baby. It\\u2019s like, how long can I really do this tour away from my kid? I know there are other guys that do it, like the Parkinson\\u2019s, the Hobgood&amp;#8217;s, and all that. They\\u2019ve found a way to surf the tour and have a family and see their kids a lot. I\\u2019m just trying to wrap my head around what I\\u2019m going to do. Am I going to do what they\\u2019re doing or do I want to be here at home and have a home base? So that\\u2019s kinda the question I\\u2019m asking myself. I\\u2019m one of those guys, where I feel like I\\u2019ve done well with surfing and I\\u2019ve invested fairly well. I love the surf industry and I want to be apart of it, whether I\\u2019m a professional surfer or working with Quiksilver in the end or just doing something with surfing. I feel like I always need to be apart of this sport and I\\u2019m trying to figure that next step of my life out right now. Honestly, I\\u2019m 30 and I don\\u2019t see myself on tour for any more than another five years. I don\\u2019t know if I could do this for another five years. Especially with the way they\\u2019re structuring it\\u2014if you\\u2019re not in the top 10 they\\u2019re almost forcing you to do the six star primes. So, that\\u2019s like ten WCT events on top of eight six star primes. So that\\u2019s eighteen events\\u2014more than one event a month. So with gas and ticket prices going up, the industry not doing well, and surfers not making enough, shit\\u2019s gonna get nuts\\u2026&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whatever happens, best of luck and thanks for taking the time for the chat!&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Thanks guys, aloha!&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;img class=\\\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1000148687\\\" title=\\\"Fred Patacchia Interview\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.grindtv.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2012\\/06\\/Fred-Patacchia.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"Fred Patacchia Interview\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"360\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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