Dylan Slater, SVP of Sales/Marketing at Rip Curl USA, also agrees with this sentiment. “Conner not only has world-class surfing ability, but he’s also a world-class human. He adds a lot to our team, and I know we will achieve a lot together in this new chapter.”
Conner is looking forward to the start of the competitive season as a new member of the Rip Curl crew. “I’m fired up right now, and I want to stay that way. I feel like I learned a lot my first year on tour, and from here, it’s just trying to keep stepping it up with each event. I’d be really stoked to finish 2017 in the top 10.
“And now, being a part of Rip Curl, I have something else to look forward to – The Search. When I first started surfing, the first movie I ever had was the Searching for Tom Curren series. I grew up watching those over and over and over. That’s where I learned to bottom turn, and it’s where I fell in love with surfing. That aspect of The Search really grabbed me as a kid, and Tom is still one of my favourite surfers. Having the opportunity to be a part of all that is just so insane.
“I think that what’s so intriguing about the Search is that Rip Curl goes out and finds places that I’ve never heard of, that I didn’t even think would have waves – and the waves there are better than I could even imagine. So hopefully I end up in the middle of nowhere, getting barrelled for a really long time. That’s the dream.”
Welcome to the team, Conner – we can’t wait to see where this relationship will take you!