JASON POLAKOW: MOVING ON

Jason Polakow on leaving the brand he founded, JP, after 27 years to join Goya, plus his biohacking approach to a healthy lifestyle, his outlook on windsurfing and delving into property development.

Words: Jason Polakow // Photos: John Carter

RIGHT TIME FOR A CHANGE

I left JP at the end of last year and had a lot of loyalty to Martin Brandner – he is an amazing guy. I was not looking for an exit at all, but the opportunity to join Goya appeared and it was just the right time for a change for me. I am semi-retired now and it was kind of weird to leave JP and go to Goya, but I live on Maui and all the Goya guys are around here and were motivated to have me on the team. I had a fantastic twenty-seven years with JP, so there were no regrets there at all, but at this stage in my life it just felt time to move on. Goya are based on Maui, so it is easy to get boards and sails. Keith [Teboul] is a great shaper and to be honest I just want to be on Maui, ride Jaws and have great equipment. I want to enjoy my windsurfing when the conditions are good. It was just a perfect fit with Goya. We kind of brought back the Strapper wings on the graphics. The wings were the identity on all my wave boards when I was riding for Strapper in the early ‘90s. That look was kind of Harley Davidson influenced. We wanted to do something different back then and we came up with that idea. I had a long relationship with Strapper and we had all the production boards with those wings and they were very popular. The ’90s were a great era for me. I won the world championships a few times and also won the Aloha Classic. I think Goya might do some custom orders for those graphics for people that really remember the Strapper era.

GOYA MELTING POT

Keith knows what style of boards I like. I prefer a board that drives a lot and has a lot of speed in the bottom turn. Keith is shaping me boards to what he thinks I will like. They are not the same as Levi’s [Siver] or Brawzinho’s [Marcilio Browne]. I am riding thrusters and they are riding quads. There are subtle differences but the boards are amazing. I tried my new board the other day during the Goya photoshoot and it was awesome. I am stoked, and it was great to be out there windsurfing at Ho’okipa with the new crew. I asked Kai Lenny if I could try his boards also as he has gone down a completely different route. He has no problem with that, so I will give them a go. If I like it, I will order one. There is a lot of innovation going on right now with Kai, Brawzinho and Keith as an amazing shaper. I just feel that this is the right place for me to be at this point in my life. I am getting some new boards, having fun and I’m under no stress. I don’t have to do any travel missions if I don’t want to. I am at my own will to do what I want, when I want and how I want.

CONDITIONS

If it is head high at Ho’okipa you probably won’t see me on the water. When it is bigger I’ll be out for sure, but to be honest, most of the year I am just gearing up for Jaws sessions and I already have some great Jaws boards from Keith. I am looking forward to those big days in the winter and hopefully we will get some big swells next season. On the really good days at Ho’okipa or big Kona days at Lanes I will be out there for sure. I still love windsurfing and think it is an amazing sport and it has done so much for me, but I have other stuff to do when its head high. It’s not that it doesn’t interest me, I just have a lot going on at the moment.

I am fifty-three now, and almost fully retired as a professional windsurfer. I am not really making much money from the sport anymore, I would say I will be fully retired in 2025. I am still having fun and I still love windsurfing when it is good. In 2025 I will have no commitments at all and will be a free sailor to do what I want, when I want. If there is a big swell in Fiji etc then a strike mission is not off the cards. It is close and I love the wave. If we do get one of those monster swells, I would say I will be down there for sure. Fiji is one place that if it is massive I will be there. Jaws, Fiji and maybe Teahupo’o in Tahiti – although Teahupo’o isn’t really that great as a windsurfing wave. I also love windsurfing in Indo.

ADRENALINE JUNKY

I have gotten right into snowboarding. Myself and Kevin Pritchard have bought some snowmobiles and have been doing some backcountry riding. We leave a ski mobile at the bottom and take a ski up the top of the mountain and then we ride down. Obviously, it is very dangerous so we have done all we can to learn about snow and avalanches. We are trying to stay out of trouble as much as possible. I am heavily into that and I’m also very big into downhill mountain bike riding. I go to Canada a couple of times a year to a downhill park. I am not on the motorbikes anymore, but I love the downhill mountain biking. The park has some really big jumps, so it is really fun to ride there. I will go back and forth there during the summer to ride and then switch back to the snow come December.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

I had my days where I partied and had fun, but nowadays, at my age, I am looking more into a healthy lifestyle. You could actually say that I am a biohacker. That is someone that biohacks the body. It might be a new device that helps mitochondria or helps the heart. I am right into the health thing and I really enjoy it. I have ice baths, infrared saunas and I am into infrared technology as a whole on the brain, stem cells and all sorts. I am fully into it. I have an addictive personality and I guess when I get into something that I really enjoy then I go in all the way. I love the health side of things and am one hundred percent into it. The last two years I have really been into this and finding out what I can do to keep my fitness and health as optimal as possible. I want to keep as much oxygen as I can in my blood and in my brain to combat disease and to be able to do all my sports all day and not be tired the next day. I just ordered a hyperbaric chamber too. I also eat very well. My diet consists of a lot of vegetables, but I disagree about people going to crickets for protein, I think red meat is very important for the diet. I don’t eat red meat from cows that are in a process production, the meat that I eat is free range grass fed and does not have the glyphosate which is toxic to cows. I am a meat eater and that type of meat is really good for you. I like fish but obviously not Ahi. I stick with reef fish from Maui. I also do a lot of juicing. I don’t really drink much anymore. My days of partying are pretty much over. I do have fun every now and then, but mostly I am pretty healthy.

LOOKING BACK

I have moved on from my competition era a long time ago and started to do some new extreme sports. I was doing the big wave trips for fifteen years. They were a lot of work. Organising film crews and looking at weather maps and flights to make sure you make the right call. It was all quite stressful to get everyone there on time and to be there on the right day. I don’t really miss all that in that sense, I have done it for so long. Now I can just go by myself and not have to worry about all the other organisation. I was competing around the world and doing big wave trips since I was seventeen. I am fifty-three now, so if you do the maths on that, it has been a long time. I am grateful for a super fortunate life and will still be out there on the good days for sure. I had a great day of sailing a few days ago at the Goya shoot and really enjoyed sailing with Kai Lenny, Francisco Goya, Levi, Brawzinho, Robby Naish and all the crew on the water. It was great to see all those boys out there and it was really cool to see that they are all still into wave sailing like the old days. It was a good feeling to be back in the water with the boys. I might not see Robby Naish again for another six months! It is a great tight group of guys here that all live very healthy and are all great people. We are very fortunate to live in this awesome community and share the ocean on Maui.

PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

I am quite into property developing at the moment and have been doing a lot of spec houses. I have a company that has been looking at land to develop and build. The last seven or eight years I have been buying and developing property in Hawaii. I actually have two houses for sale in Maui right now, but the market is slow. It has been eight months, and I can’t sell them. The interest rates are not good and we have an election year in the USA. Hopefully Trump gets in as I don’t like Biden! Business in America is tough right now and they are printing a lot of money. I am feeling the pinch not being able to sell this property, but it will all come good in the end, I hope. We will see what happens. I am healthy right now with no broken bones, so life is all good. Hopefully I will stay that way. If I get injured, I will heal up again and get back on the horse! I love living in Maui, the only thing that sucks is that I don’t get to see my parents so often these days. My mum and dad can’t really travel so much anymore because of their health. It is a disappointment that they can’t be out here with me anymore, so I go back as much as I can. I recently sold my house, and have moved closer to the beach, so I can launch my ski from there for Jaws. I don’t need to go to the boat ramp anymore, which has always been a dream of mine. I am just waiting for building permits so I can rebuild a new house on the property.