ROBINSON HEADS BACK OUT TO TACKLE MONSTER WAVES
UNDAUNTED by her frightening head injury at Pipeline, emerging Australian surfer India Robinson is headed back to the famed monster swells of Hawaii this weekend because, frankly, her livelihood is at stake.
The 22-year-old will resume her quest to rejoin the top tier of pro surfing at the Haleiwa Bay Challenger Event, just over 12 months after her career and lifethreatening concussion at the Banzai Pipeline.
Robinson, who dropped her major surf brand sponsor six years ago because she didn't want to objectify herself, relies solely on competition prizemoney for income.
Robinson earnt $US25,000 last year in Hawaii but only broke even for the trip. And in November 2021 Robinson was training hard there when she fell in a seemingly innocuous wipeout. Her surfboard slammed into her temple and a familiar darkness swamped her vision. It was the second serious concussion in just five months.
“I instantly knew it was the same feeling, I really didn’t feel good,” said Robinson, who is from Victoria but who now lives at Pottsville on the NSW north coast. “After my first concussion, I was physically unable to move for six weeks. I felt paralysed. I was unable to walk, my whole body was sore and tired.
“When I hit my head in Hawaii, my mind was like, ‘oh my God, I’ve done it again, I’ve blown it’.”
Robinson paddled back out at the 2021 Haleiwa Challenger event, just four weeks after her injury, and miraculously qualified for the 2022 WSL tour.
But after heartbreakingly narrow losses she fell off the main tour in May.
The Haleiwa Challenger will be her first event on the second-tier Challenger Series to try to earn her way back as a 2023 injury replacement or wildcard.
Her health restored, she knows it’s a long grinding road back to the main tour.
But there won’t be trepidation, just the pure motivation of knowing she has to succeed in the water to have a career in the sport she loves.