You are both the youngest and oldest surfer to have won the World Surf League Championship, and you have shaped a whole era of surfing. What was your most important victory?
If I had to pick one it would probably be "The Eddie", a big-wave surf tournament in Oahu, Hawaii. There are only about 24 people that get to surf in it and it only takes place every four years on average. There have only been about nine winners in the event over 30 years, that’s a very small field of people. I’m a small-wave guy born in Florida and I was scared of big waves until I was in my late teens or early twenties. So winning that event was very important to me personally.

What goals do you still have today, both on a professional and a personal level?
I still want to win every contest I enter. And I want to win another world title. Some-times it’s hard for me to distinguish between passion and business because everything I am doing business-wise is also a passion of mine: clothing, surf-boards and the Surf Ranch, these were all born out of passion for things that I love. I’m definitely passionate and still very involved in other things. There’s always some sort of spark!

If you could turn back time to your 20-year-old self, what advice would you give your younger self?
It would probably be some personal piece of advice. I would tell my younger self the last thing my dad said to me before he passed away: “Just relax and enjoy.” I have always been such a competitive and goal-oriented person! My dad was not like that and he would always ask me: “Why are you so serious all the time?” And which piece of advice would you give other young people? Listen more and speak less!

You travel a lot. What is your favourite city or holiday destination and why?
It’s probably Paris. I love the city and the food. Sometimes I enjoy being completely out of my usual environment! I fell in love with Paris when I was 22 years old. It was actually a rather sad time in my life. I walked through the city for two weeks by myself pretty much, but I had such a good trip and made so many good memories: the places I saw, people I met, the restaurants and art museums... To me it’s really a fun place to go.

And which place do you still want to visit?
Oh, there are too many on my bucket list! I sometimes just go on Google Earth and find places like some atolls in the North Pacific. It would be nice to go there on a boat or plane! I would also like to go to Thailand and to Tibet some time.

How do you deal with jetlag when you are travelling?
One of my tricks is that I try not to sleep or to sleep very little the night before a long-haul flight. So you throw yourself completely off your sleep rhythm and when you get to the destination you can sleep when you need to. I find flying east especially tough in terms of jetlag, it’s harder than going west.

Finally, what is typically Swiss for you?
My watch of course (laughs).