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Shay’s approach to life is best
reflected in her surname, Lajoie
– a French word meaning ‘joy’,
and a common nickname for a
happy, cheerful person.
“I love surfing because it’s the perfect intersection
of exercising and meeting people. It’s getting your
heart rate up, it’s getting out and moving, it’s the
social life and the mental relief and it’s seeing
sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, dolphins and turtles.
It’s the perfect crossroads of all things that make
life good and healthy.
“I think for me, surfing is like forced meditation.
When you duck dive the ocean has a silent roar
that has the most calming feeling to it. You’re just
taken away from the chaos of everyday life.
“It’s also such a challenge and really pushes my
ego to the side because you can’t expect to be
good at everything or predict how the waves are
going to go. Mother nature just throws a gigantic
set at you when you don’t expect it. I love that.
“Things constantly go wrong, and it just shows
that you’ve got to adapt, be ready for anything and
be ready to laugh. I feel sorry for people trying so
hard, missing waves and getting angry, because if
you aren’t having fun, why are you out here? Have
a laugh!”
After seeing her quiver of boards, you’d think Shay
hand-picked them for their harmonised pink and
cream colours. Actually, she said her surfboards
make up an aesthetic little colour pallet by
complete coincidence and were collected across
her life as various gifts from photoshoots and
friends.
“Currently, my quiver is my 6’8 single fin, 9’2 mal,
5’6 fish, 5’7 shortboard and then my two other
longboards. I’ve got a little collection.
“I learnt on a fish and I loved that. As soon as I
transitioned to a shortboard, I spent like ten years
getting really excited and learning how to turn,
which took so freaking long.
“I’m definitely a shortboarder at heart but having
gotten a longboard in the last year, I’ve loved trying
silly things and it’s been fun to do some party
tricks. It’s nice to have a move.”
The move Shay is referring to is her wicked surfing
handstand, which had us all cheering on the
shores of Cotton Tree and wondering how much
balance, strength and concentration is needed to
learn such a thing – and if we would ever have a
chance at doing it ourselves (not likely).
“I was in this photoshoot with a longboard down in
Byron and the waves were really big. They made
me come into the whitewash because I was too
scared to go out with the big waves. It was too
boring to just get up on whitewash and stand
there, so I kind of threw my arms down and just
started doing it, and it brought me so much joy.
Now I can probably surf better on my hands then I
can on my feet.
49 / #55 / SB