Watch: Jack Robbo and a 12 hour barrel bender
Over the weekend Jack Robbo slid two more places down the QS rankings. After a no show at the Azores Airline Pro - a 6,000 event - he now sits in 15th spot.
Panic stations? Not quite, though one can sense a pattern repeating itself here: the early season blast and a slow fade. You can also sense a tension in young Jack's career aspirations. Clearly he wants to qualify for the CT, but at the same time he's one of a very small group who could make it as a freesurfer, who have the reputation, skill, and enigma - notice he doesn't talk to camera much? - to get people clicking.
This is Jack filmed over two six hour sessions up north. Each wave a highlight.
Great soundtrack too.
Comments
Goodonya Jack! THAT is the essence of surfing. Makes the wavepool comp look pretty irrelevant to most of us I'd imagine.
Fuggenhell..............you think you've had a few good ones at that joint and then you watch what he does out there! Totally at ease on that steppy take off bubble zone and gettin' any wave he wants no doubt.
Not the first time hes scored that by the looks.
Stalling against the first spit to come out with the second.....mwah.
Surf’s better than 95% of the tour.
That’s some reward for risk. A whole lot of risk.
It’s always fun when you meet someone going to surf there for the first time and to watch their jaws drop when they come face to face with the reality of the joint. Jack Robinson makes it look too easy.
The vids don’t truly convey the power , the lurching take off , the drawing water and the detonation of the lip in the trough . You look at it on YouTube and think to yourself- “ I’ll just get a thicker board . Get fitter . Train hard and charge.” Then you get there , it’s your turn on the boil , a set marches in from the Indian Ocean and you reassess.
“ What the fuck am I doing ? “
Crew get hurt. Badly. People have died.
When professional left hand tube riders surfers who were raised on similar waves, crew focused only on each swell for years and spearing big barrels and knifing crazy drops are getting buckled , you know it’s some heavy shit.
Scary , scary surfing.
Exactly what I was thinking - the reality of these waves is that most of us would be taking off 20+m down the line, if at all. I'd genuinely be worried watching someone surf the way Jack does in this video. Unreal.
I've never surfed this wave, but I remember the first time I paddled out at a spot of comparable heaviness. It was genuine 6-8 foot, low tide, maxed out and heaving. I must have paddled out in a lull. Only other dude in the water was Pepen Hendrix, and when the first big one came through I was gobsmacked and fearful. Watching him charge into it from the channel, the water sucking off the reef, barely more than 50cm of rail in the completely vertical wall...until that day I'd never seen anything like it in the flesh. It felt like a disaster waiting to happen, and to think that someone like Jack - only 21 years old - consistently puts himself in that position blows me away.
Blowin....Amen!!!
I was going to read comments before watching vid but you turned that idea on my head.
May I say, ain't young Jack something.
I can't be sure for sure. I don't know much of much.
When it's barrelsome he is WA's best!!!
He did show up at the Azores QS 6000. He got a 25th. He had his chance on a buzzer beater with a 6 foot closeout reo but came off the back of his board at the bottom of the wave when it impacted on him. Just...
Its on to Ericiera then Hawaii for Jack and a big finish in one of the three remaining QS 10,000's should see him hopefully qualify. Hopefully Hawaii is macking which will give him the advantage.
Big fan Mr Humungous
Humungus’s idea of negotiation: “There has been too much violence, too much pain. None here are without sin. But I have an honorable compromise. Just walk away. Give me the pump, the oil, the gasoline, and the whole compound, and I’ll spare your lives. Just walk away; I will give you safe passage in the wasteland. Just walk away and there will be an end to the horror.”
Ah, right you are Humungous. I checked Rd 1 but he was seeded in Rd 2 and got knocked in Rd 3, so he gets 700 points but they dont count in his top five.
Three more 10,000s to go.
Also, did you watch his Tahiti Trials heat when Kauli Vaast got him on an interference? Jack was Shane Beschen to Vaast's Slater. A tough lesson for him.
I didn't see that Stu. Missed viewing all the trials unfortunately. I will try and track it down. Hopefully he learnt from it.
That Kauli Vaast is a weapon. He just won the overall European Junior title last week. Having a big year for a youngster.
Sitting 15th with Hawaii to come, bookmark mark him on the CT next year.
Great edit, Jacko charges. First time I’ve seen drone footage from one of the big dogs out at this spot. I remember reading that it was illegal to fly them up there
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2017/07/25/no-drones-sna...
Excellent news. I wasn’t aware that they weren’t allowed.
There is plenty of drone footage from up there floating around but mostly just punters and holiday makers. This is just the first time I’ve ever seen a pro in an edit
Great backhand barrel riding, great use of stalls. His takeoff is incredible too, particularly the grab rail ones with weight slightly forward. Land of the lefthander.
Next level. Where he takes off, and the ease with which he does it. Mortals don't do that out there.
I still remember a young jack at this wave crapping his dacks as a 13-14 yo being pushed to get into it from his old man in the carpark ... not anymore he’s one of the best if not the best backhand out there now. Incredible surfing with a lot of it on the lower end of the ride (beyond dangerous)
Was this posted the day after the Lemoore Comp to distract everyone? The same way Slater sabotaged Adriano's world title win?
Such a beast of a wave. Nice kid who charges - so sic!
I've never surfed there myself, but know two people who have. Both of them are very good surfers who have charged at various places around the globe. They both report that they found it almost impossible to take off at the top of the point. Hats off to anyone who can. This guy is the real deal.
Jack, you have skills of a fighter pilot. Smash it.
He wasn’t even born when I used to surf that place. I feel like an old man
Great clip guys. Can you tell me the artist or the soundtrack that was playing in the background? Reminds me a little of Joy Division. Cheers
Yep amazing stuff, I reckon there would be at least 2 or 3 CT surfers who fail to match him out here. Obviously Willian and probably Felipe the current No. 2 which is a bit of a worry. Slater would have gone here when he as ruling the roost so would Andy and Mick (although he took some time on the lefts), and Gabby would no problem. Something I have always wondered, are there more high quality lefts in the world than rights? Seems that way to me.
More than 2 or 3.
Robbo is top 5 in any waves that barrel.
Gotta say though, after always wondering why he couldn't qualify that became apparent to me after watching him at Margies this year. Not the Box, he was dominant there, but at Mainbreak.
Very, very ordinary turn game.
he needs to fix that up, big time, or he will not qualify and if does will get slaughtered on the CT.
Agree with that.
Also, go watch the finals of the Chopes Trials comp if you wanna see Jack get suckered into an interference by Kauli Vaast.
Another aspect of his game that he'll have to work on if he's to step up.
One of my life principles is don't think you're special with respect to thought process, if I've had the thought then chances are someone else has too.
Hey, I'm a bog average if not crap surfer but for better or worse I was left underwhelmed by the clip relative to the comments and what I see on the CT. Without clipping Robbo too much, sure I saw deep gnarly take off's and nice tube rides but I also saw some falls, underwhelming turns and some jerky down the line tube positioning. I'd say the opposite, he lacks polish compared to 95% of CT surfers. And the quantitative indicators would support this view. Things change but..
Are you familiar with the spot , Belly ?
Just like he does at the box , JR makes the break seem way more manageable than it has any business looking.
Getting into a circular discussion about acknowledging that he rides heavy heavy waves really really well so that's totally awesome doesn't address the issue at hand raised in FR76's comments or Stu's original text at top.
I’m just trying to put a bit of context to those “ falls and jerky down the line tube positioning”.
This isn’t just a heavy wave , it’s a ridiculously heavy wave. If you’ve neither seen other pros in these waves or seen them for yourself then you’ve got no reference to the standard JR is surfing at.
You can take it to the bank that if JR looks jerky pulling in then 95 percent of pros wouldn’t be able to pull it off at all , let alone with style.
That’s what I’m saying.
PS When the waves are doing what they’re doing on that day in that location, no one gives a fuck about turns. It’s not that kind of place. If he was Brazilian and he’d scored those barrels he’d have been doing the “ clasped hands in thanks to God “ claim till he ran into the closeout inside the bombie , not trying to rip the shoulder.
All good, I used to be a lidder and have surfed Jakes but didn't go that further north, so I have that ex-lidder lens and noted the consistent presence of small ledges and ribs as it rifled down-the-line. Its a mean wave no doubt.
But just as Jack had a chance to learn that wave we have watched many a CT surfer learn to ride heavy waves under the spotlight of the CT. A. I wouldn't underestimate how good they are, B. They're on the CT and jack's not.
Maybe a bit harsh about the falls belly, you realise other pro's fall but they just don't put it in their clip..
Only surfed that wave at that size once, and i was 50 meters down the line and not even contemplating the sets. That place is psycho
I don't watch a lot of clips TBH. Watch a fair bit of CT though. But yeah probably a bit harsh.
Would of been amazing to watch him out there live!
Do we care about his turn game? Does he? Is CT qualification that relevant when videos like the above pop out on sites like this? Or is it to sate his sponsors in the belief that they get more bang for buck with him out of the QS? I know I'm not pat malone when I say I couldn't give a flying fuck about the CT until it gets to Pipe but I'd watch vids like that every day.
I agree, but he is the one pounding it out on the QS and says he wants to get on the CT.
...and therein lies the rub ;-)
No doubt he can ride ridiculously heavy waves and get barrelled off his nut but all the grinding to get through the QS would be a drag after surfing those waves. He would need to go on an extreme diet of shit waves to get up to par. Maybe he needs to shift to Queensland like every other budding Aussie competitor?
Around the 1:15 mark the next one out the back, can't believe nobody went it.
(says me whose bum cheeks tighten when the surf gets OH)
Maybe someone did go , Zen.
And they’re still pinned on the reef when the wave finished down the line.
I met Jack about 5 years ago in Hawai'i.
He had a big smileand a scab on his head/face.
I asked him what happened?
He said he had been surfing backdoor and hit the bottom , then blacked out.
I would see him out in the surf at all types of different waves on the north shore.
Even the not so noticeable. Sharky /sketchy ones. Surfing without photogs.
I really like Jack, he has a great outlook and is actually pretty humble.
Surfing needs more people like jack!
I’ve been lucky enough to see him surf a few times.
First time was when he was quite young , maybe 12 or so , and it was just me and him at a a nice left point/reef where the wind had just started to come up and everyone else had gone in but there was still a few bomb hollow ones.
I’d never seen him catch a wave , though I’d heard he was upcoming, still too young to make an impact I imagined. He was sitting down the end whilst I was right up the point when I snagged a nice one and pulled in with my hands behind my back thinking I was killing it. I pulled off midway down the line to see him windmill paddling flat up up to the top of the point.
I had a bit of a giggle thinking it was yet another young bugger with more stickers than developed skills, till he started putting on a show. Nothing extreme or super radical except for talent beyond anything I’d seen in virtually all adults, let alone in a young kid.
Mature style , flair and such ability to read the wave and manage his speed in and around the barrel. Toying with it . Fucker surfed many times better than the clown who thought he was ruling cause he’d made a basic drop and pulled in with his hands behind his back , that’s for sure.
You could see world class ability then and he’s only gotten better.
Nice one Blow in! Jack has that real humble , I let my surfing do the talking confidence!
He's a favourite of mine after meeting him.
One thing I really like (apart from the incredible waves and surfing) is the fact that the clip has no BS driving along/waxing up/boring interview/overdubbed monologue/non surf footage.
Just a pure and powerful multi angle wave fest 4 min vid.
Never been there, but it looked like (heavy) heaven.
Even liked the music, but not much fussed on the singing.
What a great wave to practice before heading to Hawaii though.
If you ever get the chance to surf with a CT level surfer in heavy waves you'll get to really appreciate how much better than everyone else they are. I remember years ago surfing fairly gnarly Rabbit Hill at Yallingup with Taj. Just the two of us out. He was taking off about 20mtrs deeper than I thought was possible, getting shacked then busting a huge air down the line... every wave. Absolutely no attitude that guy either. Friendly as. A true champion.
I remember my first experience on the West coast.
The drive up was sweet.. in my mind I was gonna be the charger.
The reality of sitting on the "peak" watching a coupla guys throw themselves into sure death so much deeper than (in my mind) humanly possible I quickly realised that had a long ways to go....and still do.
In some ways it’s a good feeling to be humbled like that. Brings you down to earth. Also it gives you some inspiration to up your game.
Absolutely mind expanding.
These days I get my daily dose of humility playing chess.
Theres always someone better and that's a positive:)
Lets not forget, jack has won a contest at sunset!
Only the powerhouses win there.
Doing turns and carves I might add!