Jack Robinson grew up on waves that most people want no part of. Remember when he had that blonde bowl cut? That little kid with the knowing grin who barged his way onto the scene by taming some of Western Australia’s wildest waves? He’s all grown up now, and that talent has only grown. His comfort level in waves of serious consequence is rivaled only by a handful of surfers on tour. And when it comes to the tour, there’s no better wave to prove yourself than Pipeline. Jack, of course, has done it many a-time, but one of those times stands out to him.
It was a second reef wave, on a day that was a little fickle. Growing tired of groveling for first-reef Pipe among the crowd, Jack decided to have a sniff a little farther out to sea. He wasn’t on a particularly big board, just a 6’6″, but it was big enough to get pushed in if he did it right. And if anyone can do it right, it’s Jack Robinson. A little chip in turned into a Pipe barrel he’ll never forget.
“I just scratched into it,” he said for the Best One Ever series. “The wave never broke. I did like five turns, then I just went past everybody on a moving piece of water. I was like, ‘where’s this wave going to go?’ I didn’t get that deep, but it was a cool moment. That wave was the first real pretty, second-reef section that I had on the inside. To roll in like that from out there… just the anticipation. You never know what you’re going to get. It was the first taste of it, which was really cool.”
