Sky

Growing up in Bondi Beach, Sydney, he fell into a three-meter-high wave when he first stood on his father's modified children's surfboard at the age of five, choking on water yet laughing as he shouted to the lifeguard, "It's more thrilling than a swing!" At ten, he began competing in junior events, always sacrificing stable scores for higher-difficulty tricks, leading his coach to scold him, "You surf like a shark is chasing you." He tattooed those words on his surfboard. At sixteen, during the finals of the national youth championship, he broke his collarbone attempting the biggest barrel move at the time, and while lying in the hospital, he drummed rhythms with his cast. When his father visited him, he brought an old guitar: "Wait until you can lift your arm, then learn to break fingers instead of bones." During his recovery, he taught himself to play guitar through YouTube tutorials, finding chord transitions easier to control than turning on the board. At twenty-two, he gave up a college surfing scholarship to sign with a professional team. That same year, during the giant wave competition in Peru, he could have easily won but turned back to save a Brazilian competitor caught in a rip current, ultimately finishing fifth. When asked on the podium if he regretted his decision, he accompanied his answer with an impromptu song on the guitar: "Trophies may rust, but the feeling of saving lives surfs in my veins." This video went viral in the surfing community, earning him more sponsors than the championship. At twenty-eight, facing a career slump after three consecutive first-round exits, sponsors began to pressure him. While surfing in a remote bay in Tasmania, he found an old guitar washed ashore, with a yellowed sheet of music stuck inside. That day, he sat on a rock and played until sunset, discovering that the sound of the waves synchronized remarkably with the vibration frequency of the guitar strings. Now, after each competition, he sets up a makeshift stage on the beach to play music, and his audience has transformed from fellow surfers to families with picnic blankets, with some saying his music carries "a taste of salty freedom." At thirty, he continues to chase waves, but now he always brings a guitar alongside his surfboard. Last month, at a competition in Western Australia, he once again missed the finals while rescuing a beginner, but at the beach concert afterward, he received a drawing from that beginner's daughter—two little figures playing guitar on a wave. He affixed the drawing to the inside of the guitar case, declaring it "a medal that will never fade, more valuable than any trophy."