Mitch Crews, Gold Coast

The good times. We all love ’em. Mitch Crews (pictured here) and Jack Freestone are rollin’ with the good times at the moment. The dudes are best pals, and just got back from Bali where they tore apart the playing field of the Oakley World Junior Pro. Jack won the contest, and Mitch got to the semis. The boys flew back into the Gold Coast, Australia, and spent their first night on home soil doing some well-earned partying at the local Casino. Jack was chasing a couple o’ ladies who were a bit (four) years older, and Mitch was going nuts on ze Blackjack tables – both spent a bunch o’ money but had the time of their lives. Forecasts for the following day projected rain and misery, but photog Matty O’Brien woke to clear skies and and a smiling sun. He drove down to Coolangatta from the Sunshine coast at 5.30 a.m., arriving at eight in the morning to find two very hungover young men. It wasn’t ’till around lunchtime that the boys’d sobered up, at which point the gang punched down to a little beach that Matt thinks is underrated for surf photos, (noting that most other photogs underestimate the vast array of angles available). That’s the high-rises of Coolie you can see in the background. This finner from Mitch was one o’ many from the session – all the more impressive when you take into account the bile he’s trying to hold down. Water acrobatics probably ain’t the ideal activity after a decadent evening of celebration. – Elliot Struck