An Introduction To Stab’s Mutli-Talented Temp Staffer, Jamie Krups

Overall Stab’s US contingent surf better than the Aussies on Gould Street.

Undeniably.

Down under however, we’ve recruited a secret weapon to bump up our average. His name is Jamie Krups. 

The 21 year-old recently found residence in the back streets of Bondi, digs Swiss design and (when we find a spare moment from duties, or our US overlords have rolled into bed) absolutely schools the rest of the team in the soul dispensing conditions of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Like many salt-haired students, Krupsy pays the bills by working the floor in a surf store. When he’s not selling trunks to tourists, he sits in front of a screen chipping away at graphic design projects, or paddles out Bondi with a Hurley logo fixed to the nose of his Highline surfboards. 

Several weeks back we added another task to keep the gent occupied and got him riffing stories. His most recent guide to surfing Sydney’s east being one we recommend ingesting.

Now, JK’s stitched a bunch of clips together and we thought it presented the ideal occasion to encourage his study procrastination with an introductory exchange. 

The following took place in our humble Bondi office, over two separate occasions, after an initial voice recording of our first meeting went ‘missing’ – we’re blaming “the Cloud” over tech complacency.

J-Krups silhouetted and searching for a landing pad. (Photo: Chris Grundy)

Stab: Most importantly, you’re a handsome fella, how many ladies have you ‘met’ in the weeks since you emigrated over the bridge to the glam streets of Bondi Beach?

Jamie: Not enough [laughs].

You grew up around Curl Curl on the Northern Beaches, yeah?

Yep. I lived with my parents in Curl Curl but I would say I grew up in Manly. I surfed there most days and grew up with that crowd, living at my friend’s places and crashing on their couches in the school holidays.

When did you start surfing? Were you an early starter or a late bloomer?

Ah I was pretty late to the party relatively speaking. I think I started surfing when I was ten or eleven. Properly getting into it around fourteen.

Who got you into it? Father?

Nah. None of my family surfs, but when we moved over to the beach, my neighbours surfed, so I’d just go down the beach with them. I was just on the drag, but they were on normal boards so I ended up taking to my feet after a year or so.  

What do you think about the drag scene? About getting back on your guts?

It could be the future [laughs], we could be going back to square one. Get in touch with the inner soft side. The soft life ain’t hard.

Easy on the eye, fluent on a stick, sharp with his words. Could this be Bondi’s most eligible bachelor?

Are you riding foamies and such?

Yeah especially since moving to Bondi, there’s a pretty big soft scene. It’s hard to battle it out on a normal board with the crowds like they are here, on a foamy you’re not as quality-wave inclined and zero expectation means you rarely come in disappointed regardless of the conditions.

Do you think you’re becoming a worse surfer living in Bondi?

Undoubtedly! [laughs].

I think everyone becomes more wave starved and anxious surfing here.

If you did a survey I think that hypothesis would be deemed true. 

Who are you looking up to most at the moment? You can’t say Dane or John John.

Haz (Bryant) is a good one to look up too I think. He’s just a super genuine guy who’s doing his own thing and staying true to what he wants to do and how he wants to go about things which I think is pretty commendable.

Theres also a bunch of things outside of surfing I would say I look up too or get inspired by. Certain photographers, filmers, skaters and whatnot. Some OG photogs like Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank are cool.

Some graphic designers like Massimo Vignelli or Jan Tschicold. Just their whole work ethic and the way they go about their work is really inspiring. Jim Greco put out a film earlier which was amazing, ‘Jobs?Never!’. He skated in it, but was also the director/editor. It was really well done in the sense of how it was shot and the storyline and everything was really well thought out.

I think its good to try obtain inspiration from external outlets rather than just the surf world, which can be pretty narrow.

Are you skating at the moment?

I actually can’t skate at all. I wish I could, it’s super cool. But I’m at the point of no return, I don’t know how I’d go trying to do Ollies in a stake bowl right now, it’d be a pretty harsh sight. So yeah, it’s mainly just for visual intake.

Between coffee runs for the rest of the Stab team. Kidding. (Photo: Chris Grundy)

Are you afraid of hurting yourself, in the water?

I wasn’t up until last year. It was my first proper injury. Before you hurt yourself you’re pretty ambitious in the surf, you’re young and think nothing really bad will happen to you, but it always can… So last year when I broke my ankle I was about a year out before I was surfing, even at fifty percent. That put a lot of things in perspective. 

How’d you stay sane during that period?

I just completely blocked off anything surf related. I was crotches-bound for like four months. After I could go to the beach I’d go down and hang with friends, just drag and go swimming and stuff, before that I didn’t go near the beach. I didn’t look at any surf clips. I tried to just throw myself into other things like design and photography. That kept me distracted, ignorance is bliss kinda thing…

How do you want to use your Graphic Design studies?

I’m mainly just really grateful to have it as a skill. But next year I’ll definitely be open to freelancing. Not chasing as such, but open to what may come. See how it goes. Surfing is still my main focus.

Well I think Shinya (Stab’s lead design mastermind) has got a bit of workload spillover…

Oh yeah, I’m sitting ten feet away from the messiah! [Shinya blushes, entire office laughs]

Jamie caught the eye of Hurley’s talent scouts a few years back with his sprightly approach in the water, shortly after Highline decided they wanted him standing on their boards. (Photo: Oscar O’Shea)

What do you think about the current state of design in surfing?

I think its interesting. Like everything, there’s good and bad. And again like a lot of things, its very subjective. I think primarily its pretty good and we’re pretty lucky to have the kind of people we do within the community/culture and I think its important to take a step back and appreciate the diversity and the creativity of many of the individuals that surround it. I really liked the print era, I hope that never vanishes. Personally I think its always got a place, but in this day and age, it’s looking a little grim.

Favourite CT stops and why?

I think all events have their own unique characteristics. But my picks would probably be Trestles and Fiji. Both of which aren’t on this year haha. Trestles is interesting because its as HP as it gets. You get to see how someone really surfs a wave and links their turns together whilst having progressive flair and maintaining aesthetic technicality. Fiji is exciting because its unpredictable. It could be 8-10ft tubes, but the tubes aren’t perfect like chopes or pipe, they’re interchanging, shifty and you have to adapt to whatever it may be doing. There’s a very unique approach with each wave there.

Do you think the Brazilians are taking over competition?

I think its pretty hard to say that they aren’t at this point in time. You can’t really refute it looking at the results. They do probably compete with a bit more of a hungrier mindset, whether that be stemming intrinsically or from external situations. At times I would say it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but at the end of the day contests aren’t based on aesthetics. 

Now, your clip; where’d the Casper reference come from?

Well people used to hold onto their best stuff, and only let it be viewed in a full piece. Whereas now with Instagram it seems a lot of people are just throwing whatever crazy clip they get just straight onto the platform instantaneously. Which can often take away from the larger piece.

People see this 30-second instagram post and think thats all there is too it, so the full thing, with all its time and creativity, ends up being a bit ghost-like. But if you actually take the time to watch this short film, that the individuals behind it have most likely put a lot of effort towards, it can be a pretty friendly ghost…

And who worked on it with you? 

It was mainly myself and a friend from Melbourne, Oscar. He’d fly up and we’d shoot when he wasn’t working or when I had some time off work and school. We did manage to sneak off to Indo for a bit and hit Java and Sumbawa, that was fun.

The drivel of Sydney’s east does Mr Krups no justice! (Photo: Blaise Bell)

What’s your fave part of it? What are you psyched on?

When I came up with the name I went online and watched a few of the OG Casper episodes and I was frothing on that! The animations, the colours, even the storylines are so funny. Surfwise I can’t really pinpoint much.

Favourite session, perhaps?

There was a little hour period we had in Java. The waves were really bad and everyone had gone in, then there was this random pulse all of a sudden and it was just me and this other Hurley grom Oscar Berry going wave for wave. Those little moments are great.

So what are your plans next year?

Next year I won’t be restricted by a timetabled course anymore, so I’ll be a lot more flexible and free. I would like to try put my time towards creating something with a bit more depth and substance. Hopefully not just myself either. I want to include some of the guys I’ve been surfing with.

There’s a bunch of guys that are so gnarly and surfing at a crazy level that are all really cool and interesting people too. I’d love to somehow tie something together with a few of them. I feel like theres a bit of a gap in generational documentation at the moment. The OG momentum dudes had their crew, Kai Neville had his, but with individual platforms growing larger and larger it seems as if its coaxing people into being hyper-independent. Every man for himself sort of thing.

But I feel like the strongest things and most meaningful impacts, both culturally and progressively, come from the exact opposite. Galvanising people and bringing people together. I’m not sure though, did I just extremely over-answer that? I probably did [laughs].

Sorry, I should’ve just said my plans next year are to try surf better.