Jay Davies, Backdoor, Hawaii

See this tunnel, Jay Davies is sitting pretty in? It was one of the first ridden when Backdoor and Pipe finally started switching on for the season five days ago. Jay, a powerful man (88kg of pure muscle) doesn’t like the feel of a contest jersey on his back and avoids it at all costs. Which means freesurfing is his game and, depending on who y’ask, he’s one of the best. But when you have no events to turn up at, it’s easy to slip into the partying trap. Jay, however, knows how to avoid it and, in the three weeks that he was in Hawaii, mostly stayed away from the liquor. That is of course, with the exception of the Surfer Poll awards, which went down the night before this photo was taken. So, the man you see in this barrel is a actually very hungover one.

During his Hawaiian stay, Jay called the Rusty house at Rocky Point home. Also staying at the house was Josh Kerr, Damien Fahrenfort (who you may know from Dooma’s Rumours) and Jay’s brother/filmer, Wyatt (who boasts similar ability in the brine with not quite as much heat). For the summer, Jay and Wyatt are heading back to West Oz where they’ll be locked away editing travelling clips from the past year. Filmed in the US, Europe, Africa and Hawaii, the clips’ll form the basis of a travel documentary (with plenty of surfing) that’ll launch online in the new year. Let’s say February.