Crosby Colapinto On Social Media, Carves, Competition, Lessons Learned From His Brother, And More

I did not expect to bond with Crosby Colapinto over Andy Irons’ part in Taylor Steele’s Campaign. 

It came out in 2003. Crosby was born in 2001. People typically do not fall in love with surf movies that became emblematic of the year in which they turned 2, but Crosby is different — and you can see it in his surfing. 

In fact, you will see it in his surfing tomorrow, when DNA — our film on Crosby and his brother, Griffin — releases on Stab Premium. 

The occasion gave me the opportunity to have my first full conversation with Crosby. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I found him to be thoughtful, well-spoken, and in possession of some interesting ideas. Aside from old surf movies, our conversation spanned social media, carves, competition, backside barrel riding, lessons learned from his brother, and more. 

You can also listen to our chat on this week’s episode of Stab’s The Drop podcast, which will be released on Saturday. 

DNA is about to drop. How you feeling? 

Making a movie with my brother was super exciting because we’ve been watching surf movies ever since we were young. Being in Reckless Isolation was special, but having more of a profile piece on me and Griffin is next level. It felt like surf movies almost died out, but now it feels like more people are trying to bring them back. Being a part of that is rad. 

What were your favorites growing up? 

It was weird for me. I watched surf movies when I was super young, but I wouldn’t watch them before surfing or anything. When I was like 13, Griffin got me into watching them just to get psyched. We watched a bunch of Andy, Parko, and Taj, but The Bruce Movie was one of my favorites. I also love Campaign and Campaign II. Every single surfer and every part in those movies is gnarly, but I especially loved Andy’s parts. 

That’s funny. We were born over a decade apart, and those are my favorites. 

I just love that old school look, you know? The longer boards, the longer boardshorts — everything looked better. I look up to that generation so much. I didn’t grow up in it, but it just seemed like everyone had really good form, which was probably because they were on bigger boards. They had to figure out ways to get speed with the wave instead of hopping all over the place just to do an air. The lines they chose were so sick. 

Well, the surfing in DNA is incredible. These days, there’s so much emphasis on social media and a lot of people are geared towards instant gratification. Was it hard for you to come in from a session knowing you got a crazy clip and not sharing it immediately? 

Well, when I was in Indo, I wanted to post a couple clips but my phone got stolen twice. I was phoneless for a month over there. It was heavy, but refreshing. But it’s weird cause it seems like now you put out one clip on social media and it can get more views than an edit. And I feel like everyone’s attention spans are so short that they can’t watch something over like 10 minutes now. They just want to see something for 15 seconds and tap it twice. But I wanted to put a clip out and have it be timeless — it’ll be there forever and people can re-watch it. On social media, you see something once and it’s done.

Do you have a favorite clip of yourself in the movie?

There’s a left at Super Sucks that was probably one of the longest barrels of my life. That wave is incredible. There’s like four different sections you can get barreled on. The first day we got there, I thought we were getting super deep and then we watched the clips and we were kind of pocket riding. We realized we really had to try to get deeper. The next day, I got a good wave and tried to get as deep as possible. I felt like, in that moment, I was learning how put my whole body into the wave. It was really satisfying because I felt like something clicked. 

Do you feel like that has translated to bigger waves?

100%. Being able to read a barrel like that was huge for me. Three years ago, backside barrel riding — especially making steep drops — just didn’t work in my head. I feel like I learned to do it on that trip to Indo. And I think that helped a lot in Hawaii last season. 

What would you tell someone trying to figure out backside tubes right now?

My biggest trouble was the drop. So, I would say when you drop in backside — especially when it’s super steep and you might be air dropping — spot your landing. And then once you hit your landing, look up and draw your new line from up there. 

What do you think is the biggest weakness in your surfing now?

Backside airs. I can’t figure them out. In the Hawaii section of DNA, Griffin has like eight backside airs and I couldn’t do one. He was landing all of them in front of my face and I was kind of rattled, but it was also firing me up. I spent so much time at Rockies and I couldn’t get it down. I just gotta keep trying. 

Where do you think you’d have the best chance at beating Griffin in a heat?

Oh, damn. I would like to beat him in barrels. I think somewhere like Pipe or Chopes would be sick. Cause I know we would push each other to the edge. Like, it’d probably be kind of scary [laughs].

I agree — especially after watching that Hawaii section. Where do you think he’s most likely to beat you? 

Probably a beachbreak like Portugal or France. 

Well, everybody had a hard time with him in Portugal earlier this year. You said you had a feeling that win was coming. Was that specific to the Portugal event or did you just feel like he was gonna win something this year? 

I had a feeling he was gonna win a comp this year because I see how much work he puts in. And not just in contest surfing, but in everything that has to do with bettering himself. He works so hard to be the best surfer and the best human he can be. Watching him every day and seeing that, I knew it was coming sooner or later. 

What are some of the most beneficial things you’ve learned from him? 

I think the biggest thing was just putting the time in, especially in the water. When I was younger, I never had the fire. I didn’t know what it was like to really put in the work. I remember losing a contest and I was so bummed and Griffin came up to me and said, “You can’t be bummed because you don’t surf that much and you don’t put in the time. If you really want to make it in surfing, you have to put in the time.” The whole year after that, I made sure that I surfed for like four hours every day. That was the biggest thing for me, that’s what started the fire. 

I asked you before about your weaknesses in surfing. What do you think are your biggest strengths? 

I think my rail game has been my biggest strength ever since I was young. A few years ago, I couldn’t really do airs and I was always a little bit thicker. I was kind of slower and I needed waves to push me. I learned how to do carves, and I think that carried over. The feeling of a big, powerful carve where you can hold your rail throughout the whole wave — I think that’s the best feeling in surfing. 

Are you hoping to qualify for the CT this year? 

Definitely. I got wildcards into the first few Challenger Series events. I went over to Australia wanting to get a result, just like everybody else, but I didn’t get one. I learned a lot, though. If I qualify this year, sick — but if I don’t then it’s still all good. 

What did you feel like you learned walking away from that?

After I lost, I still stuck around and watched all the heats. It’s not always the best surfers who do well in those events — it’s more who is on the best waves. You have to surf good to get on the CS, but I don’t think you really have to do that much to get a good score. If you get a good wave and you do a few decent turns, you’re gonna be rewarded with a 6 or a 7. You just need try to get on the best waves and be smart with priority. 

Does patience in the water come naturally to you? 

I feel like I was more patient when I was younger. When COVID hit and I went on all these free surf trips and tried to get clips, I got used to riding a bunch of waves. When I started competing again, I would go out and lose, just being stupid with wave selection. But I love contests so much. The feelings you get before and after, and even the feeling of losing — you don’t get to experience that anywhere else in surfing.

How do you handle losses? 

The last few contests I’ve lost, I’ve just accepted it and tried to figure out what I was doing wrong and work on it. My brother taught me this — if you write down all your mistakes and how the heat went, you can get it out of your head. You can just put it on the paper and leave it there, and it’s easier to not think about it again unless you need to. 

I like that. Do you do the same thing with what you want to achieve in the future as well? 

Definitely, I write down goals. Griffin is really big on that. He’s always like, “Write it down, visualize it, do this, do that.” It’s cool that he’s able to figure things out, then share them with me so I can put them into my own surfing.