“We’ve Walked About 95km So Far… And I’ve Nearly Surfed Further Than I’ve Walked”

Had a rough day? Walk it off. Best day of your life? Walk it off. Existential dread creeping in? Get moving.

In a world that’s half-swallowed by Big Pharma, addicted to screens, and edging toward total ecological collapse, it’s almost laughable how walking seems to be the last reasonable response to it all. Get those legs moving, and you’ll feel marginally better. That’s the promise. 

After falling off tour last year, after years of fighting to get a seat at the table, Jacob Willcox knew it was time for some processing. So, he decided to take a walk.

“I had some time, and I didn’t want to be around any competitions,” says Jacob. “Maybe it was to distract me from what actually happened. I had to reconnect with myself again, reconnect with my surfing and just get out of my head and enjoy it.” 

So, Jacob set off with his partner, Lucy, embarking on a 130km trek along the Cape to Cape Walk, tracing the cockeyed West Australian coast. Board under one arm, fishing rod under the other, he decided to document the journey, breaking it into four parts. We’re at part three now.

Vlogging was, for a while, the refuge for those dropped from the tour. But now it’s one of the last ways to scrape a paycheck in professional surfing. Not glamorous, nor are the vloggers exactly raking in Oscars, but it’s getting a pass from a more forgiving crowd. Purists, however, still gag on the aftertaste.

But Jacob’s series feels more like a mini documentary. He’s doing everything right — learning about sacred Indigenous sites, talking mental health without trying to sell you a book, and reminding us that nature, despite everything, is fucking cool. 

Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of this series is the sheer number of hours Chip’s logging in the water while simultaneously ticking off the kilometers on foot. His wrist, wrapped in the Rip Curl GPS 3 watch for the entirety of the trip, records six-hour surf sessions on most days, basically treated as a lunch break, before he picks up where he left off and keeps walking.

“By this point in the series, we’ve covered about 95km of the track… and according to the watch, I’ve nearly surfed farther than I’ve walked”

Stats from three surfs:

• 14 hrs 57 mins in the water
• 82.7 km paddled
• 89.2 km total distance covered
• 86 waves
• 53.1 km/h top speed
• 152.7 m longest wave

As someone who once impulsively set out on a 100km hike, only for the journey to be hijacked by a terrifying, commando-like figure who mocked my feeble calf muscles, woke me at 4am every morning with a flashlight, and scolded me when I dared to ask for a break — let me tell you, walking isn’t that fucking easy. 

To think Chip’s logging this much water time while also doing the walking portion of the journey makes you wonder if his real destiny was as a contender on the late-2000s, now-cancelled but brilliant tv show, Australia’s Greatest Athlete.

Watch episode 3 above, and additionally, witness what might be the most riveting and heart-wrenching fishing segment in the history of cinema.