Full Frame: Bruce Is Back

Editor’s note: Jason Reposar is an Indonesia-based photographer and a longtime friend of Bruce. Working primarily in fashion now, Jason got the call up from Darc Sport — the brand that recently stickered the likes of BI, Pete + John Mel, Koa Rothman and more — to shoot the crew while they were in town. All words and photos are supplied by Jason.

It really feels like he’s back. He seems fresh and excited to surf again. On the day that photo was taken, he got his first barrel in a year and was so psyched. I haven’t seen him that stoked about surfing in a long time, so it’s great to witness.

We talked a bit about his rehab in Mexico, and now that he’s come through it, I think he’s rediscovered his joy for surfing. Watching him get that barrel was like seeing the Bruce from 15 years ago — it was rad. He and Koby have been friends forever, so they’ve just been staying together, chasing waves every day, doing whip-ins and just cruising around.

I shot with him last night at Dreamland, and the day before the big swell, we scouted all the spots, trying to figure out where the wind and waves would be best. The Padang comp was on, but the tide was weird, so we checked out Bali’s east side. They put a breakwall there that kind of ruined the wave, but there’s a section further up that still barrels. That’s where we ended up getting that picture in the morning.

The Darc Sport guys had two people on the beach filming, one in the water, and another on a ski. I was just chaperoning them, and I managed to snag that shot while sitting in the rubber ducky boat. The guy celebrating in the channel is John Mel I believe.

Everyone’s psyched to see him back in the water. Even from just that Instagram post I made, I’ve been getting private messages from friends in the surf industry saying how glad they are to see Bruce back. People are commenting on it too. It’s sick. I’m stoked he’s back.

You’ll see he’s hoisting airs and stuff, just getting his feel back. He mentioned that on the biggest air he did, he was only one-third comfortable, so he’s still working out some kinks — but he’s ripping anyway.