Mikey Wright, swinging in the south, Australia

And here’s Mikey Wright, 17 years old and corked out about 45 minutes away from his home in Culburra, on New South Wales’ South Coast. For a kid who’s on the mend from back injury (which he scooped in September last year), Master Wright certainly looks limber. This unnameable but well-known spot, on this day, was a little too big but with a few corners to be found. “It was closing out a fair bit,” says Mikey. “When it gets in between the four to six foot range, the six-footers closeout and the four-footers hold up. There were a lot of wash-throughs this day. And pretty crowded, a lot of bodyboarders. I was mostly going the rights trying to get some ramps.”

After the session, Mikey was pleasantly surprised to find that Sticks, our photographer in this instance and the man who’d alerted Mikey that there were waves that morning, was actually shooting. “I didn’t even realise Sticks was there,” says Mikey. “He was so high up in the bush.” Sticks’ enthusiastic affords us this angle, and for that we’re thrilled.