Stab Magazine | Could Crosby Colapinto Be Even Better Than His Bro?

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Could Crosby Colapinto Be Even Better Than His Bro?

Crosby Colapinto ain’t about to let his brother steal the spotlight.

cinema // Jul 8, 2019
Words by stab
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Crosby Colapinto, “the Crozz,” has grown up picking the scraps off of his brother, Griffin, and Kolohe Andino. But now, with another national title under his belt and some upward momentum on the QS, the kid’s coming on strong. He just dropped a heater of an edit from a quick strike that him and Ian Crane made to Lakey Peak. It doesn’t disappoint. 

Taller than his brother, Crosby’s style is a bit more upright and less coiled. As he’s gotten bigger and filled out his power game is undeniable. But growing up at Lowers these days also means you can’t be a slouch in the air.  

“I think I’ve got him on the rail game, maybe,” says Crosby of his enduring brotherly rivalry. “But he’s got me in the air. It’s good. It pushes both of us.”

A whisker shy of 18 years old, this year Crosby’s spent more time on the road, roaming around and a part-time CT supporter for Griffin. And like his brother, he’s a quick learner. The two of them live, eat and breathe surfing. 

With a south wind cheddaring up the Lowers lineup, Stab caught up with Crosby to try and figure him out a little more.

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Stab: The new clip, was it something you had planned or did you just come up on some good footage?
Crosby Colaptino: I was in Bali watching Griffin in the CT and Ian Crane and I were kind of talking it over. We saw a swell coming to Lakey Peak and decided to mission down there. I had to convince my parents to let me change my flight and get over there, but it was pretty sick once I got there.

I’d been to Bali, but it was my first time to Lakey’s. It was insane. It wasn’t too crowded. You pretty much just surf, eat, surf, eat, surf, eat and sleep. I was thinking of going there just to get better, and if I came out of it with enough clips for a little video, all the better. I ended up getting a bunch of stuff and threw it together, so it was perfect.

Traveling with Crane-o, good times?
Oh yeah, the best. It was insane. Me and Crane, SC boys, traveling over to Lakey Peak. It was pretty sick being on our own program. We had our own mopeds and we’d just zip around all over the place. It was a pretty mental deal. And the waves were sick. The whole thing was sick. 

Speaking of the SC boys, from Crane, to you and your brother, to Kade Matson, Jett Schilling and all the boys, there’s a ton of talent in the water at Lowers right now. Maybe more than there’s ever been?
It’s crazy, I feel like there’s something in the water in SC or something because there are so many kids coming up. There’s so much energy around surfing in this town right now. It’s pretty cool. It really pushes me and gives me a lot of drive to get better.

You’re obviously all really tight, but you’re also pretty competitive. Do you have some friendly rivalries going?
For sure. We all have little rivalries. I’ll watch one of them catch a good one and I’ll want to get a good one. And the same with them too. We just push each other to the limit, so it’s pretty awesome. 

Who pushes you the most out of your crew?
Probably Kade and Jett. They’re both so talented—good styles, a lot of power. That pushes me a lot. 

What is good style to you?
Good style to me? I don’t know. It’s a style that you can watch and appreciate it and take notes. It’s watching someone and take what they’re doing good and put it into your surfing almost. 

And you’ve been traveling with your brother some this year. You were on the Gold Coast, did the trials at Bells, then Bali, are you guys going to be together more later this year?
Yeah, I’m going to do the whole Europe leg. I’ve got the trials in Portugal and France too. It’ll be cool to be around the contests again and get some drive off those guys. And I think it’s super important to go and surf all these places where they’re having CTs and QS contests because once I get there I kind of know the break and have experienced it. And there are such good waves around the contests, so you can be there and getting better while you’re there, watching the CT guys and learning off what they do and putting it into your free surfs. It’s pretty insane.

Is this year the most you’ve traveled?
Yeah, definitely the most I’ve traveled. You definitely learn street smart stuff too—how to get around, where to stay. You figure out flights and all that. Especially when you’re in Indo, you learn lot of that. 

And your boards, you’ve been on the Matt Biolos program like your brother?
Yeah, I’ve actually been riding some of Griffin’s boards. Griffin has some new boards from Matt that have new technology on the rails and stuff, so I’m riding some of his old ones. I pretty much go off of his boards. My boards lately are a little thicker and have a little more volume just because I’m getting taller and starting to fill out too. 

Did you watch Stab High?
I thought it was insane. Brother actually had it on his TV and ordered like $200 of Popeye’s chicken. We just ate chicken and watched the contest. It was classic. It was pretty much everybody San Clemente—Kade, Jacob Vanderwork, Taj Lindblad, Cole Houshmand, all the boys except for Jett because Jett was in it. We were cheering him and Crane on. It was sick.

With John John being out now, Kolohe’s basically number one in the world. What’s it mean to you to see him doing what he’s doing right now?
It’s really cool. He’s such an inspiration to all of us in San Clemente. We see how hard he works and how much time he’s putting in, and it really shows us that if we put in the time it can really happen. He’ll be home and surf like six hours a day and train, and then do it all over the next day. And he’ll have that program for the whole summer. It’s really sick to watch. He’s so supportive of us and he pushes us.

The tradition in San Clemente is pretty gnarly. From the Fletchers, to the Longs, to the Gudauskas boys, it goes back a long way. What does it mean to you to be at the tip of the spear right now?
It’s pretty cool. I feel like San Clemente has a good reputation for producing good surfers, and for my name to be in that conversation is humbling. You’ve got the Beschens, Kolohe and Dino, the Gudangs, me and my brother, so yeah, it’s pretty cool.

If and when you make it on tour you and Griff would be the first brothers on tour since CJ and Damien Hobgood and Bruce and Andy Irons. Did you guys grow up watching those guys at all?
That’s kind of our goal. We watched a lot of the Irons brothers…a lot.

I think you guys get along better than they did.
Yeah, I’ve heard they were gnarly.

And one more thing, you’re obviously not looking at the 2020 Olympics, but you’d be the prime age for the Paris Games in 2024. Is that anything you guys talk about? Does the subject of the Olympics ever come up with you and your friends?
Honestly, I haven’t really talked to my friends about it, but for me I feel like it’s something I definitely want to accomplish. I want to reach that goal. It’s a big deal. I think it’s super sick and we all want to be there eventually.

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