Jack Robinson Is Coming For Your Clicks

“When I had to get hip survey, I had to sell my truck to pay for it,” Kuio Young said. “I sold all my stuff. After the surgery, I had a little bit of money left. That was what made me go all in and buy a new kit for my camera and try to make some money doing this.”

The 25-year-old Hawaiian surfer turned-filmer made a big investment in opting to pursue media production full-time. But it’s paying off with high-quality features like Luke Shepardson + Clyde Aikau and Kainehe Hunt’s mind-imploding Backdoor wave. 

And thanks to a decade-plus relationship (and sharing lineups at oversized Pipeline and Haleiwa), Kuio is also set to soon join Jack Robinson on the back half of the 2024 Championship Tour. His goal is to document Jack in and out of the jersey and blow the cobwebs off the West Australian’s dusty YouTube channel. The video above is an appetizer from Jack’s highlight reel from the Hawaiian CT season, where he finished equal 17th at Pipeline and then won Sunset. 

The videos will be of mix of BTS, stellar surfing and high-quality music (thanks Rolling Stones) as they’re not planning to monetize the channel anytime soon, Kuio explained. And don’t expect Jack to pump out weekly vlogs, especially this year between traveling with a young family and the Olympic prep filling his plate. No gym clips, but perhaps from meditation closeups in between heat and freesurf highlights.

Kuio also plans to get up close and personal with Jack once he buys a water housing. Given his background in heavy North Shore peaks, aiming a camera into the maw of Cloudbreak and Teahupoʻo should be a natural transition for the sturdy Hawaiian.

“It’s fun to work with my friends and guys who I’ve surfed with before and work on the video editing side,” Kuio said. “It changes it up and lets me still stay in the water. Honestly, it’s funny to say but surfing is more enjoyable after filming guys. I know the work is done and after getting psyched watching the guys surf all day, it makes me want to surf.” 

On that last point, Kuio is open about his not-so-ulterior motive for globetrotting with Jack. You can take the Hawaiian out of Hawaii…

“For me, I’m pretty psyched to surf the waves, too. As soon as I’m done filming him, I’m giving it a go,” Kuio laughed. “Even in Hawaii, he was trying to get me to surf more. We’d link up for when he was going to surf, and then when he was done he’d go ‘I have a board for you. Go surf.’”

It’ll be good timing for the Kuio to leave the trade-blown North Shore in the spring to document and surf alongside one of the world’s most adept wave readers.

More to come from Jack and Kuio. In the meantime, enjoy Jack get everything he needs from Sunset.