“Out Here, Everything Was Simple. Real Life Back Home Started To Feel A Little Intimidating.”

How many times have you sat around a campfire, or maybe just stared out at the fading sun behind an ancient tree line, tipsy or high from whatever chemical lubricant you’ve ingested, and started passionately resenting society? 

Life as a malignant joke, humanity strayed too far from the primordial soup. It’s a predictable rant, but one that’s pretty difficult to dismiss.

After roughly 100 kilometres on foot, with a surfboard, a fishing rod, and his significant other as his only company, Jacob Willcox found himself viewing the outside world with a rather flaccid sense of enthusiasm.

“We were floating in this bubble,” he said. “But all bubbles eventually pop.”

Jacob had sank into the bubble of his own choosing, disillusioned after falling off tour, a little chewed up, a little spat out, and needing time to piece himself back together.

“The idea of the trip was to slow down and connect to the land I grew up on,” he said. “I always overcomplicate life, but when you’re just walking with a surfboard, a fishing rod, and your girlfriend, life’s pretty simple.”

In the finale of his much-adored Cape 2 Cape series, aside from completing his pilgrimage, he stumbles upon a laughably shallow rock shelf, rides a board from the 80s, and daydreams about being devoured by a great white shark.

“I just had this feeling the whole time that I was about to get pile-driven by a great white. Every duck dive felt like a torpedo was going to shoot up through the bottom of my board. Sometimes, you just can’t switch the mind off.”

In truth, this is one of the more unique and genuinely moving surf series to make its way onto the Tube in a while. Need proof? Check the comment section under the latest ep: hoards of people pouring their guts out for the guy currently perched at the top of the Challenger Series rankings, Chippo Willcox.

“I guess it was to bring me back to what really matters,” he said. “And I feel like I achieved that.”