Unlocked: Jai Glindeman’s Stab Edit Of The Year Entry, ‘Free Flow’

Jai Glindeman is a two-time Junior Stab Surfer of the Year, the inaugural Microdose subject we launched Stab Premium with, and the central character in our Yung Thug-inspired Surf Films Are Hard project.

His latest short film, Free Flow, created by Nozvid filmmaker Mikey Mallalieu, marks a subtle, deliberate evolution for the 21-year-old: a push into heavier, shallower waters. Across its runtime, you won’t find a single air reverse. Not one. Just real surfing. Deep tubes. Long walls. Rails buried deeper than cargo short pockets.

He can do airs, sure. But after two knee surgeries, he’s mostly on tracks, not trampolines.

“I watch guys do ’em and think… what the fuck am I doing trying these? I’ve already done my knee twice. I’d rather blow an ACL burying a rail than trying spins.”

So what will you see? Seamless, speed-driven transitions from rail to rail. His favourite post-tube flourish? A crisp, one-motion backside down-carve, which, if you’re a purist, is surfing erotica. No interruption. No embellishment.

Pure freedom, basically.

“I’d happily go left and do that shit for the rest of my life.”

The visual crescendo of Free Flow is undoubtedly his bombing Cloudbreak session, where Jai, in the company of Billy Kemper, Benji Brand, Nate Florence, Soli Bailey and a handful of other certified Daves, paddled out on a 7’4″ Pyzel Padillac and muscled a pristine blue cathedral within minutes.

“I remember putting my suit on without seeing a single wave. I just jumped in. I knew if I sat there too long, I’d second-guess myself and wig out. As soon as I got out there, this massive set rolled through — the biggest waves I’ve ever seen. I had my heart in my mouth, paddling for my life. If I was two meters further inside, that would’ve been my session over,” recalls Jai.

He continues, “I missed a couple early and thought, ‘Fuck, I’m not even on a big enough board.’ Everyone else was on 8’0s and 8’6s, and I’d packed a 7’4″. I’d never surfed a board that big and still I was undergunned. The whole thing was new. It was pumping — the most perfect waves you’ve ever seen. It didn’t feel real… just these huge, blue, perfect lines.”

When I ask how he procured his ender, his response is surprising.

“That was my first wave of the session. My friend Wade was inside me and a bit further out, and he couldn’t get onto it. I just thought, ‘Holy shit, I’m actually going to get this thing.’ It gave me this insane boost, so I just grabbed my rail and held on. I don’t remember much after that. Everything blacked out. Time just stopped. I came out of the first section, dropped down, pulled back up into the next one… It was the best moment I’ve ever had in surfing. After that, all the nerves disappeared. It just set up the whole day.”

For filmmaker Mikey Mal, what stood out was Jai’s composure. “He wasn’t just taking off and holding on and hoping for dear life,” Mikey says. “He was properly surfing the wave. I wouldn’t say toying with it, but pretty close to it.”

By the time Jai came back to the boat for a water break, his drone clip had already gone viral.

“I hadn’t processed the wave, hadn’t even replayed it in my head. Then I get back to the boat and Mikey goes, ‘Oi, you’re already on Instagram.’”

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That moment — the dislocation between lived performance and public reception — hit a little weird. Stoked the wave was documented. Gutted it got blasted without context. “It’s strange. You put time, money, and thought into creating something. Then someone else publishes it before you even know what it was.”

Still, Jai talks about the session with reverence. Watching Benji Brand and others tee off on the outer ledge. Soli Bailey snagging a wave that looked computer-generated. Visions he’ll take to the grave.

Funnily enough, Jai maintains that his most violent floggings came the next day after the period dropped — a reminder that Cloudbreak, even on a ‘mellow’ 10-foot forecast, is no teenybopper bubblegum girl.

While Jai’s style is often held up as proof of the divine, Mikey doesn’t think it’s something he ever consciously worked on.

“It’s just completely natural,” he says. “Since he was a grom, it’s always been there. Effortless, powerful but with flare to it too. It’s not just smooth — there’s bite.”

Still, even perfection has its price. “Something perfect doesn’t come easy,” Mikey laughs. “His completion rate isn’t always high, but when it clicks, it’s some of the best surfing in the world.”

Last night, Jai premiered Free Flow at the Lennox Hotel to a completely packed auditorium. He didn’t know what to expect. Public speaking? Not his forte. “I used to hide from that shit at school. I might just go full non-verbal,” he joked prior to the prem.

But of course, he didn’t.

As he did at Cloudbreak, Jai composed himself, mustered a few kind words and finished his film with the entire pub erupting.