SEOTY: Jerome Forrest In ‘A Forrest From The Trees’

Ed note: Due to an incredible crypto boom of late, we didn’t have the funds to secure a Bitcoin for this year’s Stab Edit of the Year winner. As such, we’re allowing all A-grade edits to be entered in 2024, regardless of music clearance. You’ll see several more SEOTY entries dropping in the next two weeks.

Sometimes, you tie your laces, grind yourself raw, recycle, and life still doesn’t play fair. When things fall apart, you can either sink into a swamp of self-pity, sulk, and curse the machine that chewed you up — or you can grin through the bruises and get on with it. 

Jerome Forrest is a full-time roof plumber from Australia’s South-West coast. He spends his days fixing leaks and pounding nails, then grabs whatever scraps of time he can to thread some of the meatiest cylinders the Southern Ocean has to offer. 

“I’m a full time tradie, so it’s pretty hard to juggle. There’s a bunch of days that I can’t get to, but I work my arse off so that when it’s good, I can pick one day during the week and have that off,” says Jerome.  

In another life, Jezza was QS pugilist, swinging at a dream that kept dodging him. Like plenty of surfers raised in heavy water, the small-wave circus didn’t suit his arsenal. After a few solid cracks, he walked away — no sulking, no drama. Just picked up a shovel, hit the job site, and got on with it.

“I think Jerry’s the blueprint for the modern-day surfer,” says Tom Jenno, his filmer and best mate. “The surf industry’s shrunk. Budgets, contracts — it’s all dried up. But Jerry shows kids they don’t have to be turbo comp lords or destroy themselves trying to ‘make it.’ You can still surf incredible waves, live well, and skip the pressure.”

Still, Jenno can’t help but wonder. “If he surfed like he does now back on the QS, I reckon he’d have had a proper crack of the whip. But maybe he needed to go through all of that to get here — to be who he is now.”

Who he is now, according to Jenno, is the kind of man who keeps his head up while slogging through a barrage of bad breaks — a man cherished by his community, a role model, and, above all, someone who keeps moving forward.

“He’s like PVA glue — holding the whole community together. Everyone in the South-West calls Jerry a mate,” says Jenno. “He keeps his cards close, but the truth is, he’s dealt with more in the past year than most sane people could take without crumbling. And somehow, he’s still the happiest, most solid guy I know.”

Jenno recalls a younger, more hesitant version of his friend. “Back then, when there was a swell, he’d just disappear. He’d ask me to come film him at Lefties, and I’d tell him, ‘Mate, if you want me to film you, stop maxing out at four feet. Come back to me when you’ve got a bomb.’ But these days, he’s in the top circle. He’s determined, holding his head up in thick lineups at The Box or North Point, and he’s not making any mistakes. He’s threading bombs.”

A Forrest From The Trees took a couple of years to piece together, mostly due to Jerome’s full-time grind outside of surfing — juggling work, hunting for filmers, teaching himself to edit, and producing his own clip. For someone with that many irons in the fire, it’s an impressively efficient use of time, and a valiant 2024 Stab Edit of the Year entry.

“Jerry just makes things happen for himself. I gave him a couple of tips, taught him the basics of how to edit, and he’s taken it and run with it,” says Jenno. “It’s a testament to who he is. Jerry’s got this knack for handling shit. This edit is all him. I just spruced it up and rounded it off.”