“Some Of The Turns In This Edit Feel Like The Best Surfing I’ve Ever Done”
Oscar Berry turns a two-week swell bender into a vicious two-minute edit.
“I love doing big hacks, big punts, and having fun with my mates.”
If you’re structuring your life around three core tenets, those might just be the key to eternal happiness. These are the words of Oscar Berry, the 22-year-old, lead-footed Australian surfer/skater who just dropped a scorching two-and-a-half-minute edit — stitched together from a two-week East Coast swell event last year.
“Some of the turns in there feel like the best surfing I’ve ever done,” says Oscar, whose well-documented aerial repertoire earned him a spot in Stab High Japan. This edit, though, leans into his rail game, which is thick, heavy, and built to break things.
“It’s always cool looking back on those clips and realising, fuck, I can actually surf like that,” says Oscar.
Late last year, he lost his longtime sponsor, Hurley — another casualty of the great postmodern surf industry implosion.
“I was with them for eight, maybe nine years. They were my first sponsor, picking me up when I was still pretty raw — skating a bit, surfing, getting better. They saw something in me, started hooking me up with clothes, and I was frothing,” remembers Oscar. “Back then, Hurley was the brand. Their golden era — John, Julian, that whole stacked team. It was insane.”
Oscar doesn’t stick around to bleed. Instead of wallowing, he thanked Hurley for the years, grinned at the past, and continued on the QS/CS warpath. To keep the wheels turning, he picked up a new sponsor — Metricon Homes, a construction company, adding to the list of surfers tapping into unconventional pockets.
“They’ve been unreal — backing me through the Challenger Series, hoping to get me onto the Tour. After the Cloud9 event, the whole company got behind me. I visited their Robina HQ — over 100 people in the office — and gave a talk. I was nervous, but they were fully engaged. Surfing is a whole different world for most of them, but the support has been incredible.”
Still, the money’s trickling, not flooding, in this little scene. But once again, Oscar doesn’t flinch.
“There’s not too many of us wanted at the moment, but if you love it enough, you’ll stick it out,” says Oscar. “I’m happy to get on the tools for a few months between events and off-seasons to make extra money to fund the comps. Doesn’t bother me if the reward is qualifying and living my dream. I don’t mind a bit of hard work. I like getting my hands dirty. It’s good for the soul. And when it’s 30 degrees with 400% humidity in Queensland, it definitely hardens you up a bit.”
Watch the grind take form in the new edit above.
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