Yeah, This Kid Deserves A Few Free Boards

Don’t you love when you paddle out at your home break (which happens to be a world-class reef), spin a few airs and knife a few tubes (just like every other day), and happen to get noticed by one of the preeminent shapers in surfing (who then proceeds to build you a customized quiver, free of charge).

Matt Bilos is well-versed in spotting and supporting the best young talent in San Clemente. And now, apparently, in Indonesia too*. Matt met Rajo Barrel (real name: Rajo Barrel) while surfing Lakey Peak roughly a year ago. Every day when they took a boat out to the dreamy A-frame, this local kid would hop in alongside them for the ride, dragging along with him a broken 4’4 that he’d been given by a visiting surfer several years prior.

Not only did Rajo proceed to rip on his hand-me-down board, but he was smiling ear to ear while doing so. 

That stoke (+talent) was all Matt needed to see. He hooked Rajo up with a few Mayhems that are essentially scaled-down versions of the same models Kolohe Andino and the Colapinto brothers are using today. Judging off his Instagram, Rajo is already dialed into the left at Lakey Peak, getting in his fair share of tube time and going above the lip with startling regularity.

With this kind of output at such a young age, it makes you wonder where Rajo will be in another five or 10 years. Will he follow a similar path to his Lakey Peak forebear, Bronson Meydi, who is now internationally acclaimed for his surfing prowess? With a fresh quiver of Mayhems and a new Quiksilver deal signed, we can’t wait to find out what comes of young Rajo.

*Mayhem did a similar thing with All Day Dylan, another 12-year-old Indonesian kid who calls Kandui Resort home.