Jaxon Cowan

NORAH HEAD, NSW

What’s your home break? I would call Soldiers Beach my local break, but we also have a lot of reef breaks I could also class as local breaks. We are really lucky on the Central Coast to have a large variety of waves to surf in all types of different conditions.

Do you remember your first wave? I sure do, because it turned me off the ocean for a few years before I actually started surfing. I was about four or so and we were living on the Gold Coast at the time and Dad pushed me into one on his board at Snapper Rocks. I was just laying down on the whitewash but I couldn't steer it and went straight into and washed over the rocks at Little Marli on the inside of Snapper. After that I wanted nothing to do with the ocean until I started surfing properly at about the age of nine.

What board are you currently riding? I'm really lucky to be working with James Cheal and Mike Spencer from Chilli Surfboards . The guys at Chilli have made me some incredible boards since I jumped on with them, but the three I'm going between right now are the best I've ever had. I'm riding the Chilli shortie model designed by James but scaled down to my size. Cheers Chilli and Spenny!

Where is your favourite place to surf in Australia? There's so many to choose from but I'd have to say just a little reef break/slab we have here at home in Norah Head. I won't mention the name even though everyone already knows about it, but my Dad and I surf it every time the swell is good for it and it has everything from dredging ledges to barrels and really fun big carve sections. Dad has helped me work my way up the pecking order there, so now I'm starting to get the good ones. That's probably my favourite because I surf it with Dad.

Tell us about the wave of your life? We were surfing Budge one arvo with Dad and some friends, and their Dad and I were down the beach a little and this perfect right came straight to me. I kind of had to paddle out to it and swung on it a bit late, but I got to my feet, airdropped straight into the barrel, got one big pump up into it, then just held on. I rode the foam ball for a bit and then got spat out of it and did a big swan dive off the back and looked at Dad with his arms up claiming it for me. He was looking straight into it, so I'm stoked he saw it too. Still the best barrel I've ever had.

What's your go-to wax? Sex Wax is usually my go to wax, but I do run Foo whenever I can get my hands on it. That stuff sells like hotcakes .

Can you tell us about your greatest surfing-related memory? It would have to be winning the under 12s regional titles at my home beach. It was one of the first big contests I'd done outside of our local boardriders club, and I won all my heats that day. When the final came I was super nervous and actually didn't get a wave at all until about 4 minutes to go. I got my first wave then and that score still had me in 4th position. Somehow I managed to get myself back out the back quick enough and got another wave with literally 30 seconds left, and got the score I needed and went from 4th to 1st. Crazy heat, not sure how I kept my nerves on that last wave but it all worked out.

If you could surf with anyone in the world, who would it be? Ethan Ewing for sure. Just so I could say I surfed with him haha. Also just to watch him surf in person and see how much he destroys waves would be amazing. Hopefully he'd give me some good pointers on how to surf like that too.

Who is your greatest inspiration? My Dad for sure. He's done everything for me; driving me up and down the coast for comps, up early with me every day to either surf with me or just sit there and film. He's always trying to help me get better and enjoy my life. Not only that, he's my best mate, and he rips. Dad challenged himself last year to put back on the competition jersey and competed in the master state titles where he let me coach him for the weekend. He smashed it all weekend while he was sick with the flu and ended up 3rd overall, and qualified for the Australian titles where he let me coach him again. I learnt so much watching my dad compete and to watch him surf the way he did in the state titles while he was sick was pretty damn inspiring to me.

Do you have any advice for beginners?

Just stick with it. It can get tough and scary sometimes, but if you love the ocean, there's no better way to enjoy it than surfing perfect waves with friends. So get out there and enjoy the healthy lifestyle.

What does your future of surfing look like? I'm not a fortune teller so I can't say what my future holds exactly, but if I could pick, it would involve a few big contest wins and then hopefully that would lead into competing on the WSL junior series and the world qualifying series to hopefully one day qualify for the big leagues on the championship tour with the best of the best.

If you know someone who would be a great candidate for our next Q&A, please get in touch with us.

RAPID FIRE - THIS OR THAT?

Natural or goofy? Natural.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset.

Summer or winter? Winter for waves.

Wetty or no wetty? Wetty.

Longboard or shortboard? Shortboard.

3-4ft or 8-10ft? 3-4ft.

Beachie or point break? Point break.