Grommet king busy aiming high
The stereotype of the lazy surfer has clung to beach culture for decades - all sun-bleached hair, rebellion, no work and lack of responsibility.
WA rising star Jacob Willcox may have the sun-bleached hair but that's where the similarity ends.
Fresh from finishing his ATAR exams - and doing well in trying circumstances - the well-mannered 17-year-old is in the Eastern States preparing for next week's Australian Open of Surfing at Manly beach.
He plans to do an external sports science course in the next few years as a contingency because, as he observes with a chuckle, "it's better than digging holes with my dad".
"My heart was pretty stuck on finishing school," he said.
"The way I thought about it, I'd done 10 years of school, so stopping with two years to go didn't really make sense. It just gives me more options."
Only a few years ago, Jacob was just another blond grommet from WA's home of surfing, Margaret River.
His dad Mick had taught him to surf on a foam board he fashioned with a saw.
He would get up early to surf his local break, daydream about travelling the world and had superstars of the sport stuck on his bedroom walls.
He was a talented surfer, that much was clear from an early age, but there are hundreds of talented surfers in WA who never pursue it as a career.
Things changed drastically for Jacob in 2013 when he was crowned the International Surfing Association under-16 world champion.
But that feat was entirely overshadowed later that year by his David and Goliath win over 11-time world champion Kelly Slater.
After gaining a wild card entry into the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal, Jacob flew over during his October school holidays and beat the greatest surfer of all time in the first round.
Fast-forward to this month and he is busy managing his social media accounts - he has to keep those 17,500 Instagram followers happy - as others his age revel in the end of school. "I think it's a good thing being busy," he said.
"You see a lot of people getting distracted and caught up in things they don't want to get caught up in.
"I'm glad I'm always on the move. I'm not complaining at all."
Jacob is reluctant to dwell on his giant-slaying antics against Slater, preferring to focus on the task at hand, namely next week's Australian Open.
When a teenager describes beating Slater as "kind of cool at the time", it's safe to say he's not caught up in his own hype.
A string of disappointing results last year only made him more determined to progress to the World Qualification Series and eventually the ASP World Tour.
As for his quiet hometown of Margaret River, he still loves surfing his local break, albeit with a new generations of grommets. "I surf with them quite a lot and, yeah, I give them a few tips," he said.
"They watch a lot, like I used to, because you learn a lot when you're watching.
"These days, you see seven-year-olds doing everything and you just wonder what the future of surfing's going to look like."
For now, the future of WA surfing looks like Jacob Willcox.
