Local people: former professional surfer Jay Robinson

Life as a professional surfer has pushed Jay Robinson to always strive to be at the top of his game. Whether it’s being third in the world titles at just 17 or in a new sales role competing against national sales stalwarts, he’s always had a hunger for being the best he can be.

Having a 20-year career as a professional and promotional surfer travelling the world, working in small villages and developing young talent, he knows what’s possible regardless of your background.

Here’s the former pro surfer’s story...

What led you to become a professional surfer?

When I was 12 or 13 I noticed I had a bit of talent for surfing, because I joined the local Sandon Point Boardriders Club, and I was beating all the adults at surfing. I was in the cadets, which is 14 years old and under. Then you had the juniors, which was under 18s and then the open mens, which was over 18s. I was in the over 18s, and I was winning that when I should have been in the under 14s.

What was your progression through surfing?

I started competing at regional level and state level. Through the years, I became part of the Australian surfing team. I went to the World Titles when I was 17 and represented Australia, where I came third in the world. Although, I would have been World Champion but I was disqualified in the last surf because I was interfering with one of my competitors. So I went from first in the world to third in the world. 

That sort of gave me the drive to keep competing professionally as a junior, because I was paid a lot of money when I was a junior to compete. I was paid to travel and compete in a tour called the Billabong Junior Pro Series, which was all around Australia. That was for 21 years olds and under. I did that from age 15. By the time I was 17, I still had four or five years left but was already competing against older surfers.

Being young, you’re pretty cocky with results like that, but you were brought down to earth by your elders. I did a lot of contest surfing and got good results and I felt like I was burning out. Hanging around older people meant I learned a lot of life skills.

I moved out of home when I was 15 to the Gold Coast where all my sponsors were. They took me under their wing and I started travelling internationally. That opened my eyes. 

I got out of the juniors and started competing in the World Qualifying Series to get into the top 44 in the world. I didn’t find that too much fun. So by 21 I felt like I wanted a different career. So I had a sponsor that said “OK, so we’ll start sending you to Indonesia for 4-6 months a year and you can be a promotional surfer”.

For 10 years I worked in Indonesia for six months at a time. I picked up the language, made a lot of friends and helped the communities out of my own sponsorship money. I probably gave away $10,000 to a couple of kids I thought had potential in surfing. I’d bring one of them out to Australia for a year. I had one come out to Australia for five or six years, until COVID hit.

I’m 44 year old now, but I still attend my local boardriders club. When you reach 40, you have to compete in the over 40s, but I still compete against the 18 to 30-year-olds. I ended up finishing third overall in the open mens against all the guys that are professional surfers still.  We have about 10 contests every year. I average about six every year. And I was third overall.

I lost my dad when I was 8 years old, so surfing has been able to help me support my mum financially.

I’ve travelled the world through surfing. I’ve had periods where it all became too much and I went to London and had a break for 22 months, where I only surfed 10 times in that 22 months. Then I got hungry and moved back and picked up sponsorship. But it was on the promotional side again, so I didn’t have to do the competitions. Then later, I put it aside for six months and moved to Hong Kong. But I got hungry for surfing again and moved back to it. 

What were the highlights of your surfing career?

My highlight was helping build the village in Indonesia where I could actually help people. The smallest things I would find big. Like finding a big bag of rice for them. That made me feel good as a person. 

Specifically with surfing, the highlight was when I came third in the world. It’s a big world and there are a lot of surfers. I think getting third and not first in the world has a lot to do with my competitiveness. It’s like, well, look how close you can get to being first in the world.

In any professional career, there’s lots of ups and downs. And sometimes we need to move away from it. But I always came back to it, because it’s my passion. Every day still, when I can, I’m surfing. And I’m having the best surfing time of my life because I enjoy it. I’m not under the pressure of sponsorship. 

I’ve done other things too when I couldn’t get sponsorship to support me. I went and worked at Barbecues Galore. I ended up becoming the number 1 sales person in Australia for the entire franchise. I think that had a lot to do with travelling and the people skills I’ve developed. I thought, OK, here’s something else I could be good at - sales. Working with people.

Another time I went and did door knocking for Optus and I was no 1 in Australia for sales for them as well. It’s like my whole life I’ve got these expectations of being at the top. When you’re not getting that, you’re not feeling good. So I’m just hungry for anything I’m doing.

I came from a family where we had no money, so it’s made me hungry to do things. Growing up I always had second hand stuff. My bike for Christmas was always a put together bike from second hand parts. It made me hungry to have that stuff and to work hard for myself and others. I grew up in housing estates and now my mum owns her own house. So for me, I’ve always wanted to look after my mum.

You said you still surf every day. What’s your favourite local spot?

Sandon Point - that’s my local boardriders as well. I can pretty much have any waves I want out there - not in a rude way. I guess I’m respected around here for surfing. I also like to surf at a spot called The Dragon’s Breath / The Virgins. It’s a really intense wave. It breaks from deep water on to a shallow ledge. It’s probably 5km out to sea, so you need a jet ski to get out there.