Billabong

Bio of Jack found on whatyouth.com.

http://www.whatyouth.com/2012/04/29/jack-freestone-surfer/?id=199

Jack is nice. He doesn’t have to be. He’s paid to rip and looks like an Abercrombie model; people like that can be basically evil and still dance through life. But Jack was raised right. Also, Jack can really surf. He proved it when we went to Yamba with him, Evan Geiselman and Dillon Perillo last month (full feature and footage coming soon). He'll prove it further when the Billabong x What Youth film Daze At Sea comes out this summer. Still, most people don’t really know him yet.

We spoke to Jack — plus to Evan, Dillon, Kai Neville, Jack’s best friend Mitch Crews and his team manager at Billabong, Blake Pettit — because this is a true gentleman on the rise.

Evan Geiselman on Jack: "Jack, I spent a lot of time with him down on the Goldie and became pretty good friends with him. You laugh your ass off with Jack. He’s one of the most polite guys — his mannerisms, when he’s talking to people, he’s always polite. But when you get to know him, he’s fucking really funny."

What Youth: We want to help people know Jack Free. This time next year, you should be household.

Jack Freestone: Yeah! That’s sick!

Good, let’s begin. Jack Freestone is from the Gold Coast.

I live in Coolly [Coolangatta] now. I just moved in with Mitch Crews.

That’s what Mitch told me. What’s your place like?

We live right in front of Duranbah. Just a little random hut. It holds three but we’ve got the best setup because Mitch is in Cali now, so I’ve just been trying to get so many girls around, just have some fun.

Is there a girlfriend?

No, I don’t have a girlfriend.

Are they nice girls around Coolangatta there?

Not really around Coolangatta. They’re all kind of hoodlum hood-rat kinds of girls. But a little bit north, like Currumbin or Elanora, there are usually all these hot girls.

Mitch Crews on Jack: "He’s a legend. He’s my brother. We fight like fuck though. He moved in with me in Coolangatta — he was there every day so he just did it, and now we’re fucking balling. We’ve got a little bachelor pad and, you know, we do it every day. We live like 100 meters from a cool little pub named Komune and girls froth down there. We don’t even have any drinks. We just go pull some girls out of there and just, like, you know, keep going."

Your new flat, is it a two-bedroom?

Yeah, two bedrooms. It’s pretty high up on D-Bah and it overlooks all of the surf, and overlooks all of Surfers Paradise, all of Coolangatta. We got a good deal because it’s Steph Gilmore’s old apartment. I’m paying Mitch like $120 a week.

Where do you surf mostly? At Duranbah, or Snapper?

I never surf Snapper anymore. I used to when I was a grom, but now, it’s to the point where I’ll run over someone out there every time. I just surf D-Bah.

Doesn’t Snapper just seem like a great idea? But then you’ve been out two hours and caught one wave. And an eight-year-old dropped in on you.

Oh man, I swear it’s an illusion! It looks so fun, and then you get out there and it’s the worst session of your life.

You need to be one of the ruthless ones, who sit out the back and just burn anybody. Burn their own mother.

Yeah, that’s what I do every time I go out. Just get ruthless and burn everyone. I’m about to go out there soon, I guess I’m going to surf with Kai.

With Kai Neville?

We’re going to go get ruthless on everyone, yeah. He’s going to come for a little paddle.

I just spoke to him a minute ago and he was talking about all the work he had to do. I don’t believe this.

Oh, I know, he said he’s been pretty busy.

Kai Neville on Jack: "I don’t know if you follow him on Instagram, but he’s got a lot of self-portraits. It’s so Derek Zoolander. People must be baffled. I’m pretty sure it’s a joke between him, Evan and Crewsy, kind of taking the piss, but no one knows that so everyone else is just like, “What the fuck are these guys on? They’re on a like gym-junkie-taking-pictures-of-themselves trip.” They look like full jocks. And I guess they are a touch jock, but they’re still psyched surfers."

Can you walk from your place to D-Bah?

Yeah, I can walk everywhere.

Do you even have a car?

I’ve got a car. Mitch doesn’t have a car, so someone’s gotta have one.


What do you drive?

I drive a Skoda Octavia. It’s like an Italian brand. They’re owned by Volkswagen.

Billabong’s Blake Pettit on Jack: "Last year during the Lowers event and a few other contests he stayed with me for about two months and I had the pleasure of having to kick chicks out of his bed so he could go to sleep on time for a contest every other night. He was planning on having a lady over one night and I was out to dinner myself, and I just texted him:Hey, we’ve gotta get up early tomorrow, so just get your head straight and we’ll turn it on and have some fun after the event.

And then I get this text about five minutes later saying:Hey, Blake’s pretty eggy. I don’t know if it’s a good idea if you come over right now. Just give it an hour and he’ll be asleep. So he accidentally sent me the text that he was sending to this girl, trying to tell her to hold off because fucking grandpa is going to bed, and she’ll be able to sneak in the back door once I’m out."

When are you coming back to visit the US?

For Trestles, and I’m going to be there for ages — for like two months, three months.

What do you love about California?

I’d have to say the women. They’re different from Australian women. They’re hotter, generally nicer and easier to talk to, and I love that because I like to talk.

Summertime, this time of year, so many girls are trying to get a tan and meet a surfer. Trying to meet Jack Freestone.

That’s all they’re trying to do!

Do you have a good California story to tell?

I actually went out to Hollywood when I was 17, and it was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to in my life. I have my friend’s fake I.D. from Australia and it was me and Crewsy, and we went to Hollywood for like two days, and I was freaking. We’d go down, and I think there was like six girls with us and another dude, and we had bottle service, sick music playing. One of the girls knew the manager or something. Next thing I know I was on the dance floor fist-pumping and it was sick.

What were they serving?

Grey Goose, you know those massive bottles of Grey Goose? One of them, and that Belvedere vodka as well. I felt like a rock star or something. We were staying at the W, at the hotel. There’s a lot of celebrities out there; like everywhere I looked I noticed someone.

We’ll re-create that when you come back. Drinks at the W with a half-dozen high-heels. We’ll do it again.

I’m probably gonna stay with Evan [Geiselman] for a while, and then fucking come and hang out with you guys, and surf, and shred, and it’s fucking awesome.

It’s just that time of year, there’s so much going on.

Yeah, there’s gonna be comps, there’s gonna be girls, there’s gonna be everything.

Dillon Perillo on Jack: "Last year Jack had a girlfriend and we went out on the Gold Coast for her birthday, and I got pretty drunk and I said something really immature. It wasn’t that funny, and she got really mad or something, and I had to leave after that. And I guess I ruined her whole birthday. I felt so bad, because it was Jack’s girlfriend, and I didn’t really know Jack that well. He’s not dating her anymore. But Jack and I, we joke around a lot. We stare at each other a lot, make weird faces. That was our first connection, last year. We’d stare at each other. I guess we get along pretty well."

What’s making you happy right now, in surfing and life?

What’s making me happy right now is I’ve been among friends, and had great times, and surfed good waves. That’s what makes me happiest.

That’s what we want to celebrate. Why so serious? Be irresponsible and have a nice time with your friends on the road. That’s what we say.

That is exactly why I surf. I love that.