You might have scrolled past Xavier Stark pulling into cavernous pits at Cape Solander or glimpsed a clip of him paddling Shippies and sticking the steps like a gecko, but when I touch base with the 18-year-old apprentice plumber he’ just finished installing a hot-water system, at Oatley in the southern suburbs of Sydney.
“It’s not too bad. We could be further out,” he deadpans.
Xavier took on a plumbing apprenticeship a couple of years ago. He wasn’t interested in pursuing school any further; besides he needed money for boards, a car, and plane flights to waves that beckoned. Xavier bolsters his apprentice wage with Sunday shifts at Cronulla’s Triple Bull surf shop; a side-gig which rolls him into good boards and the opportunity to soak up knowledge from the core local chargers who frequent the store.
Xavier recalls developing a taste for heavier waves after surfing solid Cronulla Point with his dad, as a 13-year-old. Thoughts soon turned to the famously square barrels at Shark Island, just beyond the point. Waves like The Island, Voodoo, and Cape Solander are rites of passage for surfers from around Cronulla. Peer pressure plays its part, but Xavier was wise enough to nudge his way in. “The Island… I would always paddle out there on those big swells and watch everyone pack hogs onto dry reef. And then I slowly got out of my comfort zone for bigger waves.”
By age 16, Xavier had already earned a reputation as a grommet who could handle himself in serious conditions, and his exploits soon caught the attention of seasoned campaigner, Kipp Caddy. Kip was happy to play a mentor role, taking Xavier on sojourns to the south coast and beyond, while providing tips on forecasts and how to approach specific waves. “He took me down to Shippies for the first time, he’s always sort of giving me insight on where it’s gonna be good… showed me the ropes a bit,” explains Xavier with obvious gratitude.
A more recent mission to ‘Shippies’ proved fruitful when Xavier walked in with a couple of friends, including photographer Sam Venn. After surfing all day with mixed results, Xavier paddled out later in the afternoon as the sun began to dip. By then Bronte’s Taco Kovacic was the only other surfer in the water. When a solid set ledged on the reef, Taco took the first wave and Xavier stroked into the second one. Fortunately, Sam Venn was there to capture the moment. “It was like a chip in into pretty much a huge slab – really perfect,” enthuses Xavier. “It was the sickest way of my life … The sun was on the face of the wave, and it created a really nice backdrop for the shot.”
Cape Solander is another regular playing field for Xavier. The Cape has become the setting for some of the most thrilling scenes in surfing over the last two decades. While Xavier has only been hitting it consistently for the last two years, he’s already locked down an impressive highlight reel. Back in August, Xavier towed the Cape on a monster swell. Hayden Blair had been badly injured there the day before and as Xavier suited up, he watched Harry Fisher take-off on one of the biggest waves ever ridden at The Cape. Shortly after Harry’s hell-raiser, Dylan Longbottom whipped Xavier into one of his best-ever waves at Solander.
Despite thriving on the challenge, he admits it’s hard to feel comfortable at The Cape. “There’s always fear when I’m surfing a wave like that, just because of how much power there is and how close the rocks are; the backwash and how shallow it is. But I try not to think about that stuff, because most of the time it just gets in your head.”
Xavier is adamant the self-talk becomes critical at waves like Solander. “When I go to surf big waves, I start just saying to myself, ‘I will get a sick one. I’m gonna get the best way of my life. I’m going to be okay.’ Really positive internal dialogue, because you need to be in that mindset.”
While the mind’s fight vs flight mechanism can be managed with positive dialogue, Xavier concedes there are times when it’s better to park the ego and consider the risk to reward ratio. “If it’s humongous, and there’s sick ones out there, 100% I’ll have a crack. But if it’s just humongous and dry rock or just way too much water moving, or there’s no exit, it just seems a bit silly to me, because you’re just so likely to hurt yourself and then you could be out for the swell. I’m gonna need to take some sort of potential reward to be putting my whole body on the line.”
Xavier must be just as calculating when it comes to following forecast and chasing swells, which means securing time off work and spending his hard-earned money on flights and hire cars. “Most of the time when I do travel and have time off work, it’s like, I sort of give my boss a week’s notice,” he explains. “There’s definitely those sub factors, like the costs of it, the rarity of the wave breaking and how unpredictable it all is.”
And while he dreams of a life where sponsors cover travel costs and he can join the elite crew who chase swells around the globe, Xavier appreciates the independence his trade gives him. “Having that trade I’m not completely reliant on surfing – that fall back – just knowing that once I complete my apprenticeship, I’ll have that skill for life.” Xavier suggests he draws inspiration from Tom Myers, another tradesman, who recently grabbed the spotlight with two, monumental rides at Queenscliff Bommie earlier this year. “I actually surfed with him out at Voodoo one day. I’ve met him briefly. He’s a heaps nice dude and it’s definitely sick to see him getting on Florence Marine and all those other brands hooking him up.”
While juggling his plumping apprenticeship with shifts at Triple Bull, Xavier still hopes to make it to Hawaii if the right swell shows up. “I’d love to go to Jaws,” he insists. When I suggest that paddling a cloud-tickling, deep-water peak like Jaws is different to whipping slabs, Xavier insists he’s been doing everything withing his powers to be ready for such a quest. Outside of work his weekly routine includes swimming, breath work, gym sessions and getting in the water as often as he can. His favourite breathing technique involves twenty minutes of intense interval training on the exercise bike, “I do thirty seconds easy and then thirty seconds hard, and I hold my breath for the last ten seconds of the thirty seconds when I’m peddling hard,” he explains.
For now, Xavier Stark is content to finish his apprenticeship and ply his trade, but his real purpose in life is well-defined. He wants to pit himself against the biggest and heaviest waves the planet tosses up. “You always want to find that bigger and better one … You’re never satisfied… I just think there’s always going to be a better, bigger wave to chase,” he explains. And while he’s hooked on the endorphin-popping buzz from big drops and throaty pipes, he fully accepts the more sobering realities of his chosen path. “You got to accept the risk. You got to accept that it’s not always going to be good. You got to accept that you’re potentially going to get injured, you got to accept all these things before you even book that flight or make that call… it’s very unpredictable.”
