After dropping out of school, travelling the world as a teenage skate prodigy, being unsuccessfully moulded into an Olympic athlete and receiving death threats for landing a trick, Jett Dehaan’s shoulders are surprisingly relaxed, free from the weight of expectation; he’s simply creating a double life where surfing and skateboarding co-exist and sponsors are happy to fund the ride.

Young kids gather round and pester him with questions, like flowers bending towards the sun. It’s shining at Green Hills skate park in Kurnell, through a bright-eyed lad with a tangle of blonde hair and a piercing stare. It’s Jett Dehaan, an extremely talented double threat and official skate coach at his local park.

So who is this guy? What business does he have making a skate park look like a wave-pool and a lineup like a backyard bowl?

Jett is a part of the new generation of skateboarders and surfers who are leaking out of Cronulla and leaving their imprint around the world. What sets him apart is not his laid-back attitude and creative drive, it’s his exponential skill level on both skateboard and surfboard. Following in the footsteps of other professional skate/surfers like Curren Caples and the notorious Fletcher family, Jett is seeking a career at the intersection of the ocean and concrete, a delicate balancing act on wood and foam.

Jett Dehaan thrives on the street and digs the brine. Photo: Riley Walker.

I meet Jett at a café in Cronulla, on a day you can hear the crack of 10-foot closeouts at main beach and the distant hoots of people getting spat out of stand-up barrels at the point. It’s the first proper autumn swell to hit Sydney and I can feel an air of excitement that might be invisible to most but infects surfers near and ...