Catching Up…with Adam Bartlett

Santa Cruz…what an epic place to be an up-and-coming young surfer! Tons of different quality waves to sharpen your skills, countless legendary surfers to look up too, and legions of other fired-up youngsters to spar with. Does it get any better?

With such favorable conditions for growing into a top-notch local talent, it’s hard to pick just one grom who stands out above the rest, but if you’re looking for somewhere to start, look no further than the Westside’s Adam Bartlett. 

The 17 year-old goofyfoot has been on a tear lately. Competitive dominance- check. Substantial sponsorship- check. Supportive family- check. Positive attitude- double check. Everything seems to be coming into place for this well-spoken shredder.

Unfortunately, Bartlett recently sustained a nasty injury to his ankle, so I thought it would be the perfect time to check in with him to chat about his charmed life. 

Heal up quickly Adam, we can’t wait to see what you have in store for us this winter!

Mr. Bartlett, what’s new in your life?

I’m on the WSL Regional Qualifying Series now, working on my seed to qualify for the Challenger Series ( International QS ) which is where you need to be if you want to compete on the Championship Tour. So that’s been pretty important for me, a whole other level of competitive surfing because all the guys competing there are so gnarly these days. So yeah, I’ve been really trying to improve the fundamentals of my surfing lately. 

Also, I hurt my ankle in the last couple of weeks. I’ve been doing a bunch of physical therapy lately to try and fix that.

How did you injure yourself? 

So, the US team, brought everyone on the team to the wave pool out in Waco, Texas. We were doing the air section over and over again. I did an air, landed wrong, and just folded my ankle. It got really swollen and kind of a nightmare to be honest, but it happens. Especially when you’re doing airs.

Tell me about Waco. Was that your first time going to a wave pool?

Yeah, actually it was my first time going to a wave pool, which is surprising as they’ve been around for awhile. It’s been kinda hard to get the opportunity to go a wave pool, as they’re so expensive, so it was rad to get the invite. It was definitely an amazing experience.

I’ve heard it feels a lot different than riding waves in the ocean, especially the way that you board floats and feels. Did you notice that at all?

It definitely does feel different. The thing is, that people say that you’re supposed to ride epoxies there—there’s some superstition that they work better in the pool. The whole experience is pretty trippy.

What was the experience like? Did you have anybody who was an air specialist to help coach you? Tell me how it went.

We had our US Team coach Ryan Simmons, who’s a pretty legendary surfer, there watching us and giving us a bunch of different critiques. It was pretty fun. There was a bunch of kids there my age. We were all pushing each other so it was pretty sick.

What were you working on, anything in particular?

Kind just trying to nail different tricks. It’s so rare where you can get an air section that’s so perfect, over an over again. So, I was just excited to try things that I usually wouldn’t get to in the ocean, as you have so many opportunities with the wave pool. I was just trying a lot of different types of grabs and also focusing on practicing one of those double-grab cork flips. I ended up not landing it before I got injured, which was a bummer, but got some close attempts, so it felt good.

Sick! How deep did you get into the trip before hurting yourself?

Luckily, it was pretty far towards the end of the trip. We were only there for a day and a half, so I definitely didn’t get an insane amount of reps.

Can you explain to the readers, a little bit more about the US Team and why that’s such an important thing these days for young, up-and-coming surfers to be a part of?

The US Team is the top Under-18 kids in America, pretty much, for each division: 18-and-under, 16-and-under, and 14-and-under. For both the girls and the boys. They take the top five or so kids from each division. The main reason it’s so important and prestigious is because they have the ISA World Surfing Games, which is like the Junior Olympics. So that’s a really big international event and an insane contest for a junior, pretty much the biggest event there is. 

Everyone wants to be in that comp, but you can only go if you’re on the national team for whatever country you live in. If you win that comp, it’s really good for your professional surfing career.

Oh yeah, you got past event winners like Joel Parkinson, Andy Irons, and Jack Freestone. It was a huge part of their come up!

For sure. For any surfer under 18, that’s the contest that you want to win. 

How often do you guys link up as a group? I’m sure you surf with these kids all the time but being on a team must really push the level quite a bit.

Definitely. We have the US Prime surf contests, which there are about 5-8 of every year, and pretty much before anyone of those contests they have a team training beforehand with everyone. So that’s fun. We link up, run heats. It kinda pushes all of us and it’s rad to have so many good surfers your age surrounding you.

In your peer group in America, who are the guys pushing you the most at the moment? How about locally, here in Santa Cruz?

There’s so many good kids these days. It’s really hard to name specific people, but generally, in my contests I would say that Rex Hennings, Will Deane, and Lucas Senkbeil are up there, but there’s a bunch of kids.

In Santa Cruz, Jackson Taylor and James Daniels are the kids my age who are competitive like me. I like to surf with them as much as possible. They definitely push my surfing.

Plus they’re also goofy footers, which seems rare in Santa Cruz with all the right-hand point breaks!

Exactly. That’s the thing, we’re all on the same page for the kinds of waves we want to surf. It’s always fun surfing with those guys.

When I was a kid, no one was really concerned with training their bodies in service of improving their surfing skills, but that’s seemed to have changed in the past fifteen years or so. What kind of fitness regimen are you on these days? Is that something you take pretty seriously?

I was working out at Paradigm (local strength and conditioning operation) for awhile there, getting in there to train as much as possible. The last few months I haven’t been working out there but I’ve recently been training with Jack Snyder. We’ve been getting after it but lately, it’s just been Physical Therapy for my ankle, trying to get back 100%. That’s my main focus. Surfing is such good cardio, so you’re always getting a good workout with that, but I definitely want to continue working out and strengthening my core. Right now I’m just concentrating on my ankle.

It sounds like me you didn’t get a chance to dip your toes into Mavs during that season opener a couple weeks ago? Were you injured for that?

Yeah, so I was injured for that swell and it looked pretty insane. All those guys, like Luca Padua and Mason Barnes, were really sending it. It was definitely a bummer not being able to make it out for that, as it was right after I injured my ankle.

Well, you’ll have the rest of your life to bag some more bombs out there. You’re in a pretty pivotal time in your pursuit of becoming a professional surfer, how do you balance your desire to be a big wave surfer with that competitive focus that you have? One bad spill at Mavs could potentially put you out for a long time…

That’s an interesting question. For me right now, I surf the best when I’m just having fun. I have fun doing everything: long boarding, short boarding, competitive surfing, big wave surfing. I honestly feel like the best surfer is good all around, doing everything. So I kinda try and do everything. 

I feel that with big wave surfing, it’s not too often that the waves are big, so it’s kinda easy to balance that with regular short boarding. When it’s that big anyway, you’re probably not going to be short boarding.

It keeps it fun, too. That’s a good attitude to have. People can get burnt out doing something when it stops being fun. I remember when you were probably 13 or 14, before you were surfing Mavs, I talked to your mom about you possibly surfing Mavs someday and I could just read the anxiety on her face. 

She said, “I can’t really control him. He’s dead set on going out there” (laughs). Since you’ve proven you can hang out there, has she relaxed a little more about you being out there? Or is that something that a mom can never quit being worried about?

My mom might have a different answer than me, but I think that if my dad is confident with me being out there, she kinda has trust in his judgement. Especially because he has so much experience surfing out there himself. She takes that as a sign that I’m prepared. But still, I’m sure it’s stressful and she had to go through the same thing when he was surfing out there.

That’s just part of life. So, when you’re not working on your surfing, competing, and chasing big waves, what kind of stuff do you like to do in your free time to balance out your grommethood and just being a kid?

I just love doing any sport, I’m so competitive. Any sport I can be doing is fun for me so I’m always trying to play basketball and stuff with my friends, especially when the waves are flat. Also, trying to work out as much as possible to stay fit. I’ve really gotten into guitar in the last few months, playing any chance I can get.

Recently, this has been my favorite thing to do, especially since I’ve been injured. Music is so fun, especially if you’re a professional surfer and your traveling. You can’t surf all day, so you want to have other interests to balance things out. Being able to play music is one of the most awesome things you can do.

My cousins Finn and Cooper, they’re brothers, two years apart, and both are really close in age to me. So we play all the time. Pretty much everyday since I’ve been hurt.

That’s dope. Anyone else you’d like to thank before we sign off here?

Yeah, I’d like to thank my friends and family, as well as my sponsors—Quiksilver, Play Bigger, FCS, Lost surfboards, Oakley, and Pacific Wave.

To keep up with Adam’s exploits, give him a follow on Instagram @adambartlett_