by “It’s one of those years,” Jackson Baker said. The 26-year-old Novocastrian can claim to be the world’s unluckiest surfer in 2023.
After a strong start to the World Surf League, including a career-best quarter-final at Bells Beach, Baker had a decent result at the mid-season exit to stay on tour. In recent years, the WSL has introduced the dreaded “cut” whereby the field is reduced halfway through the campaign – leaving only 22 men and 10 women.
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In overcast conditions at Margaret River, against fellow Australian Callum Robson, Baker needed to get through to the round of 16 to secure his place on the tour. But he fell short by 1.5 points against Robson, and was cut unceremoniously.
Baker then spent the rest of the year working in the second Challenger series, trying to requalify for the WSL. He went to the final event of the season in Saquarema, Brazil, on the brink of qualification. He needed to win until the quarter-finals to earn a place back on tour, but fell by 1.3 points to Shion Crawford of Hawaii. “Lost “f$cken sucks,” Baker later summed up on Instagram.
“With one spot and one heat,” says Baker, a few weeks on from the loss. “It definitely hurts, it’s unfortunate. I think if I was a little younger it would have been taken differently, but being a little older, more mature, I want to take it in the most positive way I can.
“I certainly don’t feel lucky,” says Baker. “Now I need to create my own luck and not leave it to chance.”
Baker was born and raised in Merewether, Newcastle. He has been part of a crop of Newcastle surfers to love the WSL in recent years, with Ryan Callinan, who finished second at Bells this year, and Morgan Cibilic. It continues a proud surfing tradition in the region.
“We have a great community here,” says Baker. “You go back to [four-time world champion] Mark Richards, Matt Hoy, Luke Egan, Nicky Wood – we just have a rich history, which is why we get good surfers from our area, because we have great role models. I hope Morgan and I are doing the same for the younger generation now.”
After a successful junior career, Baker progressed through the qualification ranks and was on the verge of making the WSL when the pandemic hit. It was a tough time for many athletes, but especially for those who were about to make it.
“No one was really buying surf products at the time and the thing just took off, and that became difficult,” he says. Baker went to work as a bricklayer and delivery driver to finance his surfing; his local surf club even crowdfunded to support Baker’s travel to qualifying events.
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The campaign was a success and Baker enjoyed a breakout year on the WSL in 2022, surviving the cut and earning solid results in Portugal, Brazil and El Salvador. Baker also earned a cult following for his blunt post-heat commentary. Along with his moustache, Baker appears, in the words of surf magazine Tracks, to be “the kind of pro surfer who reminds [fans] with a friend from the pub”.
“I’ll put a spade on a spade,” Baker said. The surfer says he has learned to embrace opportunities in the media as an opportunity to show his true self to fans. “I don’t want to be up there with my Ripcurl hat [his sponsor] and sound like a robot,” he says. “I want to show people who I am.”
So who is Jackson Baker? “I’m glad I got lucky, a guy who loves beer,” he says. “I want people to know that. But I’m still a professional athlete at the same time – it’s just about having that balance. And I think since I did the tour people relate to me more, because I’m not afraid to show who I am.
“I don’t want to be this black and white professional athlete. I want to show that I do other things too – I’m not boring. I promise I’m not boring.”
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Surfing Baker has an eye not only for the big Australian turn but also for the bright pink board beneath his feet. The color palette is a tribute to Baker’s mother, Tracy, who died of breast cancer in 2016. The tragedy helped Baker keep the highlights of his surfing career in perspective. “I’m very lucky to be able to do what I do – I get paid to go surfing and live the dream,” he says. “Losing mum that year put a lot of things in life into perspective.”
Immediately after the catastrophic heat loss in Brazil, Baker met a Brazilian who had founded a breast cancer charity after losing his own mother to the disease. The surfer decided to donate his second place surfboard to charity, to help raise money for breast cancer support in Brazil.
“It was the way it was meant to be, that moment,” he says. “I had just gone through one of the hardest things in my career, not doing the trip again, but that crossed my mind. Attitude is a big thing.”
Baker reserves the pink boards when competing on the WSL. In its first year on tour, the board was wrapped entirely in pastel pink, but this year the design featured fluorescent pink at the bottom of the board. “I think I have a year to think about the design for 2025,” he says. “Everyone asks if I’m going to take them on the Challenger series, but I want to keep it straight [WSL] – so it makes me angry to go back.”
Tracy Baker’s legacy lives on through her son. “I wouldn’t be here without her,” says Baker. “To lose her – it really motivated me to make the trip. I do it for myself but in memory of her. To be at Bells Beach this year with my pink surfboards, on home turf, around my family – that’s what I’ve dreamed of for a long time. And to have her number on my back – 61, the year she was born – is just surreal.
“Surfing is nice in any rash shirt. But with that number on my back, that’s when I really feel at home. That’s when you’re in the top 32 – that’s where I feel I belong.”
After an unlucky 2023, Baker is hopeful of a better year ahead to secure a spot on the WSL again in 2025. In fact, he’s less optimistic than determined, an attitude of inevitability. Baker is sure to reclaim his rightful place among the world’s best. “The first two years were a learning curve,” he admits. “When I get back, in ’25, I’ll be a different person and a much better athlete.”
Before the Challenger series starts in May, Baker has his eye on a wild spot at Bells Beach. After achieving his best ever result at Bells this year, with a 61 on his back and a pink board under his arm, he hopes to do even better.
“It would be good to come in as a wild card and hopefully close the event,” he says. “Even win as a wild card and say, ‘Hey boys, I’ll be back next year.'”
