Issue 74: Coco Cairns
photography by Andrew sheilds and Beatrice domond.
Back when Coco Cairns was born, a career as a freesurfer if you were a female was not really a thing.
Now, twenty years on, as the weird world of surfing has moved closer towards equality, that career has become very possible, and Coco is one of our favourites to do it. If you’ve ever met Coco, you’ll understand that she is a conduit of ease, both in her surfing and her nature. In these strange hyper-online times, being a professional at anything demands more of those talented individuals than ever before. It is something Coco understands well, often making fun of how weird it all can be, but never complaining. Instead, she leans into all the behind-the-scenes aspects - learning to edit, styling her own shoots, bringing along her own cameras, and remaining open - but more importantly, she is grateful for the experiences.
She might have a life that many of us envy, but within five minutes of hanging out with her, you’ll forget you were ever jealous. She’s a rare hybrid of exceptional talent and kindness, and about as grounded as they come. When I text Coco, she is in New York and by the time this comes out, she will be somewhere else. Maybe somewhere tropical; her hometown Noosa, her current home on the Goldy, or South Africa, perhaps. I ask her what music she has on repeat and she names ‘A Rose Is Still A Rose’ by Aretha Franklin, Big Thief’s latest album Double Infinity, ‘Nakamarra’ by Hiatus Kaiyote, and ‘Over & Over’ by Fleetwood Mac. I think you can tell a lot about someone by the music they listen to and if you read into those answers enough you might be able to figure out Coco’s depth and style - something she has no limits of and why she is featured in this issue.
Get your hands on issue 74, here.
It’s your first time in New York! How’s it going?
It’s going good! I haven’t died yet so I’m stoked.
Was it a tough landing?
No, I think I just didn’t really think about what I was arriving into until I was here. I realized that this is one of the biggest cities in the world and that I am from a very small town, and I needed to prepare myself a little better.
What brought you?
I meant to come via Europe but that fell through, so now I’m here visiting a friend with a friend and we are going to Oceanside, California, after this, so this is sort of a pit stop.
Are you surfing?
In Oceanside, yeah. I might surf tomorrow at Rockaway if Jaleesa can take us.
That’d be hilarious, you and Jal on rented soft tops at Rockaway. Is it just overwhelming out here?
Today was a big turnaround day for me. Before this I was a bit on edge, but now I love it!
We were talking about this earlier: how long ago did you realize that you’re a pro surfer?
Hmm… I probably realized like six months ago that I’m making a living off of this, and things keep popping up, so it’s working out.
Has there been a mindset shift?
I think maybe my confidence has shifted a lot? I’m a pretty shy person, and I feel like it’s hard for me to open up, but since I’ve realized that what I’m doing is working, and that I’m a good person…
Like morally?
I dunno-
Like you’re not going to say something insane in the press…
Well, the press isn’t really a big part of my life yet. I wouldn’t say that I’m having interviews very frequently. I think that my confidence inside and outside of the water has gone up in the past six months, but that could also be the people I surround myself with. They’re good people.
Do you do other stuff apart from surfing?
I people-watch most of the time.
What does that entail?
I don’t know, I feel like I’m being interrogated!
This is an interview! I’m sorry. Okay, walk me through your non-surfing day.
I wake up, brush my teeth, step out the door, I’ll hang out with a friend and maybe go to a coffee shop, I’ll go home and read or write or draw, and will go out in the afternoon and watch the sunset or go for a walk - I just enjoy the calm.
Would you consider yourself a solitary person?
Yes, definitely. Very.
What have you been reading lately?
The last book I finished reading was Daisy Jones & The Six. I liked it! I felt like it was hard to get into, I tried to read it a year ago and couldn’t finish it but once I got through it I really liked it.
I feel like books like that kind of require a bit of adulthood in order to understand - like some experience.
Yeah, totally. Now I’m reading Rick Rubin’s A Way of Being.
Oh, shit, okay so nothing light.
No, not really. I like to feel. It was the first time in a while where I connected with that kind of book very quickly. Normally, the books about someone’s perspective on life, it can be hard for me to connect with, but I feel like I connected with his very quickly.
Some of his stuff feels kind of too philosophical for me at times, what do you think you connected with and why?
I connected with the creative side of it, where he’s describing how things come through a person rather than the person creating something. I liked the perspective of creativity, and the idea of something being brought through you, and knowing that it’s going to happen no matter what, even if it means with someone else somewhere else, and that the most creative minds are the ones who are able to be present and in touch enough to let that thing come through them and feel when something is right to create.
When you’re writing or drawing, do you have an idea beforehand or do you just sort of start?
I just start. I don’t plan anything. I was able to relate a lot as well to the ideas of knowing when to stop or start a project, because that’s something that I struggle with a lot. I’m kind of a perfectionist, and I find it hard to know when something is complete or when to let go of something and start something new.
Can you give me an example?
Anything. When I’m making little films, or when I’m drawing or writing things.
I ask a lot of people about when they decide that they’re done with something, and so often the answer is something like, ‘because it had to be done.’ I think without deadlines, no one would ever say something is done.
Yeah, if I choose to share something, then that’s when something is complete. Otherwise, it’s more just when I decide to turn a page and start a new drawing, and when I start something new, I don’t go back to the old thing.
That’s a very physical way of ending things. Very external.
Yeah, I would say that gives me more creative space in my brain to have a physical end.
I’ve never seen your drawings, where do you put them?
Oh, I never show them. I like to have some things that are just for me.
Are we talking poetry? Prose?
Hmm… some is poetry, I guess. I wouldn’t label it as that. It’s just writing whatever I feel.
How do you think your creative style shows up in your profession?
I’d like to say it shows up in the way that my body and my brain act and feel while I’m in the water. Being in the water feels the same as when I’m drawing or being creative.
Oh, like the same neurons are firing?
Yeah! The same kind of like, super inspired feeling, I get that feeling when I’m enjoying my… profession.
Is it weird to call it your profession?
Yeah, yeah it is. It’s surfing! I think it’s so easy to appreciate it that I forget that it’s a profession. That’s important too, I’ve been trying to separate the job part from the part where I just get to have fun.