The mind of a teenager is a world many people have yet to comprehend. As I sit here reminiscing on my years of debauchery and emotional uncertainty, I have found it has been tough to reach back into those times of hormonal behavior and rebellion to figure out what it was that made me tick, leading me to be the person I have become today. With this curiosity to better understand the younger generation, we have reached out to the youth of the East End. Not just any kids, but the groms — the kids that surf, and do it well.
We recently caught up with 16 year-old phenom and Whalebone Creative team rider Jared Bono to better understand what’s goin’ on in that young brain of his, and see what the groms are up to these days. Jared has had an impressive run over the years competing in many of the nation’s biggest amateur and pro junior events. Being that the East End is home for Bono and has shaped him into the surfer and person he is today, we decided to profile him for the first rendition of our new series — Youthful Dispositions.
Ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, Jared Bono.
Name: Jared Bono
Age: 16
Sponsors: Whalebone Creative, mat2bag
School: International Virtual Learning Academy
Years surfing: 7
WB: You just did a marathon sesh on the East End somewhere and you’re starving. Where are you getting food?
JB: Sausages.
WB: 5 Mil, perfect, pumping northeast tubes or a rippable point in boardies?
JB: 5 mil, perfect, pumping northeast tubes — surfing perfect waves at home is always sick.
Bono blasting one in Costa Rica this past winter. Photo: Surfing Nosara
WB: Free surf or the contest grind?
JB: Free surf. Contests are fun and all, but it gets really stressful doing them one after another. It’s way more fun to just go surf with your friends.
WB: Favorite surfer, surf movie and surf publication/website … ready go!
JB:
- Mitch Coleborn
- Lost Atlas
- Stab Mag
WB: Surf travel provides from some crazy stories, give us your craziest.
JB: I have a few stories, but I’m still young and waiting for the really crazy ones to happen. One of my craziest stories so far though, was from a trip to Panama last winter. I took off on a pretty good sized set, and immediately fell and got worked. I broke my board and I was getting washed pretty far down the beach. By the time I finally got out, I had no idea where I was. I started walking through this really weird swamp that had a house in the middle of it and that was kinda freaky. I kept going through it anyway and when I finally got through it, I ended up stuck in a jungle for like 30 minutes. Then I finally heard my friends calling for me and I found them.
WB: So you give surf lessons for the Montauk Boardriders. When giving surf lessons on the East End you meet some weird characters and while in the ocean, anything can happen. What’s your weirdest surf lesson experience?
JB: I was giving a lesson and I went to help this guy and ended up accidentally touching a grown man’s ass. Awkward.
WB: You just got your license, where you driving to first?
JB: Anywhere that’s tropical and has tacos, that I can drive to.
WB: If you could get any chick in the world to go to prom with you, who would it be, and what would you say to her to get her to go with you?
JB: Kendall Jenner and I would say, “you’re a smoke will you go to prom with me? I have a limo.”
Afternoon Delight.
WB: So you’re in a man on man heat with Kelly Slater, by some miraculous circumstance you have a slight lead. There’s 10 seconds left and a set coming right for Slater as you sit elbow to elbow with him in the lineup, what do you say to him to get in his head in one sentence or less?
JB: How do you get your head so slick? Do you nare it or use shaving cream?
WB: Favorite bar of wax?
JB: Fu wax.
WB: Tighty whities, boxers or none of the above?
JB: I’m more of a boxers kind of guy.
WB: Any closing remarks?
JB: Kendall Jenner is really hot.
After some investigation, we gained some helpful insight into the brain of a teenager — well at least Jared’s. We learned that teenage boys still fantasize over their dream chick, can be witty at times and, like the rest of us, enjoy a good taco in paradise here and there. For more about Jared, and to follow his adventures as a punk adolescent surfer, head over to his Instagram @Jared_Bono or look for him down at the beach munching back-to-back breakfast burritos at the Ditch Witch.
