This year will be Florence’s last on tour. He won’t be any lesser for it, but the surfing world will.
Back in 2020, when John John Florence left Hurley, I wrote an article imploring the flax-haired Hawaiian to go solo from the surf game. To free the shackles of both WSL and the mainstream brands.
To wit, are we asking the wrong questions when it comes to John John, Kolohe and the Hurley crew?
Instead of guessing which brand they will go to next, we should be questioning why they need a brand at all?
They are the brand.
Etc. The article ruffled a lot of industry feathers at the time. 300 comments all told, many outraged that the double John would turn his back on the industry that so gratefully sustains him. That any of us would entertain the idea!
Yet in the intervening years he did go on his own way. The launch of his own mega-brand, Florence Marine X, appears to have been a success. And the article was somewhat prescient in terms of the rise of the YouTube surf star (if not nominating the wrong Florence).
But I’m not calling Nostradamus status just yet. There’s still one major recommendation yet to come to fruition. John John is still tied to the WSL. The question now being: for how much longer?
After another season of woeful waves and shoddy underscoring on his part, surely the stubbled one must be wondering himself.
Why bother with the WSL?
He’s done it all. Two time world champion. Greatest surfer in the world from two to twenty feet. Unmatched admiration from the surfing universe. Why stay chained to the tour when it delivers so little to him?
The recent comp in Jeffrey’s Bay brought that question to the fore. There was the much-covered ballyhoo in JJF’s semi final against Connor O’Leary. And rightfully so. But for me, there was another exchange earlier in the comp that would have been just as jarring for him.
JJF v Italo V Callum Robson in the opening seeding round. Head high sets with a slack wind but imperfect angle. Sectiony, fast. Contestable but by no means classic J Bay. Earlier in the heat Italo was rewarded an 8.17 for a single air reverse. A pump and spin hail mary that was impressive enough in its rotation and length, but also landed poorly. A messy foam recovery. Not the surfing we want to see at JBay. For context, this was also the same round and day as Yago Dora’s 10 for a similar single air.
With a few minutes to go Florence is in second place. He takes a smaller set wave with priority, and for his first turn nails a text book air reverse. Fins high and inverted. Not a full rotation, but a massive degree of difficulty for an opening move. He lands it perfectly and transitions into three consecutive lip hammers, all without a moment’s downtime.
Progression, power, flow. Aerial surfing incorporated seamlessly with critical turns. Exactly where competitive surfing should be in 2023.
The usually reserved Florence even gave the judging tower a subtle look back as he closed out the wave. How do you like them apples?
Only .1 of a point more than Italo’s air reverse, it would turn out. And a full point and a half less than Yago’s. It was enough to put him into first place. But surely it must have left him wondering – the fuck else do they want from me?
Italo and Yago’s airs were impressive. Jbay was a lot quicker, a lot less open faced than usual, so it could be argued they were surfing to the conditions with their single-turn waves. But that only makes Jon Jon’s four turn combination even more difficult. Surely we are past the days of excellent scores for single airs, unless they’re in the never before seen in competition realm. And what’s more, it’s a style of surfing that should be anathema to the world’s premiere down the line point break. This was 2013-era scoring.
All of this is inconsequential, and has been argued ad nauseum. Surf judging will always court controversy. It’s as mired in subjectivity, in personal bias and opinion, as is politics and religion. Brazilian air surfing. Australian rail surfing. Hawaiian power surfing. Everyone gets under or overscored at some point. At the least it makes for great banter.
But in John John’s case, there’s nothing left on the tour for him. And with every underscore, every mistimed comp window, every title decided at 4 foot Trestles, with his little brother and the world slab tour beckoning, with the carrot of Olympic qualification dangling for a only a couple more months… the question must be asked again and again. Why bother with the WSL?
It appears the rot is taking hold. His recent Instagram post was a devastating throat punch to the League.
Thank you Africa! Had so much fun free surfing jbay, and hanging with the family. Here’s some frame grabs from our red Komodo-X.
Florence is no confrontationalist. Would never dream of passive aggressive open letters or impassioned Instagram posts.
But you don’t need to be trained in geopolitical diplomacy to translate the intended meaning. It’s as powerful in what it didn’t say as what it did.
“Had so much fun free surfing jbay.”
Free surfing. No mention of the comp, or the WSL. Ipso facto, EAD* WSL.
I’m calling it now. My 2020 predictions will finally come to pass. This year will be Florence’s last on tour. He won’t be any lesser for it, but the surfing world will.
If I am wrong, which I pray that I am, may I be damned to write for a click-bait-obsessed surf tabloid for all eternity.
* Eat a Dick.
