By Phil Jarratt
Wow! John Florence take a bow.
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone raise the bar so high in a single event since, well, Kelly.
It was funny, I started out watching the Drug Awareness Margaret River Pro from the VIP Lounge at Surfers Point and finished it watching on my phone from a park in Avalon Beach in Sydney, but no matter how you viewed it, John John’s performance throughout was next level.
My old surf photographer mate Peter “Joli” Wilson has shot more ASP and WSL heats than anyone over the last 40 years, and he blogged: “John’s performance redefined the way to surf Margaret River. Long time observers were saying that they had never seen anyone surf Margaret River like John did over the past few days. His surfing was sublime with positioning and timing; his boards seemed to be cutting through sections and getting more speed than anyone else.”
On that field in Avalon, another old mate, former pro surfer and Quiksilver executive Bruce Raymond took time out from his new restaurant venture to come and say hi between the semis and the final.
Bruce, who was one of Kelly Slater’s mentors in the early days, said: “In my lifetime I never thought I’d see anyone surf better than Kelly, but I just have.”
It’s hard to define exactly what John John (sorry, I still can’t think of him by other than his baby name) is doing that puts him in a class of his own, but my best guess is that he casually links big moves that other surfers are capable of doing, but he adds 20 or 30 per cent to them. The wow factor comes into play virtually every time he changes direction.
There was no better example of this than Big Saturday. When the greats were faltering on 15-foot faces held up by stiff offshore winds – even Kelly tried too hard – John John just paddled his six-two into the line-up and casually picked off the bombs like it was a two-foot shorebreak. He made no concessions to the power of the ocean, just stood and delivered.
When the Margaret River Pro went into hiatus for a long week of small swell and onshore winds, there was a lot of speculation about whether John John could keep the momentum going, but in the second quarter final he came straight out of the boxes with a nine plus to get the ball rolling against Michel Bourez.
His heat scores from this point on were composed entirely of nine-plus waves. He combo-ed Gold Coaster Jack Freestone in the semis and did the same to old foe Kolohe Andino in the final.
His performances were career-shattering for his rivals. As Kolohe said at the presentations: “I’m just thankful I was on the other side of the draw.”
John John now goes into Bells Beach in the ratings leader’s yellow jersey, seeming unstoppable in his campaign for a second world title. But there are nine events to come and anything could happen. Like the kid who was born to rule could break a leg!
A day on the green
A few years back a surfboard-collecting tragic named Damion Fuller contacted me about a surfboard swap meet he was organising in the car park of the Deus Ex Machina headquarters in inner Sydney.
He’d heard I had a large collection of vintage magazines and surf memorabilia and offered me a stall.
We flew down with two large suitcases full of surf history and came back with very little. The Deus swap meet was a huge success.
Damo has had an interesting career path since then but his interest in collectible surfboards has never faltered, and when he phoned me about his new swap meet in Avalon, I didn’t hesitate. This time we drove down with a truckload of books and old mags, set up alongside surfing tinkers Dick Hoole, Mexican Sumpter and Jack McCoy and enjoyed another great day in the warm autumn sun.
In the late afternoon I screened Men of Wood and Foam in the bar of the adjacent Avalon Bowls Club, followed by a chat show with surfboard pioneers Denny Keogh and Mick Dooley.
Avalon is such a magnet for creative talent that the small room was soon packed with people like photographer and film-maker John “Oggy” Ogden, Tony “Captain Goodvibes” Edwards, Swellnet editor Stu Nettle, vodka baron Vitek, and Bali surf shop pioneers John and Val Hames.
It was an older demographic, to be sure, but fortunately surfer mates Rob Bain and Matty Chojnacki turned up and helped push the average age down into merely middle.
Another success for the Board Collector, and we head north with a much lighter load.
