But Enough of Hill & Donny

The Saint sent me this on John John Florence. He's that Paid Professional I put up a video of a year or two back. This kid grew up on the North Shore of Oahu and went pro right out of high school, getting a few million a year from his main sponsor Hurley. Instead of spending it on drugs, women, and liquor as--clutch your pearls--surfers have been known to do, he bought a house, learned to fly a plane, got heavily into film photography, and bought a sailboat, teaching himself to sail. He's doing it exactly right.

The kid is freakishly talented in the water, and though he hasn't won a title yet, he's far and away the most popular surfer among surf fans. He's leading this year with two contests to go, so fingers crossed. He's still tight with his two brothers and the small group of friends he grew up with on the North Shore. You see them on the boat in this video. How they all avoided the slacker/drug track there is a wonder but they seem like a great crew. At least one of them, a skinny little guy Wasserman, has been traveling with him and helping him out on the contest circuit.

Hurley is doing a 7-part series of shorts about him and the fourth one--this one--just came out. His main rival is a Brazilian, a huge talent with machine-like consistency who won the title two years ago. In contrast, John John's style is pretty unique, loose-limbed and almost awkward like an overgrown puppy, but that's a lot of his appeal. Early on an interviewer asked him about it but he said he liked his style fine and would stick with it. Pretty confident for a young guy in a sport obsessed with how you move. Now they say groms everywhere are copying him.

Hard to explain how difficult it is to do what he does on a wave, I imagine it looks like a bunch of gymnastics in the water but suffice to say millions of surfers work at it day in and day out and they're all in awe of this kid. The video is made for surfers, so the surfing bit might get tedious. Deal with it.