Conner Coffin surfs like everyone wants to surf. His style is perfect for big, long walls. Somewhere that calls for that old school power game. Somewhere like Sunset. And while he’s always a threat at any stop, he was not the first guy most people thought was going to win the 2017 Vans World Cup at Sunset Beach. But win he did, and win he did in very convincing fashion.
“I’ve been coming over to Hawaii since I was 12,” said Coffin after his unexpected win. “I just love surfing here. It’s always been a dream to win in Hawaii–I struggled with contest results in the past, but always had so much fun surfing here and I knew I’d put it together at some point.”
Coffin is currently sitting in the 21st spot on the CT. For the last 10-plus years, both Conner and his brother Parker has spent winters on the North Shore, building confidence and respect in some of the world’s heaviest lineups.
You haven’t seen Coffin around the QS all that much this year. He decided early on that he’d give most of the events a miss–a risky move, considering that he’s sitting just one slot above the top 22 cut for the CT. This year, he’s surfed only three QS events, but he was a threat at each of them.
