One of the beautiful things about John John Florence’s greatness is that we’ve all watched it evolve for decades now. He was a phenom from the day we first heard the name, whether you lived on Oahu and recognized this fearless kid with scraggly blonde hair or saw clips of him surfing somewhere on the North Shore. The bar was set high very early as far as expectations go, and he’s managed to live up to all the wild speculation about his greatness — heavy stuff to throw at a kid.
This clip, which is apparently from 2006, would put John at about 13 years old on an early trip to J-Bay. The whole Florence clan is there, including Mom John, and the late Sonny Miller, who throws a few questions at the soon-to-be world champ. His impressions of J-Bay are pretty on-brand. He’s stoked, but even tempered about it.
“It’s pretty fun. It’s small though…It looks like when it gets a little bigger it’s such a sick wave. It’s so long. It’s pretty shallow and sharp though. I rolled across the bottom a couple of times,” he goes on, becoming the first Hawaiian on a surf trip to ever tell somebody the water isn’t too cold. “My brothers love it. Nathan’s first wave…honestly he’s so stoked on it. Got a good little barrel.”
