Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Florida anymore. CJ Hobgood and Kelly Slater, far from home. Photos: ASP/Kirstin
If you want to be a successful competitive surfer, it’s going to take effort, persistence, and practice, just like anything else. You’ll likely have to move to a place that offers the best possible opportunities to hone your skills. So, if you want to be a successful competitive surfer, you should move to Florida.
It is a source of perpetual irony to anyone who is paying attention that the greatest competitive male surfer of all time hails from a place much maligned for its lack of surf. Oh wait—amendment to that last line—the greatest competitive male and female surfers of all time hail from a place much maligned for its lack of surf. And the absurdity doesn’t end there. Aside from Slater and Lisa Anderson, Florida surfers have had a long history of success in competitive surfing carrying over into the modern era. In fact, having only three surfers currently in the Top 38 ASP rankings is somewhat of a weak showing, historically. But, given that there are only five surfers each hailing from Hawaii and California respectively, three doesn’t seem that bad. Anyway, most of the preceding information, including the irony it invokes is, at this point, common knowledge. However, considering it ironic that Kelly Slater, the Hobgoods, the Lopez’s, the Spencers and Lisa Anderson—among many more competitively successful surfers—are from a place with crappy surf, assumes one very important detail that may deserve some rethinking: the fact that Florida has bad surf.
But Florida does have crappy surf. When you compare its surf to its opposite coast—or even adjacent coast at times, Florida is small, weak, inconsistent, and oh yeah, small. Remember Aaron Chang’s Jax Pier series? Or the TSJ’s spin the globe shot from Ormond? Me neither. The fact is, only on the rarest of occasions do the waves look aesthetically pleasing. You can argue with left-coasters ‘til you’re blue in the face, but the waves in Florida, by our current definition, are beat.
Meanwhile, Florida shredders continue to push the envelope of high-performance, above-the-lip competitive surfing. Florida surfers consistently dominated the string of East Coast big money contests this fall with wins from J-ville’s own Ryan Briggs and Cody Thompson in New York and Puerto Rico, respectively. Tack on team Sunrise’s utter-ownership of the National Surf Shop Challenge crown and it’ll really make you wonder how such talent is produced and nurtured in waves that aren’t any good.
The answer may lie in redefining our definition of good waves. In fact, when you begin to look at how talent and skill is actually nurtured, it can be argued that Florida waves provide a great opportunity to develop your skills as an aspiring pro. So, if you are a Floridian looking to become a pro surfer, unpack your bags and recoup the security deposit on that pad in Cardiff. If you’re from another state and wondering how you can get that competitive edge, it’s time to make your move. Your best locale for improving your skill set may be somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon and far enough south east to meet people who long for the social policies of the time the Mason-Dixon was established.
But, before you embark, we must discuss practice–something critical to the success of Florida surfers. As it turns out, the pros weaned on Florida waves have had better practice. In his book, The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle writes how new brain research led to discoveries about how people become proficient and, eventually, very talented at certain things. Coyle spends much of the book relaying anecdotal snippets of people who are very skilled and how their practice differs from others. The anecdote that seemed most appropriate to explain the success of Florida surfers is Coyle’s breakdown of how the Brazilian game of futbol de salao has contributed to the country’s international dominance in soccer. Futbol de salao is soccer played on a small indoor field with a heavy ball. The close quarters mean quick decisions are very important, as every second the ball is not in motion is an opportunity for defenders to close in. Not only does the small field lead to more touches per player, it also compacts the spaces in which players must fit the ball. Futbol de salao players end up with more practice in more critical situations and develop, out of necessity, more moves to avoid defenders, as they can’t simply toe-blow the ball across the field. Many of today’s most successful soccer stars grew up playing the indoor game, including international footballer, Ronaldinho.
Now, imagine that normal-sized soccer field is a perfect point break (maybe Rincon). And then imagine the indoor soccer field is a Northeast windswell at a Florida beach break. Surfers in Florida are attempting critical moves in smaller spaces. On a good Rincon day—after hassling with 50 other dudes—a three-hour session may net a fiery-young prospect-to-be a dozen to two dozen waves, each one providing an almost identical face, with critical sections coming at a similar time, every time. The three-hour session at that crappy beachy would provide the same upstart countless waves, each with a drastically different shape. Every critical moment, from drop-in to kickout/close-out/crap-out, would provide a different, split-second decision to make. By current brain-researcher’s understanding of how our neurological faculties function, the Florida beach break is the better wave because it provides better practice.
Some terminology from Coyle’s book and blog, Thetalentcode.com, adds more perspective. “Reach” is a term that Coyle uses to say that the best learning takes place just outside one’s comfort zone. The unfamiliarity of each wave that tiny wind swell provides our aspiring comp-surfer means lots more learning and practice outside his or her comfort zone when compared to the predictable point break walls of Cali. “Loop” basically means repetition and, as mentioned before, the wave count is likely higher in Florida for many reasons including shorter swell period and fewer people in the water. Finally, “mix” refers to the idea of switching it up and practicing lots of different situations. While it could be argued that other locales provide an opportunity for mix, to be sure one will not be left for wanting mix in Florida.
When I proposed this idea—Florida as a hotbed for developing surfing talent—to Coyle, he said it reminded him of professional ski phenom, Lindsay Vonn, honing her skills on tiny hills in the Midwest. He added, “small is beautiful, especially when it comes to developing skills.”
Knowing what we now know about brain science, the success of Florida surfers on a competitive level may have been fairly predictable. The surfers training on better waves, more frequently, win more contests. Now that isn’t very ironic.
