Name a single North Shore resident bigger than John John Florence these days. You can’t. You can try, but you’d fail. And in a time where every sponsored surfer has a vlog, a collection of new wavepool edits every week, and somebody’s products to sell on their Instagram feed, John John is surfing’s version of a unicorn/hermit hybrid. He’s just seemingly happy to keep to himself as arguably the best surfer on the planet.
This is why even if you’re Jamie O’Brien, a guy who seems to keep himself as busy as any other surfer on the planet, when “John” pops up on your caller ID to say he wants to surf, you go surf. And if he calls again later in the afternoon and says he wants to surf again, you find a dry wetsuit and get back out there.
If there were an All-North Shore super team, John John and J.O.B. would likely be co-captains. Even if it’s May and the 7-Mile Miracle is about to shut down for the summer, these guys make the place look really, really fun.
