“I want to see you succeed so it becomes cool, not just some stupid novelty thing I do.” So says Albee Layer to John Florence. Albee is a man who stands a little bit above and a little bit outside of the thickest of the mainstream of surfing. He’s not a perennial CTer. He’s just a guy who has made a name for himself for surfing huge waves and doing huge airs. He’s outspoken; unafraid to call bullshit when he sees it. And he desperately wants surfing to progress past where it is today. He wants to fast-track the slow-moving aerial movement. He wants airs to become a bigger part of surfing — not just a small fraction, but a big piece of that delicious pie.
So he, along with two of the brothers Florence and Matt Meola, just flipped Cloud Chase, the short film you see above, onto the internet. In it, four of the best surfers in the world do things that only the best surfers in the world can do. And, just for a second, can we mention Meola’s fearless approach to the flats? That man has joints made of rubber.
