John and Jon break down the story behind the Red Tiger that JJF rode to a third world title. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
John John Florence and Jon Pyzel have had a long working relationship. It started when JJF was just five years old, a little blond kid who was just learning about how much he loved to slide around on waves. Pyzel shaped him his first surfboard all those years ago, and in the decades since, they’ve developed into one of the most prolific shaper-surfer partnerships in surfing history.
John John, of course, has three world titles. Pyzel has become one of the world’s most sought after shapers. They’ve created many magic surfboards together — the Ghost, the Shadow, and the Highline, to name a few of the most popular ones — and in the last few years, the Red Tiger.
The Red Tiger is John’s favorite surfboard in waves that are little more suited to the everyday surfer. Medium sized waves that might not be as fast or as powerful as firing Pipeline. It was created under a simple directive from Florence: “Make it fast and fun.”
In 2024, Florence won his third world title on a 6’0″ Red Tiger. Interestingly, though, Pyzel himself hadn’t actually laid a finger on that particular surfboard until the day before the finals at Lowers.
“Our highly skilled crew at our Oceanside factory built the board from start to finish on ultra-short notice just the month before,” the Pyzel team wrote. “John John only rode it three times before he took it out, rode five waves in two heats, defeated a raging Italo Ferreira, and won his third World Title on it.”
In the video you see here, John and Jon walk the viewer through the board’s backstory and why it works the way it does. It mostly worked the way it did for John John because… well, because he’s John John, but if you’re hoping to ride a surfboard that’s high-performance while still manageable in average waves, it might be a surfboard to think about.
