While his brother was busy battling his way through the Margaret River Pro, Nathan Florence was living the freesurfer’s dream. In his most recent YouTube video, Nathan gave us a behind-the-scenes snapshot of his experience at last week’s Championship Tour event.
The day started off with an early morning trip to The Box. After a few barrels at the infamous Western Australian slab, he returned to check in on his brother’s progress in the comp – including a view from the beach of that insane 10-point wave JJF landed in the semifinals.
As Nathan goes through his day, shuttling back and forth between getting barreled and checking in on his brother’s progress, we get a first-hand look at the difference between freesurfing and competition surfing. While John John was sweating it out in heat after heat and eventually fighting for his life in the finals, Nathan… pretty much just had a delightful day.
Of course, in the end, John John succumbed to Jack Robinson in the final, but it didn’t put much of a damper on the proceedings. “Would have loved for John to win, but we also love Jack,” summed up Nathan. “It’s two times they’ve met in the final and I think most of Australia would agree those are the two guys we want to see in the final, here at Margaret River,”
As to the brothers’ plans after the competition, while John John was preparing to jet back to Hawai’i and his pregnant wife, Nathan decided to stick around the continent for a bit. “Probably be around West Oz for a bit, maybe jump around Australia,” he said. “We’ll see where the swell takes us.”
