In surfing, style matters. It’s hard to define exactly what it is, but everyone knows it when they see it. Act casual. Loose limbs, no excess movements. Use the wave, don’t attack the wave, but use it in attack mode. Try hard without looking like it’s hard, you know?
Vissla and Inherent Bummer have a series that examines why, exactly, style matters so much in surfing, and they enlisted style masters Gerry Lopez, Brad Gerlach, Craig Anderson, Kai Neville, and Thomas Campbell to break it all down.
“In the final installment of our 4-part series with Inherent Bummer our panel of style masters and connoisseurs debate why style matters,” the Vissla team wrote, “and how or if we should implement it into competitive surfing.”
Style is completely subjective, so when it comes to competitive surfing, judging it is… well, pretty much impossible. Still, though, it plays a role, but that’s just one of those weird little quirks about surfing that is impossible to escape from. It’s also ever-evolving, which is the best part about it.
“Style and radical maneuvers are like yin and yang,” says Gerry Lopez. “Health and harmony is found somewhere in the middle. There has to be a balance between the two. You’re never going to last that long if you’re just one-sided.”
