You know who the best surfer in the world is? It’s not the guy with the most world titles. It’s not the guy with the current world title. It’s not the guy with the most points on tour or the guy with the best web clips, and it’s sure as hell not the one who’s having the most fun (although that person is winning the most). But it might be Clay Marzo. He just doesn’t care if you know it.
Clay, for a while, was firmly in surfing’s spotlight. His childhood was a little different than most–he struggled to understand social cues and facial expressions, and soon found that he was more comfortable in the water than anywhere else. Eventually, he’d be diagnosed with Aspergers, high-functioning form of autism.
Back in the ’40s, an Austrian pediatrician named Hans Asperger wrote about four of his patients. According to him, they all had “severe but characteristic psychiatric and social impairments who showed exceptional skill or talent disproportionate to very uneven intellectual ability.” It doesn’t always pan out that way, but Marzo’s level of surfing would suggest that Aspergers played a role. The part of him that struggled with daily life helped him to excel at surfing, and he surfs with a knowledge of waves unmatched by anyone else.
Here’s how the whole thing kicked off: when Marzo was young, his half-brother Cheyne Magnussen was riding for Quik. He knew how good Clay was and pushed him to put a video together. Then-Quiksilver exec Strider Wasilewski was on the receiving end. “It was like someone had sent me the instructions to create the first nuclear bomb,” he told ESPN. “I knew I’d received a package that would change the face of surfing.”
In very short order, Marzo found himself on a boat floating around the Mentawais with Dane Reynolds, Fred Patacchia, Ry Craike, and Kelly Slater. Each and every one of them was floored by the level of talent he possessed. Soon, though his struggle with Aspergers made contests and trips–all those things that a sponsor requires–nearly impossible. Marzo didn’t care about winning or the spotlight. He cares about surfing… he just doesn’t care if you know it.
