John John Florence of Hawaii tunes in before a heat at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Photo: WSL/Kirstin Scholtz
It starts off innocuously. John thrashes an 8.5 all the way to shore, unleashing one of his characteristic snaps toward the start of the wave and a pleasant, on-the-edge-of-control tail drift toward the end. The most significant thing about the wave is that it takes him all the way to the sand. Other than that, it looks like John is holding back.
“There is definitely something different about John John in 2016,” says commentator Ronnie Blakey.
Meanwhile the Brazilian Jadson Andre has caught a wave, falling midway through. For whatever reason, there is no jetski assist. As far as South Africa’s Jordy Smith goes, the third member in this round one heat at Bells Beach, he’s bobbing around somewhere on the outside, probably dreaming of Mozambique.
There’s a lull in the action that the announcers take advantage of to comment on replays. For a moment, we forget about John; he has a long way before he gets to the lineup. Jadson is paddling too, and Jordy is still on the outside doing God knows what. So for the moment, our attention wanes.
Then something new comes into view. John’s paddling past one of the water-level cameras, and he looks determined. He looks like a 12,000 ton nuclear icebreaker making its way towards the antarctic. There’s a moment of suspense as we wonder, “Why’s John paddling so hard?”
Ross William comments, “He’s strokin’. Look at him. All that training’s been paying off.”
And then we see Jadson burst into view. If this were a radar a screen, he’d be a little blinking green dot at the bottom. If this were the Cold War, he’d be a Russian MiG, coolly arming his missiles as he prepares to blow John out of the sky.
Within about two seconds Andre closes the gap on Florence. Jadson’s thrash-paddling, literally churning whitewater in front of his chest, straining like a hyena to get at an injured gazelle. It’s at this point that we’d usually think, well, this is where John gives up. It’s not that he’s a worse surfer or a worse paddler or more tired, it’s just that John doesn’t do stuff like this. He doesn’t do paddle battles. Why would he kill himself for second priority in round one of mediocre Bells?
The two surfers are about three feet apart. It looks like their hands are going to touch. And we expect John’s usual attitude to show through and for him to back off, the attitude that says, “This is stupid. I’m just going to surf and if I win, I win. If I don’t, I don’t.” This attitude has never really worked that well for John John Florence, though in this moment, it seems that attitude has changed.
The two are still trading stroke for stroke, but John looks steadier. In fact, there’s some kind of strange glint in his eye. He looks scary. If he were a father accustomed to discipling his kids with a belt, this would be right about the time the children would be hiding behind the couch. He motors straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to Jadson, and then starts to pull away. Jadson backs off, and John keeps going. The announcers praise him. Everyone breathes a sigh a relief. It’s not a big deal, but at the same time it’s a huge deal.
Something massive has happened. Something has changed.
It’s never been a question if John John Florence has the talent to win a world title. To some level, it’s expected. But as Florence displayed in his slight meltdown against Stuart Kennedy in the quarterfinals at Snapper, being a successful professional surfer is about more than just what you do on the wave. Maybe it’s thanks to coach Bede Durbidge and fresh focus this season, but John seems like he’s starting to grasp this. But when — not if — John goes on to win a world title, we’ll be able to look back at the exact moment things changed, at a seemingly insignificant paddle battle with Jadson Andre for second priority in round one of Bells.
There’s definitely something different about John John Florence in 2016.
