Is the kick from a contest win, a title, enough to keep Florence on the chain gang?
An anecdote from the Founders’ Cup,
John John Florence and the company’s CEO Sophie Goldschmidt are engaged in a pained conversation about…something. Body language suggests the blond Chippendale world champion is unhappy and she is trying to engage and fix. Word on the street is that Goldschmidt had been trying to get an audience with her champ for some time.
Earlier, the pool had neutralised all those advantages, knowledge of the ocean, an ability to adapt to a moving canvas instinctually, that Florence had developed after a lifetime lived at the world’s most challenging wave. A closeup of Florence’s face flashes a Halloween pumpkin grin after another girl shows there ain’t a hell of a lot of diff, in the pool at least, between her and the best surfer alive.
Best air? A speciality award don’t help. It’s still a long dick in the guts.
Back track. Margarets. Florence loves the joint. It’s where he plays his most sizzling tracks. A scabrous network of the risk adverse gets the event, his event, cancelled.
Back track. Bells. Zeke Lau eats Florence alive, effortlessly, flawlessly.
You think your world champ, the first surfer to defend a title since Kelly Slater, needs this?
Is the kick from a contest win, a title, enough to keep Florence on the chain gang? To keep him in pressurised aluminium cylinders from Australia to Honolulu to Lemoore and now Rio, just so he can be pecked at and paddled ragged?
Two world titles, a house at Log Cabins big enough for whomever wants floor space, the boat that’s rattling at its anchor chain, dying for a Pacific crossing, a sponsor that might be persuaded that a series of John John Florence films might be a better return on their multi-million dollar investment than a series of forgettable WCT results offers a velvet-lined escape hatch.
Is the kick from a contest win, a title, enough to keep Florence on the chain gang? To keep him in pressurised aluminium cylinders from Australia to Honolulu to Lemoore and now Rio, just so he can be pecked at and paddled ragged?
What if John John Florence quits the tour?
What’s left? Kelly ain’t coming back in any meaningful sense anytime soon.
Could Italo, Gabriel, maybe Jordy or Julian be the new hub the tour revolves around?
What gap would Florence leave?
Big, small, unimportant?
I remember the game of brinkmanship the former ASP CEO Brodie Carr played with Kelly Slater in 2010. A rebel tour was in the wings and Slater wanted changes to his ASP contract. At the time, each surfer had a contract with the ASP agreeing, essentially, they wouldn’t surf in non-sanctioned events. Brodie risked being sacked by agreeing to a special contract for Slater without board approval.
“The simple truth is, I didn’t want to be the ASP CEO who lost Kelly Slater from the tour,” said Brodie.
Fast forward eight years and you’re the tour CEO who has lost Cloudbreak, Trestles and the most significant surfer in the world.
How do you feel?
Hypothetically.
“Fast forward eight years and you’re the tour CEO who has lost Cloudbreak, Trestles and the most significant surfer in the world. “
Fuck Trestles, what about The Pipeline??
Sure, there are some other companies, who are all struggling with hard economic times, (Quicksilver declared bankruptsy awhile back), no one else though has deep pockets like Hurley, which is owned by Nike. And since no one seems to be buying surf wear, these days, what product are you talking about.
Does the constant “so excited ” by being here surfing in 2 ft onshore pus amongst floating dog cigars, and spectators that may be carrying handguns and would like to sell your leggie strap so they can buy a can of lentils to feed their family for the next week end up sounding like your daily dose of “it was so much bigger/better/ more perfect 10 minutes before you got here?
World’s best surfers in world’s best waves..
He’s won it twice, he doesn’t need to prove anything else. Many of the best surfers never won or never will win a title and that is fine. John did it twice.
1 more title to be in line with the greats such as Mick and AI, what’s the point after that?
If the tour was still in dream form JJF would be getting a bit over it. Now that its run midway into the ground i suspect he feels like a kid in school waiting for the bell. Smart move could be take a year off, sail around, see if he misses it, either way hes got the life. Wouldn’t blame him for a second.
The old tour made me 50% more envious of anyone on it or winning it. Saying you are the champ of a year with pipe, teahupoo, fiji, mundaka, jbay etc is real surfing. Winning the brazil and a few wave pools nightmare tour… Does anyone really give a fuck anymore?
No Tour – no advertising , no advertising no sponsorship, no sponsorship no professional surfers , no professional surfers – no high performance clinics , no school surf programms , no water patrol companies , no boardrider clubs , no pro am contests , no professional surf journalists , no surfer named hardware like traction pads fins or surfboard models , i could rant for awhile on this one , but is this the end result of a WSL tour collapse.
Will you keep surfing? There’s your answer mate.
To true.
I dunno how long John will stick around but I bet a couple of things:
a) his voice would have encouraged the decision to run ex-Margies asap
b) he wasn’t the only surfer voicing serious concerns about the Margies cancellation and the tour direction behind the scenes.
Elaborate more on a) ?
Well he would have been gutted at that event’s cancellation, there’s almost no way back from three bad results. But now it’s back! In good waves! At least has a shot. You can’t just rat fuck the world champ because Scary Ocean.
I mean: conjecture? Or he really said something? Anyway, I thought he was already out of Margs by the time it was canceled.
Well I haven’t talked with him about it but in his shoes, I woulda said something. World champ at the event he killed the year before, and they cancel it without asking anyone? And he won his first round at Nth Pt and is in heat 12 against Mikey Wright.
I really think WSL was forced between a rock and a hard place.
Babe and Gitalo’s bleat on social media forced their hand and they really had little option. What WSL has done is the best way out of a shitty situation for them, PR wise.
They couldn’t let those two cripple the rest of tour. I still think they should sanction them.
What’s going to happen when in excess of 50% of the tour is brazzo ? Over 30% now and looking to increase.
Fuck – that’s gonna be a big blok vote right there. If it happens, but it could easily with their #’s on the qs. The other surfers would bail on WSL. And who could blame them.
Good night WSL and say hello to BSL – the pool/beachie circuit.
What webcast? I prefer to get my event results straight from the wonderful Mr. Nick Carroll!
But will Ulu’s & Keramas run? it’s a shit storm in indo right now. I think i’d rather take my chances with the sharks than the maniacs on mopeds blowing their heads off.
john john to start a nomadic tour, where they have to race/sail their own boats to the corners of the earth searching for the best wave to hold a comp in , no managers, coaches , or entourage, just your girl and your dog, old school alby mangles world safari style surf exploration / tour, The new tour Comminsioner is Martin Daly and the CEO is Peter McCabe
That actually sounds legit good.
Fuck ziff, with a tour like that Branson would pony up
thats right fuck ziff, whilst moonlighting as professionals surfings benevolent benefactor, his venture captial funds still pore billions into onshore and offshore oil and natural gas production and LNG fracking, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing do a simple search on ziff and see what sort of willy wonker he is and at least you know Branson would be in the lineup at Cloudbreak having a dig.
Come on pull your fucken head in.
That’s Kelly’s favourite movie ! WW and the Chocolate Fucktory.
Fuck, I hate that movie.
sorry Dirk
lmao
Oh god, you made me want to be a pro surfer.
That’s a tour I’d leave home to cover.
As a kid I remember seeing ads in the Cairns Post classifieds of Alby Mangles soliciting young nubiles to serve as deckies on his trips. Free passage for those who fit his very specific criteria outlined in the ads. Quite the life…
They’d have to also shape their own sticks, and sew their own wetsuits, a la Dora, let’s do it!!!!
self funded from the proceeds of smuggling
Kelly has his eyes on the Olympics and that’s ok – missing Brazil because he wants to, is OK too, but JJ going awol because of a couple of bad decisions and a paddle battle royale – pfft please, I’d bet that kid had gobbled more spam than you’d even guess and while it’s easy to paint him rich kid he’s got more grit than Gabby and I’d guess he’ll happily prove that any day Soph wants to roll out a comp tent and a bull horn.
JJs not gonna quit the tour, he’s going to do whatever Hurley (Nike) tells him to do. They are paying him ‘big bucks’ to get his name out there on the CT and free surfing just doesn’t quite cut it for advertising purposes.
My contention is that they do a terrible job marketing him. The skate/surf shops in NY suburban malls (their target demographic) barely have a picture of JJ on the walls. Why not? Why isn’t his face plastered everywhere they sell an item of Hurley clothing?
I don’t know. And who buys Hurley clothing? Square Moms and Dads?
Shouldn’t the skate/surf kids be buying it?
Lots of groms around here in Hurley suits and assorted clothing. Not sure if it’s for JJF or they like it or idk.
And see…that’s the problem. If they can’t get the kids to “want to be like John John” then they aren’t doing such a great job.
Here in NY he’s not nearly as well known as he should be and that…is a problem.
do you know kids that surf that dont know who JJF is ?
Yea was gonna say.. my grom cousin from Pennsylvania who’s never actually surfed in his life know’s who John John Florence is
Of course the kids who surf know him. But it’s the kids who don’t/can’t surf (the vast majority) who you need to know who he is. And I don’t think that’s happening.
I would be happier if i was not surrounded by kids in hurley clothes. maybe its because long island is too hard core to and behind the times to be caught up in the latest surf clothing fad
LI is completely fad driven whether it’s high end or low end.
However…athletes will always sell and even if JJ “only” surfs and doesn’t play at Madison Square Garden he should be more well known and marketed.
You’ve seen his head right?
We live in the age of digital photography.
Which means even I can look like a movie star.
Sounds like a “long dick in the guts” to me too.
…and the “d’ and “k” are 5 apart on the keyboard, so I don’t think it”s a typo.
“the tour” can be won by 11 year old girls who have never seen the ocean. Scores can be earned on hand placement and body positioning when doing that spin on the end section.. Absolutely no need for the inconvenience of “weather”, “reef”, “sand” , “shapers”, “travel”.
“the tour” beach grit engages us by talking about the bullshit surrounding surfing. “the tour” Couldn’t this be better condensed into the interactive game we all want and leave actual “surfing” to those who want to peacefully hurt or kill themselves in isolation to continue to do so?
JJs going to do whatever ‘Hurley’ (Nike) tells him to do.
ha ha it’s the other way around mate. JJF is the consummate modern pro athlete. He is entirely self sufficient. He doesn’t even let Hurley do his media; his team makes clips and sells them back.
Well, who would want Hurley making your clips anyway, minor stuff, the guy paying the salary calls the shots. If they want you advertising their stuff on tour your going to do it. Of course, if you can’t keep up and win, you might get dropped to free surfer status, along with a pay drop.
I’ve honestly always been surprised JJF is doing the tour thing anyways. The US’s & hawaii’s best surfers are not on the tour. JJF is a free surfer thru & thru, he might actually be the very essence of a free surfer, JJF wants to get on that sailboat & sail to the worlds best waves 🌊, it doesn’t get more “freesurfer” than that🤙🏼
See above.
He doesn’t want to sail anywhere now, the world’s best wave is in Lenmoore.
He’ll still have time to freesurf as much as he likes. He is earning millions now, won’t need to work anymore in his life! I’d do exactly the same.
He is also the best or one of the best surfers in the ocean, both in freesurf and competition. Others US and Hawaii’s bests aren’t able to do good in both as he is doing.
Dude, go back and read some interviews with him, he said the first year or two that he couldn’t place in the top 10 on tour, he was totally bummed.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that he just doesn’t look like he’s got that fire in his eyes anymore. I mean I get it he’s earning millions & cementing his place in surfing history, but he did not look remotely interested at the Lemoore event. I’m 100% sure he’s got a few world titles left in him, but he just seems to be off this year. I think it has a lot to do with the Zeke Lau incident, guys are coming for him this year, its not just him & Gabby, & I think he’s trying to adjust to that.
he has nothing left to prove
45 or 32 or whatever Brazilians hopping around, taking over san Clemente it used to be the TJ glassers that were the invading hordes,I think Huntington is still a Nazi hold out but the waves suck.
“Kelly ain’t coming back in any meaningful sense anytime soon.”
I would change “anytime soon” to “ever”. He’ll likely still get a result here or there, but chances of Kelly putting together a full year for a title are zero.
Re:
I wonder what the odds are of KS winnin’ another World Title?
I know some of you dudes bet, seen your winning tickets here in the comments section recently.
What’s the site that ya use to check the odds or ah, even lay down a few $$ on a bet?
…whos kelly?