Conceived in Austria, raised at Pipeline!

There’s a hint of wildness and pathos in John John Florence’s rough boy persona, the two-time world champion who is the last custodian of the old way, talk softly, carry a big stick.

While his peers chase money and points and glory and everything else, Florence took his girl, his boat and a few pals and headed to the South Pacific for the voyage of a lifetime, exciting fans with semi-regular glimpses of his new life via a satellite connection to the internet.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by John john Florence (@john_john_florence)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John john Florence (@john_john_florence)

And, now, the shaggy haired boy who enchanted the world in Vogue fashion spreads and as the first tweenie to ride Pipeline, has turned thirty, can y’believe.

Tributes are flowing thick and fast for the level-headed eldest brother in the Florence triumvirate, which includes stylish Ivan and silly Nathan, although none as heart-felt as that from his lifetime shaper Jon Pyzel.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Pyzel Surfboards (@pyzelsurfboards)

Pyzel, who is a diabolically sexy former model whose looks have been squandered under the hard Pacific sun, writes,

“Little did I know 25 years ago that this tiny blonde kid (and his whole family) would have such a big influence on the course of my life! Great surfer and, more importantly, a damn fine human! Hope you are getting severely barreled somewhere in Fiji today.”

Pyzel has been making boards for John John Florence since his mama Alex brought the boys to see him at his old bay at Sunset Beach and gave him two-hundred dollars for materials to build five-year-old John a board, his first-ever custom surfboard.

The yellow four-six with  halo of orange rails is “hideous to look at” but now exists as a memorial to a boy destined for greatness.

Enclosed is the trailer for his latest film, Gravity, which features music from seventy-three-year-old rocker Ozzy Osbourne.

"We’re extremely happy that a close friend of the brand has taken on the house." So, who’s the company man with the necessary heft of wallet? 

Earlier today, Billabong’s Men’s Global GM Mark Weber confirmed BeachGrit’s four-day old rumour that the brand had offloaded their famous “A-Team” Pipeline house.

“While we’re not in the business of owning and managing a property on the North Shore anymore, we’re extremely happy that a close friend of the brand has taken on the house and partnered with us to ensure that it will remain the headquarters for the brand and the Billabong Pro Pipeline for many years to come,” Weber told Shop-Eat-Surf. 

The six-bed, four-bath contemporary looking joint at 59-389 Ke Nui Road, sits on 9000 square feet of prime beachfront land and was quickly snapped up by a company insider who’d long enjoyed its fruits.

And, although the sale price remains secret a figure close to six million dollars has been touted. The last time it sold was for three-point six in 2006. 

So, who’s the company man with the necessary heft of wallet? 

Did a little ringing around, or at least fielded a few calls about it, and the smart money seems to be on the recently retired “President of commercial strategy and growth and chief brand officer”, Shannan North. 

Shaz quit the biz after twenty-eight years and is a classic rags to riches sorta tale, beginning in the fabled mail-room of Billabong and working his way to the very top, climbing over the bloodied corpses of soldiers lost in the company’s myriad financial battles. 

A talented goofyfooter, and adored throughout the company, a sweet and gentle soul it’s said, North fits the profile of the new buyer perfectly.

He’s got the cash and he can surf the somewhat difficult lefthander out front.

Party's over for the property casino!

With a leopard grin, a green flare flaring from his slitted eyes and a tiny body that vibrates with excitement and joy, there ain’t no mistaking the master shaper Bobby McTavish.

McTavish, along with pals George Greenough and Nat Young, was instrumental in the shortboard revolution which washed ashore in 1967, slashing two feet off the boards thereby gifting surfers the ability to hit and hang around the lip.

McTavish’s story is a good one: he was a state-of-the-art shredder who quit competition despite giving hell to the heroes of the time, Midget Farrelly, Nat Young and so on, helped create the modern shortboard, turned Jehovah’s Witness, had five kids, invented, way ahead of their time, these epoxy moulded replicas of pro surfers’ boards (called Pro Circuit Boards), went back to longboards, sold the label, made a little cash and made, crucially, some fine real estate investments.

Like his Palm Springs-themed mansion in Corkwood Crescent, Suffolk Park, which he listed for auction six months ago with a three-and-a-half mill price guide.

Prices for houses in Suffolk Park, once Byron’s poorer cuz, had shifted almost seventy percent in two years. To put that into perspective, in 2019, 2020, a million bucks would’ve got you a place like this.

Anyway, that guide shifted to three-seven and when it looked like the auction was gonna fizzle, the McTavish house was given a sale price of four-point-two million.

No takers.

Now, as the Australian property market teeters on the precipice of a hitherto unseen crash, driven by accelerating interest rates and a terror of overcommitting among buyers, the joint has been taken off the market.

Ironically, McTavish, who’s now seventy-eight, was of that early seventies Country Soul era, surfers splitting the cities and heading to Byron Bay for “full contact rural immersion.”