Kai Lenny Jaws Go-Pro Footage Is Insane and John John Is the Best Surf Youtuber There Is

25 Dec 2020 0

Mike Jennings

Senior Writer

COASTALWATCH | THIS WEEK IN SURFING

Ten Things from Surfing & the Internet on the Week That Was December 25 2020

1. John and Tyler Won Pipe

It was so weird that for so long, the world's best surfer couldn't be called a Pipe Master – but that got rectified this week when John John Florence finally won surfing's most prestigous and most respected event.

And it was so weird that for so long, there had never been Championship Tour points surfed for by women at the Banzai Pipeline – but that too got rectified this week when the Maui Pro had to be moved there and Tyler Wright overcame Carissa Moore in the final.

So all in all a pretty good week for pro surfing, right? Particularly given how bizarre the lead up to this all was. Probably the best quote from the event came from new World no.1, Tyler Wright, who is becoming something of a powerful spokeswoman in the surfing community: “I think we wouldn’t be here without the women that came before us to pave the way, and today we are really standing on the shoulders of giants, I feel incredibly privileged to be here in the position that I am in.”

To read more from a very interesting Pipe Masters, you can't go past the reporting of our guy Nick Carroll.

2. Chapter 11, Episode 6

Dane Reynolds, the OG king of understated digital surf content, dropped the 6th episode of Chapter 11 (his 2020-era iteration of Marine Layer Productions). Dane’s been using Chapter 11 to bounce his spotlight onto promising younger surfers he surfs with regularly around his home in Ventura, California. And this episode continues that right on with Mickey Clarke – a 22-year-old natural footer with a little bit of flare. There's two or three waves of Dane here, too. Which isn't enough, but we'll take it.

3. John John is (easily) the Best YouTuber

Can you guess what the new World No.1 spent the week before the Pipe Masters (Dec 01-Dec 07) doing? Of course you can, he was surfing really really really well at Pipeline with his brothers Nathan and Ivan. He also surfed a bombing outer reef way too comfortably. Can you imagine how fun surfing must be when you surf as well as John John Florence? Surfing is already really really fun, but imagine being able to do what he can do in the style he can do it with. Imagine how it feels to do just one John John-esque turn, one time, then imagine what it’s like to be able to do that all the time… that's too much fun, an unfathomable amount of fun.

4. Following Rissa Moore

Red Bull’s new series, Following, plants themselves a couple of feet from the three time World Champ Carissa Moore as she preps for the Maui Pro. There's a couple fresh boards, a flight from one island to another, car park vibes and then some big open faced carving at the ever ripable wave of Honolulu Bay. It’s a shame this episode didn’t follow her all the way to Pipeline, because while she didn’t end up winning, Carissa’s surfing in the semi-finals was the clear best of the event. Just how it goes sometimes in pro surfing.

5. Raw Clips From a Nate Florence Jaws Session

Nate Florence says to hell with editing and editors and chucks up 15 minutes of footage from a recent large Peahi session. It's really interesting to watch the camraderie in the line-up and the calm navigation of the moving swells all change when he turns and commits to one of the things – like riding a tornado. Or when you see the recognition in his eyes of a mega set and he has to paddle for the horizon – a really fascinating viewing experience.

"This was a punishing day for me," wrote Nate about this session. "Those two big wipeouts were rough, first one almost blew out my ear drums! Both waves were close to being ride of my life kinda waves!"

6. Teahupo'o Pumped

It's odd for Teahupo'o to go off in December. But it did. With sheet glass conditions too. And with the world either locked down by Covid or distracted by Hawaii, it was pretty well a locals only affair

“It’s rare for Tahiti to get a swell of this caliber in December, especially in the back half of the month," said Surfline’s Jonathan Warren. "And to add to this rarity were the light winds and glassy conditions that coincided with this exceptional event.”

Check all the photos, videos and the report from an exceptional day over here.

Below is my favourite clip from the session, 15-year-old Aelan Vaast getting the dreamiest of Teahupo'o pits with aplomb.

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A post shared by Aelan 🌺VAAST TAHITI (@aelanvaast)

7. Colapinto Bros Scoring In Hawaii

The Crosby and Griffin Colapinto brothers' YouTube channel uploads content so frequently that it's hard to keep up. Is it good? Yes, almost 100% of the time. But what if they held onto this footage for a month, then released an all-killer no-filler four minute edit that blew our minds? Which would you prefer? Either way, the Colapintos are having one helluva Hawaiian winter this year. Another question: do the brothers stay at seperate houses on the North Shore? Their respective Rip Curl and Billabong houses? Do they text each other to call mum and dad?

8. Leo's Pipe Vlog

If you're into the YouTube surfer vlog thing, Leo Fioravanti is quickly becoming the best of the CT guys in the format – John John excluded of course. The best part of this is immediately following his Pipe loss, when he breaks down the heat with Richard "Dog" Marsh. Scrub to 12.45 to see that.

9. Kai Lenny Jaws Go-Pro Footage Is Insane

This has to be straight up some of the greatest Go-Pro footage ever taken. Kai Lenny on December 2 at Peahi getting some bonkers tubes, and riding them with the kind of style no human should have any right too. His body lingo at 3.19 to 3.25 is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in big wave surfing, or surfing in general, ever. The guy is next level.

10. Mason Rides a 7'6" at Rocky Point

Watching Mason Ho ride a big board at Rocky Point brings to the memory that cool story about Noa Deane where his dad, the great Wayne Deane, made him ride a board that was too big for him the whole time he was growing up, so it goes. It was so that while Noa's contemporaries were flicking around on their paper-thin shorties, Noa had to learn to draw big rounded out lines and carve. Not sure Noa was pulling in with that cheater-5 tube style Mason uses here though.