It was awesome witnessing, albeit from afar, John John Florence carving his way to a third world title. Taking nothing away from his opponent Italo Ferreira, who beat Ethan Ewing, Jack Robinson and Griffin Colapinto enroute to the WSL big dance, but JJF was on song in that second match to clinch top honours. 

This isn’t a report on the WSL Finals, it has been well covered. Congrats to Caitlin Simmers for securing her maiden WSL Crown. What prompted this blog was the fantastic homecoming lap of honour bestowed upon John John on arrival in Hawaii with the trophy.

Hawaii is the birthplace and spiritual home of surfing. It was once the exclusive domain of royalty, which in itself makes surfing the king of sports. 

After the missionaries banished surfing, Duke Kahanamoku and the Waikiki beach boys revitalised the ancient tradition at the turn of the 20th Century. Duke’s story is at the foundation of modern surfing, and there are several Australian connections chicaning through the legend of Duke and his gift.

In 1915 Duke Kahanamoku visited Australia. He toured several cities on a swimming tour, perhaps initiated by friendships forged in Olympic glory. As favourite for the Gold Medal in the blue riband 100 yard freestyle event, his arrival for the Men’s Final was highly anticipated. There had however been a mix up and the USA Team Manager had given Duke, and two other US competitors, a later time on the day of the scheduled semi-final. All three failed to contest the semi-finals.

On seeing that Duke was a no show, one of the Australian qualifiers for the final, Cecil Healy, insisted the Duke be given another opportunity to qualify for the finals.  Healy’s wishes were met, and the Duke duly won Gold at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.

Back to Australia in 1915, and at the designated hour on a sunny Sunday, Duke Kahanamoku conducted a surfing exhibition at Freshwater Beach. After completing several excellent rides to the thrill of the massive crowd on hand, Duke invited teenager Isobel Latham to perform a tandem ride, and Australian surfing was born through this magnanimous gesture from the Hawaiian legend.

In 2015 Hawaiian Longboard World Champion Duane Desoto re-enacted Duke’s famous exhibition, wearing the bathing suit of the era and a replica surfboard. Doug Claw Warbrick and I were completely blown away by the uncanny authenticity that Duane, who boasted the same swept back hairstyle as The Duke, brought to the occasion. 

There were even generational connections emanating from this historic day. Not only was young Isobel inspired but so was Claude Codgen and a young Snowy McAllister, who went on to win the 1928 Australian Title by performing a headstand on his final wave at Manly Beach. 1966 World Champion Nat Young was very close to Snowy and I even was close to him as he chaperoned a young Aussie Team to Mascot enroute to the 1972 World Contest in San Diego.

So back to the significance of John John Florence being draped by a Hawaiian flag as he emerged from the water after claiming a third WSL Crown and passed by many Hawaiian flags at his North Shore victory parade.

Although it’s officially the 50th USA state, the sport of surfing has traditionally acknowledged Hawaii as a surfing nation. This out of respect to being the historical birthplace of the sport, out of respect for Duke Kahanamoku gifting surfing to California and Australia, and I feel because Hawaii, in particular winter on Oahu, has always been recognised as the true proving grounds, where taking on the massive swells at Sunset Beach, Banzai Pipeline, Waimea Bay, Haleiwa and Makaha on the West Side is a rite of passage for any surfer worth his or her salt. Hawaii is the real deal, always was and always will be.

The ISA World Games has always been contested by teams under the Hawaiian flag. I recall Paul Neilson and I having great coaching duels with the legendary Ben Aipa, a great role model for each generation of Hawaiian rippers. 

WSL and its earlier entities IPS and ASP always crowned Hawaiian World Champions and when we ran Billabong Indigenous events it was such a stoker to host a contingency carrying the Hawaiian flag at the event we ran on North Stradbroke Island. 

Because Hawaii is the 50th State of the Union, when it comes to the Olympic Games athletes from Hawaii compete under the star-spangled banner of 🇺🇸. This makes it even harder to make Team USA, with all the mainland talent plus Hawaii squeezing into two slots. Sadly, this criteria kept surfing’s most decorated champion Kelly Slater from a much deserved swansong at his favourite break Teahupo’o, as well as Tokyo.

Olympic protocols and strict qualifying procedures meant that unlike the WSL, there are no wildcards in the Olympic Games, and even a Shaun Tomson inspired petition, signed by a majority of surfing’s World Champions, was rebuffed by both the International Olympic Committee and their surfing affiliate ISA, so the GOAT fell through the rigid cracks. 

It was however a double whammy for five time WSL World Champion Carissa Moore. When Carissa took to the podium to receive her Gold Medal in Tokyo the flag of the United States of America was raised as the national anthem rang out, however on her return to Hawaii it was all Hawaiian. The famous pic of Carissa adorned with the Gold Medal at the foot of Duke Kahanamoku’s statue in Waikiki told the whole story.

It’s so cool that Hawaii celebrates their World and Olympic Champions with such pomp and ceremony. The locals are filled with pride as their champions return home with the trophy. It’s a communal statement celebrating a sport that is one of the last bastions of a time when Hawaii was ruled by Kings and Queens.

Hail king John John.