How JJF spearheads a thriving company, embraces fatherhood, and continues to set the benchmark for performance, in and out of a jersey.
When we catch John Florence via a digital portal, the World Champion is sun-kissed and languid with contentment. Liberated from his WSL obligations, John has been surfing without restraint; reconnecting to the freesurfer’s mindset and relishing the battle with his ultimate competitor – himself. However, between the moonlit dawn patrols at Pipe, the all-day sessions and the nautical ambitions, new responsibilities beckon. John’s obsessive surf brain must now make space for the part of him which simply wants to be a better dad. Meanwhile, he is no longer content to simply lease his board-space to the highest bidder, collect a fat sponsorship cheque and pass go. As the co-founder of Florence Marine, John has a company to grow, product R&D to get done and a colour-coded progress sheet for every facet of the business – including his own performance as a pro-surfer.
The Pipe wunderkind with the shock of blonde hair, the salt-crusted brothers and the cool mum who surfed, has grown up, but while so much has changed around him, John will tell you so much stays the same.
When you’ve had as many Pipe caves as John, it’s little wonder they all start to blur. Photo: Ryan Craig.It looks like the waves have been really fun over there.
I don’t think I’ve seen it like this in my life.
That’s a big call. Does that really validate your decision to have some time off?
It was definitely pretty funny when the Abu Dhabi event was running and Pipe was just 10-foot every day… I was just like, me and my brothers are just, like, getting barrelled all day, every day for like, 15 days straight.
Did you have a little glimpse at Abu Dhabi?
I watched some heats, and there’s some things I liked about it, ...
