John John Florence is a 3x World Surfing Champion and is quickly becoming one of our sport’s most profound explorer’s. At the start of the year the Hawaiian announced that he would be taking a second year off from the WSL Championship Tour as he continues to sail around the world with his family and score waves. Now, the surfing population gets a cinematic insight into why John has chosen to deprive us of his big barrel antics, super-human speed and rail engagement for another year with the release of his video series ‘Vela’, which documents his exploration at sea so far.
The release of the first episode ‘Edge of the Ocean’ portrays somewhat of a fever dream and fantasy land that seems so far from the reality of an ordinary surfer. Empty running rights, a ledgy left slab, turquoise water that looks like something from the back of a postcard and barely a soul in sight. It’s easy to see why John chose to take another year off tour.
“I love surfing waves in the middle of nowhere, and when you can do it by boat, you know, there’s no one coming. It’s pretty rare that there’s people pushing that hard to go find waves,” John told Tracks in an exclusive interview last year.
“It’s cool, because you always just end up with these spots where there’s just random waves. And I don’t know, it’s funny when there’s like a novelty, random wave and you show up and you’re in the middle of nowhere, it feels just surfing like big Pipe or something.”
The first episode, released on John’s YouTube in collaboration with Yeti, is also an honest insight into what life is like on the boat for him, his wife Lauren and son Darwin.
“I think the one thing I didn’t anticipate on this trip was the patience I would need. What you don’t see is how challenging it really is to sail somewhere and hide out for days from rough weather and then you have to find a safe anchorage, be somewhat comfortable as a family, and line all that up with a good swell and wind. But when it all comes together and you’re alone surfing perfect waves, it’s just crazy. It’s hard to describe how good that feels after all the work that goes into it,” John wrote.
“He’s comfortable being uncomfortable,” says Lauren, at the start of the series. “He actually likes it. It’s how he bonds with people.”
If the first episode is anything to go by, we already can’t wait for the next. Hit the link above to watch.
