Your Top 5 Favourite Surfers of All Time!

[Lucky Al]

1. Andy Irons. To me AI exemplified the best aspects of every great surfer I've ever seen. Fantastically athletic, extroverted, stylish, creative, yet with a technique based in the very heart of the sports finest traditions, AI was able to ride any wave presented to him and stamp it with his own particular magic. He also had the priceless gift of being able to share - both his own talent, which he was never afraid to put on show, and whatever surf he happened to be having. Of all the super great surfers I've spent time in the water with, he was the easiest to get along with and the most willing to give a wave to a fellow surfer.

2. Martin Potter. Pottz was truly a freak. What an overused word that is, along with "legend" it's brought up so often as to pretty much neuter its meaning, but Pottz was the real deal. Just so fcuken exciting to watch, so fast, dramatic, nothing seemed beyond him. He made surfing his home and there's heaps of surfers today who owe him a huge debt in style and approach.

3. Tom Curren. The most perfect surfing style ever produced In a single human. Tom's introversion, his fearful unwillingness to share, is the only thing between him and the top spot in my list, that and his inability to dominate in Hawaiian surf which for a surfer of his era was an essential requirement of true greatness. But he is a very humble guy who has struggled against numerous demons over the years and his absolutely superb surfing style has influenced every top surfer since, which no other surfer can truly claim.

4. Kelly Slater. How can you not be in awe of his persona and record in the sport. Well you know, I'm not. What I'm in awe of is how fcuken good he is at surfing, his constant engagement with it on all sorts of levels, and how he keeps on finding ways to push himself, whether it be through surfboard design, taking on new opponents, or keeping it clean and fit in a world full of bullshit artists. Kelly's set himself an enormously high bar and it will be fascinating to see how he copes with the next few years and what legacy he truly leaves.

5. Lil Tommy.

[Lucky Al]

A topic worthy of general surf discussion if ever there was one. Thanks Nick for getting us started. I'll do mine on the weekend.

[Yuke Hunt]

Where do you start though ...

Lets take a drive shall we ...

http://vimeo.com/35361997

[Skipper]

Wouldn't argue their skill and abilities over many more skilled and accomplished, but off the top, these are my faves.


Gerry- Grace and poise.
Buttons- speed and flair
MP- the whole package; warts and all.
Machado - Style and lifestyle
JOB - modern maverick.

[channels]

Curren - I had a poster of his cutback at Backdoor on my wall for years. That and his surfing at JBay in the first Search vid, watched that section endlessly.

Slater - Constantly bringing it, never letting age be the barrier. His Cloudbreak surfing in the comp last year was a highlight.

Taj - I remember seeing him at Yallingup, I was 17, he would have been about 12/13. It was solid, double overhead plus and the main peak was barrelling rights on the inside section. We had just finished a session, and thought the conditions were testing but we had all had a great surf and thought we were hot shit for surviving. Taj walks down the hill with about 6 boards, a vid guy and a photo guy and treats the place like it was a one foot beachie. My pro dreams died at that moment.

Matt Hoy - Best roundhouse cutback.

Occy - Pure power. His surfing at the Bells Skins contest years ago still sticks in my mind.

[Natho]

Bloody hard task but will have a top of head dig:

In no particular order:


Kelly
Fanning
Taylor Knox
Tom Carroll
Curren
Luke Eagan


And if I can add more than 5

Andy
Occy
Hoy
Sunny
Pancho
Archy
Ace - for technique
Lisa Anderson - one for the girls

And probably a few more

[Hatchnam]

in no particular order

margo
curren
parko
occy
buttons

[offshore1]

slater
miki dora
gerry lopez
butch van artsdalen
jj moon

honourable mention: Jock Sutherland

[Yuke Hunt]

Lisa Anderson - one for the girls

Was traveling on a similar path ... but have definitely got Steph Gilmore on my short list.

Along with PC and Greenough ... Asher Pacey would be in the mix too.

Its hard to pick just five without any criteria. Bugs was my hero as a grommet.

The best beard in surfing award would definitely go to Stu Darcy.

Young Jack Lynch is a fantastic all round surfer ... a pleasure to watch on any craft. Sage Joske the same.

and and and and and and ... and ... too many ....... aaaaaaaaaaaag.

[OddaP]

Tom Curren- beautiful to watch. Style in every turn.

Occy- love the power and the unpredictability.

Jordy Smith- an amazing surfer. Best style of the new generation for me and awesome to see in Jbay.

Slater

Luke Egan- I'm a goofy and thought he was always a wonderfully powerful and imaginative surfer.

[tiger]

Occy: As a young goofy footer growing up on the south coast during the 80's, he was the absolute blueprint of what good surfing was. The Jack McCoy/billabong vids of that era were my bible.

Kelly: Unbelievable. I mean he's always been spectacular, but the performances he conjures in waves of consequence these days are mind boggling.

Andy Irons: The only guy who seriously took it to the aforementioned, especially when the waves got real. To me his surfing always looked so spontaneous.

Jordy Smith: I feel compelled to include one of the modern day antagonists, unfortunately at the expense of some other perhaps more deserving old crew. But of the new gen, this guys surfing does it for me. Beautiful rail work, both fore/backhand. Incredible air skill. Supa smooth style. Somewhat lacking in real bigwave department, as well as the cut-throat edge to win a world title. But i guess the big bru is far too contented banging super models, and destroying perfect waves the world over, all the time being payed handsomely. Good on him i reckon.

Adam Mitchell: Not one person here will have heard of him. He's just a mate i grew up surfing with. 1 Of 3 half maori brothers who were outstanding surfers at my home beach. Incredibly powerful surfer, who had the ability dominate what the ocean threw at him. Very smooth style, but also a deft touch. We did a road trip to the goldy back in the late 80's, lucking into an incredible run of week long E swell. A few days at Anga's during that swell, he was at the absolute peak of his powers. It was 6-8ft, and we were getting roll in take offs from the far outside point, slingshotting into the 'normal' take off zone proper. I was doing the walk back around as the big fella took a set, and proceeded to demolish an entire lurching section with one big top turn. Some local guy walking back out with me said, "Who the f*<k is this guy? You can't do that there, he should be pulling in there!" i was a bit more non plussed, i'd been watching him do that stuff since wew were 14 yrs old.

Notable omissions who were hard to leave out: Both TC's, Luke Egan.

[steve shearer]

1. George Greenough.
Was driving the bus down Wategoes horribly congested lane, trying not to commit too obvious homicide on any lollygagging tourista, watching five or six feet of bunched nor-east windswell piling into the outside banks near the Cape. Horrible mess. Sweep. Shark country. Then I saw him with that unmistakeable hunched stoop and bizarre limp. Mat under arm. George. Moving invisibly through the human flotsam. Ready for a solo go-out. The only one amongst thousands who thought it surfable.
I love him as a friend; he holds nothing back when the exchange is free from pecuniary considerations. He's funny as hell. Warm. Generous.
The Duke became a Cop, Blake quit and moved inland, Lopez sold out and bought SUP's to the masses, Lynch was on the Quiksilver payroll.
Greenough never did. He came from money but bankrolled himself through the lobster fishing industry. He slept in cars on the Point for years.

He barely shops. His garden knowledge, fishing prowess provide ample food.
on the wrong side of seventy he surfs more than anyone. Anyone. He surfs more than John John Florence. More than Kelly Slater. Not in a careless, recreational manner; but in the fashion of a mathematician coming back to a complex lifelong equation which constitutes a lifes work. As a method of understanding, daily discipline, communion with larger forces. He would laugh his arse off if I suggested than to him. He hates mumbo jumbo and flowery language. Anything that obscures is inimical to him.

It'll take years, if at all, before his design achievements can be understood, assimilated and re-applied into the mainstream surfboard world. His understanding of hull design, fin theory, flex and hydrodynamics is unmatched, as far as I can see, in the surfboard design sphere.

I find his surfing life somewhat hilarious in it's invisibility. Hiding out in the open. Surfing outside Wategoes, in the belly of the beast. A tiny dot far outside the Cape, or a thin white line streaking down a blue swell, his wake, attached to a small black figure doing nothing and everything.Looking for a speed line, trying to drive it wide open, as he says. No-one notices; no-one ooohh and aaahhs : "There's George Greenough". Maybe a peanut gallery of misfits might appreciate the ride. Probably not.

He's an old man who looks like a young man, sliding down the knife edge of the present towards the eternity of death. The Final Countdown he calls it.

[steve shearer]

2. Dane Reynolds.

He surfs a wave the way it should be surfed. Impetuously, powerfully, creatively.Sometimes with a light touch, other times wielding the board like a meat cleaver, hacking waves viciously to pieces.Yet always with that wonderful Rinconian, Currenesque sense of wave rhythm and tempo. He falls apart at the drop of a hat, has no emotional strength and yet all that makes his surfing even more compelling.
You get the sense he could leave it all behind and take up something else. That would be a tragedy, and so one watches his waves eagerly, devours them hungrily; like a man sentenced to prison about to eat his last meal. His best surfing may already be behind him. The sense of unrealised greatness seems to rise up out of future history like Camus' dark fog in L'estranger to oppress him. The kids have forgotten him. Moved on, as they do with the cruelness only kids are capable of.
Minus John John Florence, Kelly Slater and Parko the Tour can digest like gruel sans the Messiah.

He's an artist who's lost the heart for his work. Corrupted by a commerce he never sought and which alienated him from the things he held dearest. Most importantly: solitude, independence and anonymity.

[Skipper]

Nice stuff Steve.
There's two who've bled from the soul huh? That can scar longer than reef cuts.

[kreepykrawly]

1. George Greenough.......
....weird limp.....mumbo jumbo......peanut gallery....The Final Countdown he calls it.

You write so eloquently Steve that you have inadvertantly lulled me into a false sense of believing that riding a blow up mattress requires any set of skills.

I know a few people that have hooked up with him and by all accounts he is a top guy but seriously....riding a blow up camping mattress !!!

I don't care if he's knocking on heavens door...God won't accept him if he's carrying that 'thing' under his arm.

[Skipper]

1. George Greenough.......
....weird limp.....mumbo jumbo......peanut gallery....The Final Countdown he calls it.

You write so eloquently Steve that you have inadvertantly lulled me into a false sense of believing that riding a blow up mattress requires any set of skills.

I know a few people that have hooked up with him and by all accounts he is a top guy but seriously....riding a blow up camping mattress !!!

I don't care if he's knocking on heavens door...God won't accept him if he's carrying that 'thing' under his arm.

Ya gotta hand it to him. That's funny shit right there.

[Beanpole]

I could fire off a dinosaur list but contemporary surfers:
Slater
Parko
Rasta
Machado
Steph Gilmore

[Yuke Hunt]

1. George Greenough.
Was driving the bus down Wategoes horribly congested lane, trying not to commit too obvious homicide on any lollygagging tourista, watching five or six feet of bunched nor-east windswell piling into the outside banks near the Cape. Horrible mess. Sweep. Shark country. Then I saw him with that unmistakeable hunched stoop and bizarre limp. Mat under arm. George. Moving invisibly through the human flotsam. Ready for a solo go-out. The only one amongst thousands who thought it surfable.
I love him as a friend; he holds nothing back when the exchange is free from pecuniary considerations. He's funny as hell. Warm. Generous.
The Duke became a Cop, Blake quit and moved inland, Lopez sold out and bought SUP's to the masses, Lynch was on the Quiksilver payroll.
Greenough never did. He came from money but bankrolled himself through the lobster fishing industry. He slept in cars on the Point for years.

He barely shops. His garden knowledge, fishing prowess provide ample food.
on the wrong side of seventy he surfs more than anyone. Anyone. He surfs more than John John Florence. More than Kelly Slater. Not in a careless, recreational manner; but in the fashion of a mathematician coming back to a complex lifelong equation which constitutes a lifes work. As a method of understanding, daily discipline, communion with larger forces. He would laugh his arse off if I suggested than to him. He hates mumbo jumbo and flowery language. Anything that obscures is inimical to him.

It'll take years, if at all, before his design achievements can be understood, assimilated and re-applied into the mainstream surfboard world. His understanding of hull design, fin theory, flex and hydrodynamics is unmatched, as far as I can see, in the surfboard design sphere.

I find his surfing life somewhat hilarious in it's invisibility. Hiding out in the open. Surfing outside Wategoes, in the belly of the beast. A tiny dot far outside the Cape, or a thin white line streaking down a blue swell, his wake, attached to a small black figure doing nothing and everything.Looking for a speed line, trying to drive it wide open, as he says. No-one notices; no-one ooohh and aaahhs : "There's George Greenough". Maybe a peanut gallery of misfits might appreciate the ride. Probably not.

He's an old man who looks like a young man, sliding down the knife edge of the present towards the eternity of death. The Final Countdown he calls it.

Lovely ... just lovely ... nice words Steve ... very nice words indeed ... all sitting down happily on the page together ... bangin.