On Friday, John John Florence let us know we shouldn’t get our hopes up for his return to the 2018 Tour. His indefinite withdrawal from WSL competition could be “60 days or 120 days, or less or more,” he admitted.
Just over a day later, he completed the 32-mile Molokai2Oahu with teammate Kona Johnson in 6 hours, 20 minutes, good for second place in the two-person team category. It’s one of the most grueling open-ocean races in the world. Nathan Florence wrote that John John and Kona had completed the race on stock paddleboards.
“I don’t know, I’ve just been sitting,” John said about deciding to compete. “Been at home doing therapy for my knee and stuff. It just kind of popped up as an idea, and we were kind of talking about it and we were just like ‘let’s just do it!’ So yeah, it was really cool.”
You can see in footage from the race that Florence’s knee was braced up and secured on his board for the paddle, almost looking as if it wouldn’t move at all. He’s clearly taken a liking to the sport as an outlet while he can’t surf. “I’ve really been enjoying downwind paddle boarding this summer, lots of friends pushing each other and drawing different lines,” he wrote a couple weeks before the race. “When you watch the guys who really excel they have such good rhythm, it reminds me of surfing in that way.”
In the individual race, Matt Bevilacqua won his fourth straight Molokai, setting a course record. He still trails Jamie Mitchell by six, who won 10 straight between 2002 and 2011.
