Parko. Wah-paa. Photo: ASP/Kirstin Scholtz
You already know that Joel Parkinson won the Oakley Pro at Keramas in Bali. But you are probably unaware of how soothing it is to my surf psyche. To me, when Parko mounts the victory dais, not only is it an individual win, but also a collective win for what I believe to be the true essence of surfing. Joel Parkinson, without a doubt, is the purest exponent of the values that our surfing tribe holds closest. A perfect blend of power and style. Freakish tube riding and rail work that looks so effortless that – if it wasn’t for the amount water being displaced – one could be forgiven for not recognizing how radical his turns are.
The surf media constantly tells us that technical aerials are the new benchmark of professional surfing. Maybe. But tubes and cutbacks are the historical currency that we value most. Think about the most iconic surf photos of the last fifty years. They primarily feature someone riding the tube or burying the rail. Nat Young, Gerry Lopez, Michael Peterson, Simon Anderson, Tom Curren, Kelly Slater, Andy Irons. Whatever generation you are from, the surf heroes that adorned your walls were overwhelmingly involved in tube riding or carving the face of the wave. These are the actions. They have stayed with us since the inception of modern surfing. Refined and perfected to stunning heights but nonetheless basically unchanged.
While I am suitably awed by Dane Reynolds’ reckless abandon and John John’s “amplitude with aplomb” when spinning impossibly high above the lip, mostly it leaves me sort of, I don’t know, empty maybe? A compulsive shoving of square pegs in round holes.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the “progressive air” movement that has swept the last decade of surfing. I just think we should celebrate the pure brilliance of fundamentally perfect surfing. The pundits say aerials are the future of surfing, but this doesn’t change the fact that most aerials end poorly. Even completed aerials usually involve a really awkward “poo stance recovery” where the rider tries desperately to stay upright and connected to the wave. Even John John’s much-vaunted alley oop had that awkward, ankle-buckling landing.
The most astonishing athletes are the ones that make the impossible look easy. Great surfing is defined by making the difficult look effortless. This aim binds generation to generation and is what makes Joel Parkinson the best surfer in the world right now. His ability to read the wave. His ability to hold a rail and the release it at will is without peer. Really! I don’t understand how he does it.
Whenever any of us order a board, more than likely we will tell the shaper we want the board “loose but with a lot of drive” – which is basically a contradictory request. But somehow, Parko manages to manifest this pie-in-the-sky board concept in every turn he does.
His forehand roundhouse is a piece of kinetic art. In fact, let me take this moment to say that I take issue with WCT judges and their dismissal of the roundhouse as a high-scoring maneuver. It’s now denigrated to a safety turn and usually scored significantly lower than vertical lip maneuvers. This does the maneuver a disservice. While snaps and lip cracks read like one word exclamation marks from the old Batman TV series, a well-executed roundhouse to vertical rebound comes as a complete thought. An unabashed love sonnet to the union between man and wave.
Every surfer on tour is in possession of a formidable lip game, but it’s no accident that it is only the upper, upper echelon that has a truly magnificent roundhouse and a super human ability inside the barrel. Go ahead and peruse the list of world champions over the last 20 years. Their approaches may vary but they all possessed superior tube riding skills and a vicious cutback.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the last two WCT contests has been the prominence of tube riding in the contest criteria. This is where the superhumans separate themselves from the merely excellent. The reality is that every surfer on the tour is an excellent tube rider. So when someone paddles out who is clearly head and shoulders above his already excellent competition, they take on an almost supernatural aura. We love to pass on stories of legendary tuberiders throughout the ages. From Black Butch to our towheaded wonder child John John, the tube is what separates us from the multitude of energy-drink-sponsored extreme sports.
No other sport involves the actual practice of magic. I can hear the skeptics out there but really, is there another explanation? Seriously. Have you seen some of the barrels John John has come out of? Do you have another explanation?
Joel’s tube riding won him the Oakley Pro. Following in the grand tradition of champion Queensland point surfers, Parko combined flawless positioning and an uncanny ability to negotiate from deep inside the throaty Keramas pits to rack up excellent scores and ultimate victory. A victory for the beauty of pure surfing.
I imagine some of you are reading this and asking what about Kelly? How does he fit into this whole theory of surfing relevance? Frankly, I can’t include Kelly Slater in this discussion. He just rode a 5’9, four-fin, epoxy at 15-foot Cloudbreak at the age of 41. As far as I am concerned, the man – or whatever he is – isn’t even from this planet. That being said, there is no doubt that he will go down as the greatest of all time. Just as there is no doubt in my mind that John John is the future of surfing. And, yes, there will come a time when the most technical and innovative airs will be landed with complete ease. I’m simply saying this: take a moment to appreciate the utter mastery of wave riding currently being practiced by Joel Parkinson. Stifle that all-too-human instinct for the bigger, louder, faster blockbuster and take in the timeless beauty of man and nature acting in perfect concert.
