#BreakTheInterNet #NBD Photo:Iker San Martin
“I’m calling it a little early, but that could definitely be the coolest shot of the year.” Those are the sentiments of Hayden Cox, the man who shaped the unbelievably short board that got Craig Anderson into an unbelievably perfect, awe inspiring Indonesian wave during the swell of the summer. How small are we talking? Five feet, four inches. Significantly smaller than most people have any business riding on a wave three times the size of a man. But his stance says it all in one word as the take off goes near vertical – style. It’s a word that’s become synonymous with both Ando and the board he rode since Hayden Shapes put them together on screen last year.
Actually, scratch that. The Hypto Krypto has been riding its own wave of fame since long before that video. Just last year the Australian Surf and Board Sports Industry Association named it the Surfboard of the Year. For the second year in a row. At that same time, Stab named it the Best Selling Surfboard of 2014. Somehow, a single surfboard shape became a phenomenon all on its own. Oh, and Ando himself calls it his favorite board. According to Cox, the 5’4″ master crafted piece of foam is Anderson’s go-to board for big barreling surf. But that fact didn’t stop social media from blowing up when the shot surfaced.
Most of the near 300 comments on Hayden Shapes’ Instagram account and more than 500 that appeared on Anderson’s post of the photo were of the “Holy f@*&” variety and in some way referenced the (lack of) length of Ando’s board. The board manufacturer knew what they had on their hands, so they simply captioned it “#BreakTheInternet”. Comment of the year went to one fella who summed up everybody’s infatuation with that board perfectly though: “This is how I surf now I have a hypto.” I’d insert a laughing face teary eyed emoji to accompany that comment, but I’m not typing this on my iPhone. And you get the picture. Either Craig Anderson is so damn stylish that watching him is regularly the stuff of surf porn, or the Hypto Krypto makes us all think we too have super human surf powers. So now I’m calling Hayden Cox’s shot myself. That is the coolest shot from a week of surfers dancing in the Indian Ocean and of the entire year.
Also, I now have to get a Hypto Krypto.
Craig Anderson Feat. Hypto Krypto by Haydenshapes from Haydenshapes Surfboards on Vimeo.
