Noa Deane’s a bit of a throwback to surfing’s anarchist days. He surfs the way he wants, and that makes a lot of people want to surf like him, which is pretty much impossible. It’s a worthy goal, though.
Last year around this time, he got up on stage at the Surfer Poll Awards, raised a finger in the air, and yelled “Fuck the WSL.” Which was awesome for anyone watching in the same way that watching explosions is awesome. I wrote a thing about it, which I just re-read. I sounded like an old lady hating on the new youngsters on the block, although I still agree with what I wrote. Anyway, Deane went on to apologize for his outburst, and surfing went along its merry little way, because in the grand scheme of things, this kind of thing isn’t all that important.
Deane’s approach to surfing (and life in general, I assume), however, is one of the greatest things about surfing. Surfing didn’t used to have the World Surf League. It didn’t used to have giant events that streamed live across the globe. It didn’t used to have a pro-football feel, and it certainly wasn’t for the wholesome, clean cut type. It was for weirdos and outcasts; for people who didn’t want to conform to anything except the surfer mold. Interestingly, non-conformism has become something that people can conform to. But surfing was for people like Dora, who–although he was a hypocritical, unapologetic asshole–built a legacy far greater than himself, one that played a very formative role the anarchist side of surfing people cling to today. It’s a role that people like Deane have latched on to, with a Dora-esque mindset and a ridiculous talent level.
There’s room for both sides. If you don’t like pro surfing, watch free surfers like Deane. If you don’t like free surfing, watch pro surfers like Fanning. If you don’t like watching surfing, then don’t watch it. If you like surfing, then go surfing. That is, after all, the common thread between the Doras and the Deanes and the Fannings and the Medinas… surfing is fantastic, and Deane is a fantastic surfer.
