What does the world’s favorite goofy-footer do after stealing surfing’s hearts and minds for decades? Well, based on his latest Instagram post, Occy’s embracing a new chapter and considering “going natural.”
Mark Occhilupo as a regular-footer? Say it ain’t so! It’s not entirely clear what Occy’s talking about in his latest post, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the man’s always been a bit of a riddle. And as surf gossip goes, speculating’s half the fun.
After retiring from tour life in 2007, Occy’s split time between raising his family, commentating on webcasts, ripping in WSL legends heats, and even showed up on the Australian edition of “Dancing with the Stars.” Apparently the competitive fire continues to burn hot within the 1999 world champ. But is “going natural” really the solution, Occy? Think about what you’re doing!
It wasn’t that long ago that I had a chat with one Robert Kelly Slater and asked him about who was the greatest surfer he’d ever seen. The GOAT didn’t bat and eye. Occ.
“The best surfer I ever saw? It would probably be Occy from the Surf Skins event in 1998/99,” explained SURFER’s new cover boy. “He went on this ridiculous roll the first day. I think there was a car and something like $75,000 up for grabs. It was right before or after the Rip Curl Pro and everyone one was in town. I can comfortably say I’ve never seen anyone surf so far beyond everyone else in a contest as he did that day.”
“It was so far beyond other Bells performances. It reminded me of Occ’s first J-Bay win where he made everyone look slow—one of the greatest performances ever on a board I’d say,” continued Kelly.
Occy’s IG post is a bit of a cliff-hanger, so we’ll have to see what he gets himself up to, but going frontside at Snapper might not be a bad swan song?
Related: Kelly Slater Graces Cover of SURFER Magazine’s New Print Issue