‘Different on So Many Levels’: Jordy Smith Dismantles Main Break And The Box

Was it coincidence or fate that Jordy Smith started YouTube channel just before the best competitive season (win-wise) of his career? His longtime friend and filmer Nick Christy doesn’t know, but he certainly doesn’t mind the extra time traveling and shooting with “Jords,” his longtime friend and fellow South African.  

“Jords is surfing so good right now,” said Nick, who grew up in Cape St. Francis and competed with the talented kid from Durban when they were both groms. “It’s the most amped to surf I’ve seen him probably ever. He wants to surf all the time. We’ll land in a place after 40 hours of traveling and the first thing he wants to do is unpack a board, wax it up and head straight to the beach before we unpack a single other thing. We’re on a 12-hour time difference, but we’re still straight to the beach.”

In a year when two of the CT’s biggest names are absent (John John Florence and Gabriel Medina), Jordy, the oldest competitor on tour, hasn’t missed a beat. He’s having his best competitive season in his 18 years on this level, with two event wins at El Salvador and Margaret River. Time will tell if he can do better than his runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2016. 

How is this possible? Simple answer: Dad strength. Having a newborn child often results in a radical shift of perspective. It can destroy egos and inspire heroic performances. Jordy’s son, Sunny, was born in March, and since then, he has been on a mission.

“This year is so different on so many levels,” Nick said. “Traveling with him before this, there’s always this tension around the comps, like you have to get the results and have to be at your best. Coming into this year, he just had his second kid. And before every heat, he’s like, ‘I’m just going to go out there and surf. Just catch two good ones.’ It’s not like the pressure’s off, but he’s way more free.” 

And by pure chance, after years of half-baked plans, this is the year Jordy finally launched his own YouTube channel. So far, most of the videos track his impressive freesurfs around the event venues. Nick is the eye in the sky on these edits, but he and Jordy prefer a collaborative work environment. 

Related: Jordy Smith Enters YouTube Arena, Drops His Best Surf Edit in Years

When I spoke with Nick, he’d just landed back home in South Africa after two months with Jordy on the road. They did El Salvador and the entire Australian leg together, filmed a ton and produced one of the best surf clips I’ve seen in a long time with Jordy getting slotted in 4K (Amazing shots from water lensman Chris Bryan) and then dismantling Main Break. (See above). 

“With the YouTube videos, Jordy is super involved in the filming and editing side,” Nick said. “Even the style, like song choice or slow motion shots. We decide between us. He’s been doing videos for so long that he knows the whole process and likes to get involved.” 

I had to ask Nick, who has filmed so many sessions with Jordy, about the reports that Jordy would blow up at filmers if they missed clips. While Nick acknowledged that Jordy does feel strongly when professionals being paid to film him miss something, he emphasized that Jordy 

“I haven’t missed clips that are too good yet, so that’s maybe part of it, but I don’t think he’s hard to work with at all,” Nick said. “In fact, it’s the opposite. He knows what looks good. As long as you don’t miss clips, it’s pretty straightforward.”

They’ve taken the straightforward shot into the YouTube sphere. Nick and Jordy have been working together since 2021, when they did O’Neill’s “Silver Linings” series that documented the highs and lows of Jordy’s 2022 CT season, a year that featured injuries, G-Land, and a horrendous pandemic-restricted travel schedule. But this channel isn’t backed by a brand, just their shared vision and powerful carves.

“Jordy had expressed that he wanted to do something with YouTube just so he could work on videos and have a place for people to see them,” Nick said. “And we spoke about it for two years! But it never materialized. But at the beginning of this year, we were like, what are we waiting for? We have so much footage and edits that are ready to go somewhere, let’s just do it. 

“And there’s no pressure. No chasing the algorithm. We just want to make edits we think are cool. Whether it’s trips we’re doing now and the freesurfs, then maybe once a year, do a bigger project. Like once the tour is done, we go to Reunion Island or Indo, or we get a crazy swell in Durban.”

Nick got the last-minute call to join Jordy in El Salvador only to catch the same stomach bug that plagued him and Jordy’s manager, Damien Fahrenfort, before the comp started.

“Dooma left because he had meetings in the states, and Jordy and I were just so sick,” Nick said. “He could barely walk to his first heat he was so sick. But then he had a crazy heat. In El Salvador and West Aus as well, there was this momentum as he went through the rounds. Neither of us will say anything but it’s like, ‘Geez, bruh, if he keeps surfing like this, he could take this one out as well.’”

Pending a few more good results, Jordy and Nick should have some content from Fiji this summer. In the meantime, stay tuned for the next drop.

Related: Cut Chaos, Aussie Death Slab Makes Up For Marginal Margs Finals