Tow-in surfing has a contentious history.
Ever since tow surfing emerged – pioneered by Herbie Fletcher in the 1980s at Pipeline, then popularized by Laird Hamilton in the early aughts at Jaws – the fringe offshoot from traditional, paddle-in big-wave surfing has been shrouded in debate.
Is it cheating if you have a jetski assist? Does tow-in surfing merit the same applause as paddle surfing big waves? Pro surfers Nathan Florence and Koa Rothman think “no.”
In the latest episode of the Nate & Koa Podcast, they discuss. Koa kicks it off:
“HBO [and 100 Foot Wave] just picked up a bunch of tow guys, and kind of glorified these tow surfers who can’t paddle a board to save their life, let alone do a turn. But they can grab a rope, and get whipped into a bomb. This is showing tons of people that are maybe new to surfing, like, ‘oh these are super talented surfers.’ Whereas I don’t know if they could make the drop at Gums on a four-foot day.”
Nate follows:
“Some of these guys started surfing just a few years ago, or maybe they’ve been surfing a long time but they never learned a good base of paddle. You’re going to see a generation form of younger guys who do not have the base technical surfing ability. They can’t paddle, they probably can’t duckdive…they’re not good at anything but tow.
“I think it’s kind of a shame. You should at least know the basics of surfing. When people are saying, ‘this guy is the baddest dude on the planet!’ But no, that’s not the baddest dude on the planet. There’s underground guys just paddling slabs with 1,000% more technical ability.”
On a previous episode of the podcast, Nate & Koa tackled the same debate. In that one, they agreed that some tow surfers – mainly Kai Lenny and Lucas Chumbo – are doing it right. They’re actually surfing the wave, rather than merely surviving it.
Koa said:
“I’m not the biggest fan of tow surfing. I do agree that there is a time and place and a wave for it. But I would say those two [Lenny and Chumbo] are very entertaining to watch. Even on the biggest wave, if they’re towing in, they’re doing like airs down the face, and they’re doing huge cutbacks or carves.”
Tow surfing in 2024…in or out?
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