As the great Sir Michael Caine once said, portraying the flirtatious father in the Austin Powers films, “It’s not the size that matters; it’s how you use it.”
He was speaking, of course, about his Mini Cooper. Get your mind out of the gutter.
But when it comes to surfing, size (read: height) has been a perennial topic of debate. What’s the ideal height for high-performance surfing? Can a height advantage actually be a disadvantage? Is shorter better? At least when it comes to professional surfing and the waves on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour?
In a post from WSL Brasil, they reported that, with the new crop of CT surfers entering the field for the 2024 season, South Africa’s Jordy Smith is no longer the tallest surfer on Tour. Jordy, as they purport, is 1.88 meters (6’ 2”). While newcomers from San Clemente, CA, Cole Houshmand and Kade Matson are 1.90 meters (6’ 2.8”).
Further down on the height spectrum are John John Florence, Frederico Morais, and Connor O’Leary – coming in at 1.85 meters (6’ 0.8”)
Captioning the post, as translated, WSL Brasil wrote:
“After a few years of leading the stats, now @jordysmith88 is not the tallest surfer in CT! 😱”
But back to the age-old debate: Is it better to be taller or shorter as a surfer? (Generally speaking.) Let’s do a highly unscientific study. In the last 10 years, here’s the heights of the World Surf League’s world champions on the men’s side:
(Note: this is from the surfers’ bio pages on the WSL, which seems to differ from the WSL Brasil post…weird.)
Mick Fanning: 5’ 11”
Gabriel Medina: 5’ 11”
Adriano De Souza: 5’ 7”
John John Florence: 6’ 2”
Italo Ferreira: 5’ 7”
Filipe Toledo: 5’ 9”
So, does size matter?
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