John John Florence was born to surf Pipeline.
He, quite literally, grew up on the sand of the world’s most famed and feared, deadliest, most iconic surf spot. And as he matured, from towheaded grom to towheaded 2x surfing world champ, he became one of the best ever at Pipe.
Destiny, fulfilled.
In competition, however, JJF hasn’t had the success one might expect from someone who has surfed the wave more than 99.99999% of humans on the planet, and knows it like the scraggily red beard hairs protruding from his jawline.
Back in 2021, he won the Pipe Masters – then still on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour. But other than that, lots of fifth place finishes.
And in the video above from last year’s event (2023), JJF surfed a damn near perfect heat totaling 19.33 with his top two waves coming in at 9.93 and 9.40. One of the waves, at Backdoor Pipeline, was one of the craziest disappearing acts ever in competition.
But the judges weren’t having it.
It was the potential firestarter, the spark for the Great WSL Judging Controversy of 2023.
(For a quick refresher: the WSL judges were put in the hotseat, burning like ants under the microscope, from pro surfers and surf fans, Brazilian and beyond, during the 2023 season for questionable, controversial scores. It went so far as death threats.)
Comments on the video above included:
“everyone knows this was a perfect heat”
“oh yes. 2023. where judges hated JJF for no reason at all and tried to penalize him for being the best.”
“This was the beginning of some of the worst scoring the WSL season had to offer that year.”
“WSL judges robbed JJF of a perfect heat there! It was a perfect heat, absolutely clear to any surfer or surfing fan!”
More of this controversy in 2024? Stay tuned; the Pipe Pro kicks off the season January 29th – February 10th.
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