By Andrew Sachs
After a nearly 2 month hiatus, the WCT is back on and the Pipe Masters, the final event of the season, is going off to determine who will be the 2013 world champ. It's shaped out to be a battle between Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater, but the odds are stacked up against Kelly. Anything less than a win by Kelly, and Mick claims his third crown (along with '09 and '07). And, even if Kelly wins, if Mick reaches the semifinals, he's still the champ. Like I said, tough odds, but if anyone is up to the challenge to pull victory from defeat, it's Kelly.
A big development happened this week in the surf industry when Hurley announced that it had signed Hawaiian surf phenom John John Florence. The news is huge because John John had been signed and riding with O'Neill since the age of 6! While the terms of the deal are not public, reports suggest John John is set to make around around $4 million a year, putting him at the top of the surfing sponsorship food chain.
John John began surfing when he was 3 and started competing at age 7. John John is now 20 and already has accomplished some amazing things in both competitive and free-surfing. As a ROOKIE on the WCT, he finished fourth - along the way beating Parko to win the Billabong Pipe Pro and become the first Hawaiian since Andy Irons to win a WCT event. John John also had wins at the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout and the Volcom Pipe Pro, both held at his childhood stomping grounds, the North Shore. No one doubts that John John has an incredible future ahead of him in surfing. Check out his video below.
As for John John's switch to Hurley, I can tell ya that the Hurley people are stoked. Bob Hurley, the namesake of the company, said "John John has that special talent that only comes around every few decades or so. It's a magic that will transcend well beyond our world and will make us all strive to be better. Needless to say, I'm humbled, honored and so looking forward to supporting John John as he revolutionizes surfing over and over again." Very powerful words.
So what drove John John to switch from Hurley? He said it best himself: "Hurley is a super cool company and they've got a lot of cool people surrounding them like Bob and Pat and all them, and everyone in that whole thing is like really nice people. It's kind of been going through the works in the last couple of months or so, going back and forth about things. But I'm stoked in the position I'm at to even be where I am today having sponsors wanting to sponsor me. I'm just grateful." Well said, John John. Check out the rest of his interview at Surfline - http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/interview-john-florence_90618/
Thing are definitely looking up for John John and Hurley in 2013!. For the rest of the surf industry missing out, well, did we mention that John John has two younger brothers...
