Next Previous

Jordy Smith, the board-punisher, Reunion Island

Jordy Smith has, at times, been called the Man-Bear-Pig. Some surfers never break boards, but some break loads of them. Jordy is the latter. It’s cause he has a hulking frame and can’t help but man-handle waves. His stint in Reunion Island for a Red Bull x Stab x Surfing trip has been no different. “Jordy finally got himself into some open face today and decided it was time to lay down some turns,” says Ryan Miller, who’s documenting the whole party. “The boy has been punishing boards this trip. Three creased in the first three days by doing punts. Today he creased this board and blew out a fin by laying it on rail with all that torque.”

Stab likes to imagine Jordy having conversations with his shaper that are similar to the audio store scene in Boogie Nights. Jordy as the customer and his shaper as Don Cheadle’s character, Buck.

Shaper: “So basically, you’re gettin’ twice the torque, cause of the modification we got in this board right here.”

Jordy: “I don’t know – I don’t really know if I need all that torque?”

Shaper: “Oh, I think you need all that torque. If you want a board to handle what you want – yes, you need torque. See, this is Hi-Fi. ‘High Fidelity.’ What that means is that it’s the highest quality fidelity. Two very important things to have in a surfboard.”

The belting turns would be enough to buckle a sled, but imagine his front foot going through the deck on one of the ‘oops Jordy commits to. Like a BMW through a glass apple.

Photographer profile

Ryan Miller

Ryan Miller, 33 years old, does not know how to write a bad email. Your pals at Stab have learnt to live vicariously through Miller’s red wine-fuelled letters from the road. His travels take him to some dreamy locales and, in those places, he scores all-time photos: “My favourite photo I’ve shot was of Benny Bourgeois in the Caribbean, with a fisheye. Often I just take photos, but rarely do I get to make one.” In an age of tail-highs and released fins, Ryan still most likes to shoot someone who can lay-down a big backside turn. Namely: Jordy Smith, Dane Reynolds, Gabe Kling, Kekoa Bacalso, Damien Hobgood and Peter Mendia. Like most photogs, Miller misses Scott Aichner’s work. But, as far as contemporary inspiration? “Trying to see things through my daughter’s eyes. It’s wild to think about someone experiencing something totally new on almost a daily basis when, as adults, we rarely get to experience something truly new.”

More photos from Ryan Miller
Visit Ryan Miller's site here