Kolohe Andino and John Florence, Lowers, CA

The waves sucked out there today,” says photog Jimmy Wilson. “It’s not worth sending a surf shot.” So, instead, Jimmy fired through a shot of Kolohe ‘Brother’ Andino and Hawaiian John Florence, right after the latter had won his round two heat against Brazilian Alejo Muniz. Says Jimmy: “It’s not if, but when are these two going to take over the world of surfing? It’s looking sooner rather than later.”

Ok, so, no surf shot, but any quotes from the kids? “I’m not sure what they said. I was busy trying to get in the background of the interviews with my heinous sunglasses on. I got in about four or five interviews before they kicked me out.”

Ok, then how about what John told Stab prior to the event starting?

Stab: What excites you most about competing in a world tour event?
John: (Thoughtful) Just…like…being on the tour? Everything’s just been building up to that moment, and qualifying for it. It’s something that you work towards for so long and dream about for so long, and then you get there and you don’t really know how to feel. For so long, you’re just wanting to get there, thinking about it, like, I wanna get on that tour! Then you get there and… it just hasn’t sunken in. It’s still sinking in.

D’you think the biggest hurdle for you will be surfing against WT surfers, or getting your head around the fact you’re in a WT event? The hard part’s mostly in your head. ‘Cause now, especially with that new format, you’re surfing with a lot of the WT guys in the Primes. And in the QS, you start with four-man heats, then go to two-man heats, whereas with the WT, you’re starting with three-man heats then going to two man heats. So I think it’s in your head, but it’s also got a lot to do with heat strategy.

In a WT heat, who would you least wanna come up against? Probably anyone that I’m gonna be coming up against. I’m that last seed, so I’m probably gonna get put with one of the top seeds. That first heat will be nerve-racking, but I’m gonna try not to think about it too much. I’ll try and treat it like any other heat, like it’s a QS, or a junior, or anything else. And it gets easier after that, hopefully