Stab Magazine | Julian Wilson and John John Florence: The bigger oop
243 Views

Julian Wilson and John John Florence: The bigger oop

How could we resist? How could we resist sitting these two OMG-REALLY alley oops next to each other? The first is performed by John John Florence, the highest air ever done in competition (perhaps until today), stomped in the first round of the Oakley Pro at Keramas back in June. The second was greased by Julian Wilson this morning in the Rip Curl Pro at Peniche, in Portugal. John needed a 9.50 to skip round two, and with the clock winding down, he played in the lip, took the brakes off and unloaded on the lip. Perfectly rotated, he stomped clean into perhaps the only un-subtle claim we’ve ever seen from the Hawaiian. And, 10 points. “I was in the air, and then I saw the bottom, everything happened so fast and I just landed perfect,” said John John afterwards. “I think I claimed it super hard (he did) but I was super stoked. The ankle brace gives me confidence to do things and it’s actually feeling really good now. I’m so stoked to be back in the water, and surfing out here. The waves are amazing. I was sitting up there earlier watching the air wind, and I was super psyched on trying to do an air. But I had to calm myself down not to go out there and try airs the whole time. Then that one came and had that section on it, and I just went for it…” Jules needed something, because Damo Hobgood was leading the heat. So he took off, belted down the line, and hit the perfect slingshot section, just as a hint of backwash jacked the wave. He completely extended, completely rotated, and greased the landing into a wholly-understandable double fist claim. And 10 very well-deserved points. ”I felt like I bit off a bit more than I could chew when I was in the air on that one, but somehow I pulled it, that section was really really good. At that point of the heat I was really quite nervous, I only had one opportunity to do an air, and I was lucky enough to capitalise on it. That’s the thing I love about competition, you put yourself in those situations where you don’t even for a second think about not making it. In a freesurf I probably would have pulled the eject button like halfway through that air, that was for sure the biggest alley-oop I’ve ever done.” And so, we open the floor. Which is the higher?

news // Mar 8, 2016
Words by stab
Reading Time: 2 minutes

How could we resist? How could we resist sitting these two OMG-REALLY alley oops next to each other? The first is performed by John John Florence, the highest air ever done in competition (perhaps until today), stomped in the first round of the Oakley Pro at Keramas back in June. The second was greased by Julian Wilson this morning in the Rip Curl Pro at Peniche, in Portugal.

John needed a 9.50 to skip round two, and with the clock winding down, he played in the lip, took the brakes off and unloaded on the lip. Perfectly rotated, he stomped clean into perhaps the only un-subtle claim we’ve ever seen from the Hawaiian. And, 10 points. “I was in the air, and then I saw the bottom, everything happened so fast and I just landed perfect,” said John John afterwards. “I think I claimed it super hard (he did) but I was super stoked. The ankle brace gives me confidence to do things and it’s actually feeling really good now. I’m so stoked to be back in the water, and surfing out here. The waves are amazing. I was sitting up there earlier watching the air wind, and I was super psyched on trying to do an air. But I had to calm myself down not to go out there and try airs the whole time. Then that one came and had that section on it, and I just went for it…”

Jules needed something, because Damo Hobgood was leading the heat. So he took off, belted down the line, and hit the perfect slingshot section, just as a hint of backwash jacked the wave. He completely extended, completely rotated, and greased the landing into a wholly-understandable double fist claim. And 10 very well-deserved points. ”I felt like I bit off a bit more than I could chew when I was in the air on that one, but somehow I pulled it, that section was really really good. At that point of the heat I was really quite nervous, I only had one opportunity to do an air, and I was lucky enough to capitalise on it. That’s the thing I love about competition, you put yourself in those situations where you don’t even for a second think about not making it. In a freesurf I probably would have pulled the eject button like halfway through that air, that was for sure the biggest alley-oop I’ve ever done.”

And so, we open the floor. Which is the higher?

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

The 49 Surfers Who Died in Fishing Nets: A Dark History Of Brazil’s Southern Coast

The deadliest surf coast you've never heard of.

Jan 4, 2026

We Tracked The Board-Buying Habits Of 7,500 Surfers 

What, why, and how much are we buying? 

Jan 2, 2026

Surfing’s 2025 Q4 Report

Detecting surfing’s dark matters.

Jan 1, 2026

Noa Deane Wins Stab Surfer Of The Year 2025, Best Male

Two films, one edit, and three film sections later, Noa's incomparable work ethic pays off.

Dec 31, 2025

Breaking: Medina Splits With Rip Curl, Noa Deane Signs On The Jagged Line, Yago Dora’s New Brand Revealed

2025's grand industry finale.

Dec 30, 2025

Molly Picklum Wins Stab Surfer Of The Year 2025, Best Female

The year of Pickles, immortalized once and for all.

Dec 30, 2025

Snapt5 Wins 2025’s Film of the Year

Logan Dulien hits a walk-off grand slam in surf filmmaking.

Dec 29, 2025

Harry Bryant and Dav Fox Win 2025’s Edit Of The Year with ‘Roasted’

A study of time, space, and surfboards longer than you need.

Dec 28, 2025

Nathan Florence Wins Best YouTube of 2025

Making him a three-time consecutive 'like and subscribe' SSOTY champ.

Dec 27, 2025

Stab Surfer of the Year 2025: Best Junior (Male And Female)

Congratulations Tya Zebrowski & James Kusitino.

Dec 26, 2025

Watch: ‘Vacation 3’ Presented By Monster Energy

Stab Highway East Coast USA winners bask in victory at Kandui Resort.

Dec 25, 2025

Biggest Movers of 2025

Who made the career biggest leap — forward, backward or otherwise — in the past…

Dec 24, 2025

‘Vacation 3’ In 11 Photos

And 11 behind-the-scenes backstories from the POV of a producer on the ground.

Dec 23, 2025

We Tested The World’s Best Wetsuit (According To You)

365 days prove you're (probably) right.

Dec 23, 2025

Ellis Ericson Is The Winner Of EAST With Mikey February

The first broken surfboard to ever win one of our board tests.

Dec 22, 2025

Exclusive: Noa Deane Stars In Film Of The Year Nominee “Stimulant”

A flawless degustation cooked up by James Kates.

Dec 21, 2025

Meet Our 2025 Stab Surfer of the Year Contenders

And cast your vote for the winners.

Dec 20, 2025

Stab’s 2025 Holiday Gift Guide — Surf Essentials

Meet the boards, fins, traction, leashes and more that are actually used by the Stab…

Dec 20, 2025
Advertisement