John John Florence, all heels but no toes (the secret!), California

“The two days before this photo the line-ups had been packed, even for Lower’s bloated standards,” says the photographer, Mr Quinn Matthews. “The peak was shifty and there were six water photogs, at least, bobbing in the line-up right in the way of most take-offs or landing zones.” But times change don’t they? It’s a dynamic world! And so two days later, on a wave beset by summer’s marine-layer fog, where it was impossible to even see the lineup, “the crowd was mostly the WCT guys with very few others and no other water photogs. The fog had kept the wind down so it was just glassy walls acting as runways for all the surfers ready to take to the air. John John paddled out for 45 minutes and put on a clinic.”