John John Florence and everyday brilliance, Portugal

Another layday at the Rip Curl Pro. No surprises. But, it ain’t bad livin! “Fall is here and what a welcome change it is,” says the man behind the lens in this instance, Ryan Miller. “Gone are the days in France and first few days here when you could and would wear a t-shirt and shorts to the beach at sunset to put down a bottle of Bordeaux. Now everyone wears windbreakers and hoodies to the beach. At our accommodations we’ve switched to drinking Douro by the fireplace in the afternoons. Douro is Portugal’s finest region for red wine. It sure isn’t Bordeaux but it pisses all over the crap we drink in America and Australia. The water has cooled down considerably here as well. JJ here is one of the last holdouts still clinging to his short sleeve fullsuit. I swam today for maybe two hours in a really good fullsuit and came in with tears in my eyes from being so cold.”

Which is especially surprising, since John John comes from such a warm climate. But, kid knows the benefits of limited rubber.