Just John Florence And An Empty Perfect Right

Though John’s boat is drifting somewhere else now, the above video is a retrospective reflection on the three-time World Champ’s floating Fijian sabbatical aboard Vela.

The payoff is exactly what the title promises.

A perfect little right, with nobody on it.

The first half of the clip displays everything required to get there.

“The process of actually getting good waves out here is more complicated than I thought it would be,” Florence writes, listing the less glamorous realities of boat-based strike missions: stocking enough food, timing supply boats, coordinating weather windows with his brothers, finding somewhere safe to anchor, reading constantly changing tides and winds and, most importantly, trying not to get dengue.

Some of the footage dates back to roughly day 75 of their South Pacific voyage, when Nate and Ivan were aboard. The crew eventually left the area, only to return around a month later and give the wave another crack.

Good decision.

The final section delivers the goods: clean, playful, mechanically shaped rights with John John operating without jerseys, priority, judges or another human in sight.

“When it does work out, and we’re surfing a perfect little right all on our own, there’s no words for the experience,” Florence writes.