John Florence, a two-pack of finners, Bells Beach

‘Momentum’ is a term y’could attach to someone who’s come off a fistful of wins and has an aura about them. John Florence, right now, has momentum. After winning the Vans Triple Crown late last year, then the Volcom Pipeline Pro, then the Telstra Drug Aware Pro, Margaret River, he gots a steam on. This morning he beat Matt Wilkinson in their round three match-up at the Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach. But yesterday, when this sequence was shot by Ryan Miller, John really went to town. On this wave, a 7.93, he pasted back-to-back finners, the second one a reverse, on the wave’s most critical sections. Ryan observes (and we agree!) that in 2010 when Dusty Payne first made the WT, he’d just come off Modern Collective and was looking to bring frontside finners to the world stage – something seldom seen til then. He did just that in  the 15th heat of round three heat at Bells against Kelly Slater and, though Kell won, the world stood still, just for a heartbeat, over Dusty’s finners. Why’s this interesting? Because now upstarts like Johnny-Boy lay these suckers down back-to-back, regularly. Regardless of conditions. Progression sure is an endearing sunambitch.