John John Florence Just Squashed His Ghost

Ever since John John Florence took a meat axe to Margaret River Main Break in 2017, the Ghost has been Jon Pyzel’s most reliable money maker.

In How Surfers Get Paid, Pyzel said the sleek step-up accounts for “well over 15% of our sales for the world.”

In the nine years since the Ghost debuted over Western Australia cobblestones, we’ve seen John John make countless cavernous North Shore tubes and plow into sections that would have most running for Kam Highway.

So when John John and Pyzel recently unveiled a new iteration of their fabled phantasm, one without that refined round tail, it begs the question: design sacrilege or transformative breakthrough? 

To the eye, the narrow squash is a radical departure from the Ghost’s signature outline. That’s sort of the point, as the idea is to give it a touch more versatility in smaller waves while still keeping its signature horsepower intact. In the clip above, John John puts the new tail through its paces during a single, full-bore session at home. Safe to say it works for him. 

For the full rundown on the board, listen to Pyzel below. 

“It’s giving you more of a pivot point through turns,” Pyzel said of the new iteration, which is based directly on John John’s specs. “As you roll it onto the rail, it’s going to go faster through turns, especially on a slower wave, it’ll pivot quicker than a round tail would.”