Behind the scenes: Coco surfs naked for ESPN

Three photos. That’s all it took for Coco Ho to be the most talked-about person in surfing this week. The infamous Miss Ho for ESPN’s Body Issue will continue the chatter until drinks, Friday. And, what’s not to love? A naked surf shoot in Hawaii, while not the slightest bit sexualised, makes her look one part Hawaiian goddess, one part world class athlete.

While robed between shots, Coco ditched the fabric, and, danced like no one was watching. Even though we were. Even her pro snowboarding bf Mark McMorris was there. But, the cool-headed gent embraced his attractive gal working on the concept shoot. And, the results are superb, perhaps ESPN’s best work of a surfer since they started the series six years ago. Those images were the work of a name you’ll be familiar with in Stab: Mr Morgan Maassen. Morgan has become a go-to guy for the female pro surfers in the world and works closely with Steph Gilmore, Quincy Davis and Sage Erickson.

In the accompanying interview with ESPN, Coco said the body image has taken a downward spiral in surfing. “Because we’re in bikinis all day, we’re really critiqued. After a competition, social media will just be talking about who looked better in a bikini instead of who surfed better. It’s not even about the results anymore, so much is body. And that’s really frustrating at times.” Well, we now know who surfed best without a bikini.