Does Noa Deane Have SSOTY Fever? 

“I’d love to see these wildcards, you know, the big mouths like Noa Deane, give him a wildcard at ten-foot Pipe. I want to see Noa Deane with his big mouth come up against Italo Ferreira and let’s see what happens… the dude will be savaged! The guy’s got a big mouth and never stops whining about the WSL. Let’s see that dude step up! People just let these dudes chirp. Step up and put up or shut up!” — Shaun Thomson, 1977 World Champion, The Boardroom Podcast, 2021.

A curious comment, to say the least, when you consider that just three years earlier, Noa had fleeced John John, the apex predator at Pipe, in a ten-foot heat.

For those like Shaun, who might be suffering from a particularly myopic view of Noa’s Hawaiian tenure, let’s take a moment to refresh the timeline. Outside of his free surfing, he’s been invited to compete in the Vans Pipe Masters, the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout, and the Volcom Pipe Pro. Quite the list of achievements.

The islands undoubtedly suit him. To bastardise the Sunny Garcia quote, Noa has proven, time and time again over the past decade, to be more lion than kitten. And as if we needed more proof, he’s gone ahead and uploaded a 16-and-a-half-minute edit from his last stint in Hawaii. He calls it ISLAND FEVER, and if there weren’t something downright abominable on the horizon, a project of sheer, unrelenting destruction, you could easily toss this in the “productive year” category and call it a day.

But, just to quickly mention, there is something else looming, already teased on Instagram and already making its rounds across Aus. For anyone who’s been paying attention, you’ll know exactly what I mean. STIMULANT might just be the best Noa Deane film to date.

At this point, it’s almost a blur trying to differentiate between each of his films, considering how many he’s dropped in the past couple of years. Horse. Mash. Munch. Nozvid. Rage 5. SNAPTFIVE. Sure, you might recall a single wave or the fact that you were scraping your the contents of your skull off the floor by the time the credits rolled. But mostly, you remember one thing: Noa Deane is a madman. He does what no one else even considers. He might be the most productive free surfer to ever get in front of a camera.

For most, a personal feature-length film is the defining moment of a career, perhaps the apex of everything that’s come before. For Noa, however, they seem to appear biannually. As the year draws to a close, Noz still has two very large bullets left in the chamber. This one, ISLAND FEVER, and STIMULANT, which, if you’re lucky, you’ll be seeing very soon.

Grip him with both hands, and make the most of what you’re witnessing. This is a run as good as we’ve seen.

Is this our surfer of the year?