The air that wasn’t heard around the World (but should’ve been)

Words by Jed Smith | Photo by WSL/Poullenot/Aquashot

When Julian Wilson and John John Florence went to the moon and back with big oops at Peniche and Keramas, they were the airs that were “heard around the world.”

When Brazilian battler, Italo Ferreira goes the other direction off a soupy reverse wedge on an ugly day at Peniche it’s… crickets (not from the judges though – they handed out a 9.93).

We had fellow screwfoot flyboy Craig Anderson breakdown the air reverse that should have been heard around the world.

The punt: “Fucken wild. Yeah, it was fucken crazy. It was just wild how much hang time he got. He slowed it right down, it looked like he stopped in the air almost. Usually airs are pretty fast but he just lost it and sat up there for a long time. It was a really big section, with a pretty crazy landing, all super smooth and buttery. It was fucken sick. I was psyched when I saw that. People aren’t making a big song and dance about it probably because he’s just not one of those main dudes but I feel like he’s as good as all those other guys, Medina and Filipe.”

The section: “It’s just a big wedgy section that came right at him and his timing was insane. He didn’t’ chop-hop off the lip. He hit it as fast as he could and threw everything into it. I feel like you see airs that are huge but they’re not also super critical. He stomped that thing on a super beefy section, it was wild.”

Would it make a hi-fi film? “For sure! It’s crazy to think that. Every now and then you get those heats where guys are flaring and their whole heat could be in one of Kai’s movie. That air could be an ender or close to it.”

The Brazilian Storm: “Yeah dude, it’s crazy. They’re definitely the best surfers in the world when it comes to throwing that shit down in a heat with all that pressure on and everyone watching. I think they’re surfing amazingly well but fuck, I dunno, it still doesn’t look that good you know and there’s a lot of claims going down. But I back what those guys are doing. They are super talented passionate athletes. Props to Italo for not claiming that thing. I’m a big fan of when guys do something amazing and don’t claim it.”

Below is what an air heard around the world looks like. While not as big, Italo’s is still far more deserving of the attention it scooped:

And now, a word on backside rotational airs from our consultant, Mr Craig Anderson:

Photos by Matt O’Brien