Jordy Smith And The Best Lowers Session We’ve Ever Seen

Anger affects everyone differently. Some quietly seethe for years, allowing their inner turmoil to amass until one day they drive calmly to their local gunnery, display minimal forms of identification and qualification to buy an assault rifle, then go kill tens of people in a church/concert/school. Others more humanely perform regular installments of self-flagellation. But certain people, and these are the ones that scare me the most*, get explosively abusive.

Explosive anger is typically the worst kind to deal with, because it’s erratic and can physically or emotionally scar anyone in the vicinity of an outburst. Sometimes though, these combustible humans hold enough regard for life and law to direct their rage toward inanimate objects, like walls or car doors or… waves**.

Jordy Smith went to Europe leading the world title race. He left Portugal in third place with very, very slim odds of stealing the crown at Pipe. I’ll let him explain the rest: “After a disappointing Europe leg I came home really bummed out. The waves were firing a day or two later at Lowers and the one thing that’s always helped me get through disappointment is putting a lot of time in the water, so I posted up for Lowers the whole day and had a few epic surfs. I walked back up the trail that arvo feeling back on track and pumped for Hawaii.”

Let’s be real and assume that Jordy’s disappointment was probably a little closer to anger. Because what he did to Lowers that day was… wow. Explosively abusive. 

When I say this is the best single-day Lowers performance I’ve ever seen, I promise there is not even a touch of irony, deceit, or hyperbole in that statement. No one from memory has surfed it with such power, aggression, and control. Not Kelly, not John, not no one. This is fucking fantastic.

If I were to be half-critical, I’d say that Jordy could still work on his backhand. And I’m glad he had such a great session but this will not, I repeat will not help him at Pipe. The title is John’s or Gab’s and we all know it.  

Oh and what a fun song! 

*No point living in fear of terrorists. If lawmakers don’t want to amend America’s gun situation, then this is just how it’s gonna be. Maybe you’ll get unlucky and wind up in the line of fire, but you probably won’t, and it’s just a hindrance on your life to fear the possibility. 

**Are waves technically inanimate? Real question.