Style Matters, Especially In The Wavepool

At our second Stab High event, Shea Lopez, who was acting as a judge, said something that has bounced around my brain ever since. 

“The only thing that really matters is how you look on a wave.”

Shea said this specifically in reference to up-and-coming kids, who in his mind, should focus on their form before perfecting full-rotations. 

“Because at the end of the day,” Shea continued, “if people don’t like watching you surf, there’s no way you’re gonna keep a job in this industry.”

And he’s right! How many kids nowadays can do a whirlybird to the flats? (All of them.) And how many of these kids can you actually name, let alone find joy in watching them surf? (Not as many.)

Oscar Langburne is one of those memotable kids, and while he’s the first to admit that others his age can fly higher, turn harder, and stuff a bigger tube, there’s something about Oscar’s surfing that makes you want to keep watching. 

Case in point: his recent session in Melbourne’s URBNsurf facility, testing the new Haydenshapes White Noiz grom.