Watch: Unequivocal Proof That Cloudbreak Is The Best Wave In The World
Mikey February, James Kusitino, Tosh Tudor, Frankie Harrer, Kobe Hughes and Lungi Slabb star in “SunSong”.
Teahupo’o is more perfect.
Pipeline is more thrilling. Skeleton Bay has (had?) a longer barrel. Macaronis has a better coping.
But there is no wave better, from top to tail, than Cloudbreak. No wave with such unlimited potential for pure, unpretentious surfing. Where speed is unlimited, the wall never ends, and the only limits that exist are those within your mind.
In Sun Bum’s latest feature, SunSung, this point is proven beyond a reasonable doubt by a cast of surfing’s finest and most creative linesmiths: Mikey February, James Kusitino, Tosh Tudor, Frankie Harrer, Kobe Hughes, and Lungi Slabb.
It’s an audio-visual treat, a true salve for the senses, and a reminder that no wave is as perfectly imperfect as Thundercloud Reef.
And while we’re on the topic of unequivocal truths: Backside carves are criminally underrated.
The drawback: there’s a vast difference between how the backhand wrap feels underfoot and how it looks on camera. After all, this is one of the first basics a young surfer learns — to lean from heels to toes without bogging rail and falling into the flats. They are a staple in any competent surfer’s repertoire. A safe, reliable choice. Typically performed with an accordion bend and poo-man squat.
Only on rare occasions — when done at speed, on a wave of significant height power — do they become a marker of elite surfing. Legs extended, body parallel to the wave face, board buried to the stringer. The greatest purveyors of this hook include Andy Irons, Dane Reynolds and Occy, but the list expands to more underground assailants like Pete Mendia and Mike Losness.
The backside carve is an intoxicating sensation— a surfboard’s rail connecting so completely with the wall and harnessing an entire ocean of kinetic energy. Cloudbreak is, perhaps, the greatest of all canvases for this particular picture.
As for SunSong, the film also nails the theoretically simple but hard-to-execute formula: a handful of top liquid creatives + blue chip surf + music that actually elevates the visuals.
This time, the suspects include Mikey February, James Kusitino, Lungi Slabb, Frankie Harrer and Kobe Hughes. Music by Hugh Masekela and Letta Mbulu.
Tosh, the lone male goofyfoot, surfs as smooth as locally-sourced honey but considerably faster. Lungi proves his elite tube technique isn’t specific to rights. Kobe takes the notion of a longer rail line to its logical extreme. Frankie’s power hacks (particularly on the Burch) are a delight. Mikey’s backhand hooks are a startling reminder that even nice guys can pack a punch. And of course, there’s James, who at just 17 has already claimed a singular approach to one of the world’s best waves in a remarkably short span.
Do yourself a favor and give it a watch above.
