Watch: Ryan Callinan in ‘Just For Now’

You get so used to watching the elite of our sport wrapped in contest jerseys, that it’s easy to forget: at their core, they’re just surfers like the rest of us.

And there’s not many amongst the pinnacle of world surfing who represent the everyman quite so worthily as Ryan Callinan. Newcastle’s competitive poster-boy’s forced COVID-sabbatical was one characterised by the winter of endless swell, and Ryno wasn’t about to miss out on the rarity of being home with a clear calendar. Egged on by childhood sparring partner Craig Anderson, and documented by friend first, filmer second, Jack Taylor, JustForNow is the summation of R Cal’s year that was.

It’s 15 minutes long, and when you surf at the level Ryan does, it’s impossible to extract precise takeaways; the level’s just too high and consistent. However, pay attention to the hands-free backhand tube exploration (Ryan considers hand-free the pinnacle of back to the wall tube riding), Ryan’s general sting on/above the face (surely he’s worth a few shekels for Merewether considering his backhand assassination of the place), and just generally how nice it is to see one of the best surfers in the world surfing so freely and clearly having a ball.