Watch: Steph Gilmore In “Vacation Island” By Morgan Maassen

Steph Gilmore, as far as style goes, rivals that of Tom Curren, Craig Ando, Rasta, Parko or any of the “style masters” of year’s past. Most professional surfers will stick Steph in their top five favourite people to watch slide down a wave’s face. Like Kelly, but in a different, more pleasing way, she is genetically predisposed to ride a surfboard. If you’ve ever seen her surf in person, you’ve marveled at the way she high lines off her take off, her hands perfectly positioned, the slight arch in her back as she bottom turns and projects as much spray off the top of the wave as most men–it’s all grace, not aggression. It’s this motion that has made her a 6x World Champ.

Last Winter, when this was filmed at Rocky Rights, she was on the best wave of every set and punting huge flyaways on the inside section–a section where the water is knee high at best–and paddling back out with the same infectious smile seen in any clip, or WSL interview featuring the talented Miss Gilmore. I watched her from the water at Rocky Rights, between picking up scraps on the inside corner, or pulling into the closeout lefts no professional surfer would bother with, only to get pinned and dragged across the reef. It was marvellous.