Watch: Two Fins To Freedom With Australia’s Highest Ranked Surfer

Ryan Callinan has arrived. 

After dominating films and Instagram feeds for the past seven years, R-Cal has finally translated that raw, Australian talent into veritable CT success. 

Sitting at number seven in the world, Ryan is now the highest-ranked Australian on Tour and the only one in the top 10. 

He’s done so, mainly, with his strong and varied backside attack, which includes a vertical reo, a spread-eagle swoop (not far off from that of Mike Losness), and a nosepick finner (which we’d like to see more of). Barring some late-season catastrophe, Ryan has basically already requalified, which should give him the confidence to surf freely in the remaining CT events. As we saw in his wildcard run last year in France, that could spell disaster for Ryan’s competitors. 

In his latest clip, Ryan drops the die-hard competitor vibe (instilled in him by coach Richard “Dog” Marsh) and falls back into his natural state of being—a happy-go-lucky kid who happens to be exceptionally talented on a surfboard. 

So when Bali went flat (read: chest-high), Ryan opted for the fastest board in his quiver: the JS Black Baron. A twin fin!

Oddly, few things get us more psyched to surf than watching someone rip tiny waves. It seems so… achievable. That is until we paddle out and things go exactly as they usually do, which is to say, not like this video.

We hope you’ll enjoy nonetheless.