What’s It Like Having Jordy Smith As Your Surfboard Analyst?

Raised just 56km away from the Cape Of Good Hope — Africa’s most southerly landmass — 23-year old Zaffa talent Luke Slijpen has caught our eye on multiple occasions. 

Boasting notable poise in the air, on the face, and at the feet of hulking Southern Ocean monsters, Luke has a resume which includes garnering hundreds of thousands of views on our Instagram, taking off on Namibian double-ups Taj Burrow didn’t want, and paddling into outer reef apexes off the southern tip of Cape Town. 

“The last bit of this edit was filmed around Cape Town, but a fair bit of it was filmed a few hours up the West Coast,” he says, across the void of a nine hour time difference. “Eli Beukes is one of my best friends and we do a bunch of missions up the West Coast. He grew up around there until he was like 11, and his dad is an old local. He shows us around and films us, it’s pretty sick.”

Filmed over the course of roughly a year, Burnt is the unintentional accumulation of Luke’s trips through South Africa with Eli, Brendon Gibbens, and CT juggernaut Jordy Smith.

Concerning the latter, Luke says Smith has been instrumental in his progression — and can’t speak highly enough of the Smith Shapes securely fastened under his feet through this clip.

“I’ve been surfing with Jordy a lot here in Cape Town, he’s definitely been pushing all of us. We do a lot of super early missions, he’s the biggest frother, he’ll wake up at like two in the morning to paddle out in the dark somewhere so we don’t miss a window,” Luke chuckles. “He’s so on it.”

“He’s quite involved with Smith Shapes, he wants us to get the best boards we can. It’s nice having him see how you surf, and then he can connect with his dad and let him know what he thinks of our boards. We’ve become pretty close in the past year, and it’s definitely helped my surfing.”

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As detailed in How Surfers Get Paid, Jordy famously turned town some solid change to return to riding his fathers boards. 

“At the back of my mind was this whole Stab in the Dark thing with my dad’s board — to be honest that thing really felt the best. I went home and spoke a lot to Dooma, my manager and best mate, and he was just like, “Dude, why don’t you just go ride your dad’s boards for a while?””

“The money’s not worth the joy and happiness you’re going to get from good boards. So I just went home. My dad and I started banging away the tools, started working together, and we just thought we’d start our own brand the same way Kelly did at Firewire. It’s been the best decision I think I’ve made my whole career.”

No doubt, Jordy’s elite understanding of technical nuances paired with the father-son-relationship has benefitted Luke’s surfing in ways most surfers can only dream of. 

Could anyone ask for a better way to develop a relationship with their surfboards?