Florida’s been shooting for the stars since 1962, when NASA planted the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island. Here’s one of its 23 million residents, Caroline Marks—Olympic gold medallist, 2023 World Champ, who was clearly sprinkled with a little stardust herself. Photo by Gunner Hughes.

How Did A Surf-Starved State Produce 22 World Titles?

Red Bull No Contest rockets over Florida.

travel // Apr 15, 2025

Words by Stab

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Welcome back to No Contest — Red Bull and Stab’s cultural surf series exploring the unlikely epicenters, hidden figures, and freakish talents that shape surfing’s global landscape.

This episode? Florida.

Home to 22 world titles, 1,350 miles of coastline, and the highest per-capita rate of naked machete incidents on Earth.

A state defined by its “Florida Man” mythology. Personal top five headlines:

Florida Man Arrested for Throwing Alligator Through Drive-Thru Window
Florida Man Arrested After Argument Over Cheesesteak Leads to Sword Fight
Florida Man Arrested for Practicing Karate on Swans at Park
Florida Man Claims He’s Jesus, Throws Toaster in Bathtub to “Baptize” Girlfriend
And from our own archives: Florida Man Surfs for 31 Hours, Catches 638 Waves in Surf Bender to Raise Funds for Fruity ‘Light Spectacle’

When asked why Florida continues to produce world-class competitors, Caroline Marks offered a telling insight: *“You’re surfing quick little waves where you have to be quick on your feet.”* Is it fair to say that ritualistic dance with inconsistent dribble sharpens timing, instincts, and the ability to manufacture scores? Photo by Gunner Hughes

To help us navigate these gator-and-toaster-infested waters, we enlisted Red Bull athlete, Olympic gold medallist, and 2023 World Champion Caroline Marks — just one of Florida’s 22 world titles, alongside:

Ke11y Slater – you’ve heard of him.
Lisa Andersen – 4x World Champ, queen of style, first woman to ride for Quiksilver.
CJ Hobgood – 2001 World Champ, still G-Land’s top vision seeker.
Justin Quintal – Longboard World Champ + Yellowmouth Grouper whisperer.
Frieda Zamba – 4x World Champ, screwfoot savant, was given the keys to the city.

Just goes to show: greatness can emerge from utterly average surf. This state breeds champions like it breeds hurricanes: violently, often, and without warning.

Caroline was the first woman to break Steph, Tyler and Carissa’s 15-year World Title stranglehold. By 13, she’d already surfed her first CT event at Lower Trestles, where she lost to Carissa Moore in Round one and Tyler Wright in Round two. Kind of poetic she beat those same two surfers in reverse order to win her maiden World Title at 21. Photo by Gunner Hughes.

Let’s not sugarcoat it: The waves in Florida are pretty bad. Consistently bad. The kind of waves that make you question your life choices.

But if you can bother, chances are you’ll end up quick on your feet, clocking miles on the odometer, and developing a near-religious enthusiasm for crappy conditions.

As the locals say:

“When the waves are good, it’s mediocre at best… If we get a good day, I’m surfing until I can’t move.”

“If you can surf crappy waves well, you can surf good waves really well.”

A truth embodied by Cory Lopez (Tahiti finalist, X Games gold medalist), Eric Geiselman (foil evangelist, Stab High alumnus), and Tom Dugan — founder of Eastern Surf Magazine, custodian of East Coast lore, and the reason you’ve seen Kelly Slater’s backhand lookback 10,000 times.

Florida surfers are relentless. They’ll drive six hours for a two-foot swell.
They’ll paddle out in thigh-high chop with an ear-to-ear grin.
They’ll drop everything when the buoy reads 2.8ft @ 12 seconds and treat it like Pipeline.

It’s a religion, and Florida’s “Space Coast” is its Church — named after the Kennedy Space Center, where Elon’s rocket ships casually launch three times a week.

“It’s sooooo big,” says Caroline, staring at a decommissioned NASA launch tower. No jokes were made. All were genuinely impressed.

That towering unit to the right of Caroline? That’s Saturn V — all 363 feet (111 meters) of it. The tallest rocket ever built, and the reason humans once bounced around on the Moon. Also: the namesake inspiration for *Space Coast Boardriders*. Because if you grow up surfing in a shadow like that, you learn to aim high. Photo by Gunner Hughes.

From the space station, we head north to the state’s most consistent breaks: Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna — a.k.a. Shark Bite Capital of the World. Bring your groveller. Maybe a tourniquet.

Then it’s west to Nokomis, where we meet a few mad scientists of the surf world: Jacob Shields, founder of Compound Boardshop; and Bobby Smetts, founder of Zap Skimboards — which, to be fair, is probably a better Gulf hobby than surfing.

**See that 7’10” redwood Gerry Lopez Lightning Bolt single fin in the back?** It sold last year for an eye-watering USD $11,995. Six pieces of book-matched curly redwood, glassed in 6 oz cloth, and finished with a matching redwood fin. Just goes to show — while most modern boards are lucky to clear $50 profit after tariffs and shipping, some pieces still punch like boutique hardwood furniture. Photo by Gunner Hughes.

We wrap things up in Ashy’s hometow in Nokomis, at the home of fin guru Juan Rodriguez.
Proud owner of over 400 fin templates — including custom signatures from Mick Fanning, Greg Noll, Wayne Lynch, and Simon Anderson.

His party trick? He can tell where you’re from based on your fin setup:

L.A.? Thin and raked. Gold Coast? Upright and fast. Florida? Probably glassed-on in someone’s backyard in 1993.

Or something like that…

That’s a wrap for this season of No Contest. Watch all previous episodes: San Francisco, Morocco and Japan here.