IN SESSION
When I called John Florence at his home on the North Shore of Oahu, he’d just stepped off his sailboat. He’d been decompressing from a year in the spotlight, which saw him hoisting trophies for his Eddie Invitational, Rio Pro, Portugal Pro, Haleiwa Pro, Triple Crown, and World Championship wins. But Florence’s definition of “decompressing” may be a little different from most. He’d been on a white-knuckle journey between Hawaiian Islands, getting rocked by strong winds and rough seas en route to Maui. “It was really fun to figure out,” said Florence, without a hint of sarcasm. It’s this same attitude that earned Florence all that silverware last year. He approached the 2016 season like an eager student, and even though most surf fans already viewed him as the best surfer in the world, Florence saw room for improvement everywhere. During our conversation, Florence explained how he put together the best competitive year of his life, and how a champion’s work is never really done.
Even with so many big wins this year, Florence looks back on 2016 and still sees room for improvement, both in and out of a jersey
The Eddie, the World Title, and the Triple Crown. No one had ever won all three in a year. Did it even occur to you that you could do that before this year?
No…well, growing up it was always my dream to win those things, but I never really thought about winning all three in the same year. The Eddie was the biggest shocker for me. I’d never competed in
