When it rains, it floods and without peer, John Florence is surfing’s most sought-after commodity. He just signed a new, undisclosed multi-year deal with Hurley, meaning that Pat O’Connell will remain his Number One fan through the prime of his career. And while no one in John’s camp is talking specifics, Stab speculates the deal usurps his previous contractand overshadows big-monied ten-year contracts of the surf industry’s more profitable years. “Hurley’s been a huge part of my life, they’ve helped me accomplish what I’ve wanted to accomplish, from movies to contests and all that,” John tells Stab. “They’ve been really supportive, which is the best part. When I said I wanted to make a movie; they told me to go for it. When I wanted to focus on competition, they told me the same. Everything about Hurley is like a family.” Which is easy to say when you’re the golden child, but John’s a good investment. And think, have you ever not clicked on a JJF headline? So after he’d finished View from a Blue Moon, John set his sights on a successful season on tour – a unique segue into the release of John’s final episode of his Twelve series. 

The problem with hundreds of web clips drowning the internet is the difficulty to add a narrative. It’s air-rev, blow tail, barrel, roundhouse, slow-mo, full rote and a banging, or ominous soundtrack. But John’s “Twelve” set out to capture a world title run. Instead, they ended up documenting one of the best competitive years for any surfer ever, cue the Eddie, Triple Crown and world title. The notion itself feels like an automatic jinx  — like an NFL player making the cover of Madden (17 out of 19 players in the history of the video game have suffered shortened seasons due to injury or otherwise).