13 Waves, 13 Barrels, One Year With Nathan Florence
If it’s a view from the inside that you seek, Nathan Florence is your man. Dedicating himself to chasing tubes and documenting his scores, the surfer from Hawaii recently shared a montage of the views from inside 13 different waves around the world. From his backyard at Backdoor and the sandbar in front of his house, to more far-flung locations like Shark Island and The Box in Australia, to Teahupo’o in Tahiti, to even more ominous sounding breaks like Skeleton Bay, The Cave and Mordor.
Besides the actual wave quality, which is stunning, three thing stand out about Florence’s edit. First, he got more tubes in 2023 than you’ve probably gotten in your whole life, the author included. There are some serious barrel hunters out there, but it’s safe to say Florence was one of the most tubed surfers over the last 365 days.
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The second point, Florence has become a master of POV footage. If practice makes perfect, years of honing his craft has paid off as he consistently captures remarkably dynamic angles that bring you right along for the ride with him.
And the third point, if you want perfect waves and wide-open barrels, you’re going to have to go get them. Very little of the footage in the edit is from Florence’s home in Hawaii. He’s a full road warrior who’s purported to spend an upwards of $250,000 a year on airfare alone. You want it, you gotta go find it.
Thanks to Florence for taking us along for the ride with him this year, here’s to another successful lap around the sun, and of course, more barrels.
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With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.