The Changing of the Guard - Taj vs John John

thewhale
Jun 16, 2016
2 min read

If you were lucky enough to witness yesterday's heat in Round 3 of the Fiji Pro between John John Florence and Taj Burrow, you would have seen a piece of surfing history taking place. The heat was electrifying and beautiful Cloudbreak waves provided a platform to showcase two of the world's best surfers fighting it out; it was almost as if the ocean knew what was about to go down! Everyone at the WSL was so stoked and the energy in the water, in the commentary box and on the boats full of hooting friends and fellow professionals, was there for all to see. The intensity of the heat was further enhanced by the fact that if Taj Burrow lost it was his last act as a WSL competitor. For thewhale it was simple; this was one of those moments where we were all witnessing a changing of the guard. Taj Burrow the older statesman, once vetted as the new school of radical surfing 20 years ago, was defeated by someone very similar of the new generation, John John Florence. The fact that John John was inspired by Taj Burrow originally and that Taj introduced the world to the aerial game in competitive surfing should not go unnoticed either.

Photo: Screenshot of WSL broadcast

Taj Burrow, whilst he won plenty of major events, never took out the world title, perhaps because he was uncompromising in his approach and did not simply dance to the judge's tune in an era dominated by the master of the competitive stage, Kelly Slater. Maybe the WSL/ASP simply was not ready to reward the new style of aerial surfing, and Taj was the trailblazing pioneer who broke down the barriers for others to follow, including John John Florence. So, can John John succeed where Taj failed and was that magical heat the baton change in the relay race of radicalism that will see John John cross the line in a journey that Taj Burrow started out on 20 years ago? Here's hoping......