Watch: A light touch, with Jon Gubbins

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

I'm not sure if I've ever seen ol' Jonny Boy Gubbins do a turn. I've seen plenty of videos of him surfing, lancing Indonesia, dissecting Peru, but each time he's stuffed way back behind the section, hunched in his own imitable way, two steps up the board and right arm pointing the way home. And it's this deceivingly simple stance that I dig. Like a modern day Banksy - surfer not artist, though Jim has his own creative talents.

Check Jon's back foot in almost every scene of this vid; never touching the deck grip, not even atop the stringer. It's up the board and to the side, often just his big toe making contact, feathering control of the board while his front hoof is planted over the wide spot.

And that, my good friends, is an art in itself.

Comments

nextswell's picture
nextswell's picture
nextswell Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 9:48am

He's got his own system.

Ash's picture
Ash's picture
Ash Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 11:03am

He's wasting his money on tail pads, and that poised/arched back foot is unique. Definitely not a Neanderthal back foot planted right over the back fin, very interesting.

yocal's picture
yocal's picture
yocal Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 2:25pm

His board looks tiny too. What was the song? I figure it is well known but not from my era :)

rat-race's picture
rat-race's picture
rat-race Thursday, 18 Oct 2018 at 8:51am

'Hands' by The KVB

The MIDdleman.'s picture
The MIDdleman.'s picture
The MIDdleman. Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 3:06pm

How's he manage to slow down when needed.
Clearly at DP it's a freight train but does he use that style elsewhere?

fraser-gordon's picture
fraser-gordon's picture
fraser-gordon Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 3:06pm

Joel fitz has the same stance especially the back foot I have always picked up on it as I have the same foot placement as well Jon's in good company Haha.
https://imgur.com/WZy5VDv

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 3:14pm

That’s a cool style and a fricken unbelievable wave in that photo , Fraser.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 7:23pm

Oh, to be a great barrel rider :-/

Just spent two weeks in Indo on my Desert Storm and Byrning Spears, and while I got more shacked than in a year at home, I was never as deep or stylish as this.

Surfing is a wonderful thing, isn’t it. Whether doing or watching.

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018 at 7:45pm

Tube hound.
He’s not constantly weaving and pumping unnecessarily like on the Peru vid. That was awesome, sick style and deep tube riding

tango's picture
tango's picture
tango Thursday, 18 Oct 2018 at 10:45pm

Surfer not artist?

Geez, I'd have said that weaving in the barrel around 1:50 was about as artistic as it gets. It might be no frills, but that's the purity of it.

lostdoggy's picture
lostdoggy's picture
lostdoggy Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 3:22pm

I believe he was comparing him to Jim Banks the surfer/shaper rather than the street artist, Banksy.