Surfing's Best Moments of 2024

With the Olympics being held at Teahupo’o this year, it was perhaps inevitable that the year’s biggest moment would come from Tahiti. Few would have predicted that it would come in the form of a single image, and not one of a surfer actually riding a wave. Jérôme Brouillet’s image of Gabriel Medina suspended God-like, bolt upright, three feet above the water, an index finger raised in glory, his board trailing six feet behind, became one of the iconic frames, not just for surfing but for the entire 2024 Olympics. 

Laura Enever Named Surfer of the Year

When Laura Enever was named the 2024 Surfer of the Year at the SURFER Big Wave Challenge Awards in Nazaré, Portugal, it was a reward for a decade of commitment to the sport. In 2024, Enever’s sessions at Oahu's Outer Reefs, Teahupo’o, Cloudbreak and Shipsterns all pushed the dial for women’s big wave surfing. That she did with it real style, a perma-smile and humility only added to the positive effect she has given surfing. “That feeling of getting a huge barrel, and the adventure that comes with finding and riding slabs is such a rush,” she told the SURFER print edition. “I think that’s where the focus will be in the next ten years. And I hope to be a big part of it.” 

John John Florence’s Layback

Can we read too much into one turn? Not when it sets up a third World Title, after a seven-year break. In the second matchup of the WSL Finals, and after waiting for 14 minutes, John John took off on a Trestles set. Our August Howell put it nicely: “John John Florence cleaved his third wave of the day in two.” The first searing layback turn came with some baggage; since winning back-to-back world titles in 2017, he’d done both knees, a few ankles and a back. Each time his “comeback” was cut short by another injury. He could have walked away from competitive surfing. But he didn’t. He showed patience, resilience and a hard-nosed, straight-up stubbornness. That allowed him to be on that wave and show his talent. The first search layback jam turn netted him 9 of the 9.17 points and a third World Title was his.  

Kelly Slater Retires (Or Did He?)

Kelly’s long goodbye was, well, long. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when surf fans could officially lament the loss of  Kelly from the CT. You could pinpoint his Round 2 loss in Margaret River, where a failure to make the cut effectively decided for him. The WSL, sensing it was an underwhelming send-off,  then handed the GOAT wildcards for the rest of the season. That meant it was in Cloudbreak where we saw Kelly’s last official competitive heat. A Round 3 loss to Yago Dora meant it looked like the 11X World Champ had run out of road. Or had he? “I’m happy for Yago and just… this was probably the last heat I’ll ever surf out here at Cloudbreak,” he said post-heat. Had he, yet again, left the door ever-so-slightly ajar?

Legends Heat Snapper Rocks

Legend heats are exactly a new concept. Part nostalgia, part homage, part three-ringed circus, it's a format that has been wheeled at events for at least two decades. Yet the Snapper World Champs Heat at the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro was something different. To start, the surf was pumping, and a huge Snapper crowd lined the sand to soak it up. Secondly, Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, Steph Gilmore, Joel Parkinson and Dingo Morrison surfed at an elite level. Add some Occ magic, ripping at 58, and the rizz and hard fizz that is DJ Fisher, and this might have been the most enjoyable 60 minutes of surfing this year. 

Lucas Chianca Goes Massive at Nazaré

2024 Big Wave Challenge | Lucas Chianca | Nazaré, Portugal (0:29)

“Those last days were pretty huge, and I’d really missed that feeling with the energy of the waves being 100-foot or whatever,” Lucas "Chumbo" Chianca said after a giant, onshore Nazare session in February. “It was something different to what I had experiencedbefore.”Putting aside, if you can, the laid-back “100-foot or whatever”, it was another statement of what Nazaré and Chianca are capable of. In the water that day was just his team and Sebastian Stuednter who braved the elements. “On those days there just isn’t that many surfers who want to try and ride the biggest waves possible," he said. "I was feeling 100 percent ready, and watching Sebastian surf he must have felt the same. We spent the day trying to get the biggest waves of our lives.”  

Indo Dry Season

For six weeks across June and July Indonesia went 5-star. Swells pumped through the entire archipelago and were met by the world’s top pros, who decamp there each year. That meant most sessions were beamed out in real-time to surf fans on social media. The Kerrs were in Krui, the Florence brothers scored HTs and Koa Rothman sent dispatches from Kanduis. Deserts drained, Padang pumped and Keramas cranked. If you weren’t there it was a form of vicarious torture. If you were, you scored the best waves of 2024. As for the best of the best, it's almost impossible to choose, though Barron Mamiya’s barrel at Kandui has to be near the top.