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Surfing
Savour the best of Red Bull Surfing's crazy 2020
In 2020, when things got weird, the weird went surfing. Despite all that happened on land, last year was a remarkable one at sea, so please enjoy Scotty Hammonds' cutdown of our finest moments now.
Written by Chris Binns
4 min readPublished on
As well all know too well our accepted version of modern life ground to a halt in 2020. At first when the world hit pause, so too did everything else. Slowly we adjusted, then suddenly we realised that surfing was very much still a thing. For many the ocean became a refuge, a confidant, a place to call timeout and unwind. The wait for a custom surfboard stretched from weeks to months. Surf shops couldn't keep up with the demand for wetsuits. The right temperature surfboard wax became a prized possession as the supply chain couldn't keep up with the seasons. And the waves? In 2020 the waves just kept on coming.
The year started with a flurry of Northern Hemisphere swells, manhandled by Kai Lenny and his new sidekick Lucas 'Chumbo' Chianca. From Jaws craziness to their incredible double act at Nazaré, if a 50-foot [15.24m] wave broke in 2020 it's a safe bet that Team Young Bulls were somewhere nearby, with inflatable vests and an armada of water craft, ready to pounce. By the year's end Life Of Kai touched down and millions of views later it's fair to say we can't get enough of surfing's James Bond, the world's greatest modern waterman.
Elsewhere in the big wave domain French woman Justine Dupont and Irishman Conor Maguire etched their names firmly into 'biggest wave ever caught at (insert break here)' conversations, while iconic Aussie charger and creator of Red Bull Cape Fear, Mark Mathews, released his heroic and inspiring documentary The Other Side Of Fear to much critical acclaim, both from within the surfing community and the general public.
In Australia, Mick Fanning timed his long-awaited return from injury to perfection, as the East Coast roared to life in cyclone season. With the WSL crew on the Gold Coast before the first event of the soon-to-be-cancelled Championship Tour, No Contest has never been more suitably named and the Stab crew delivered one of their best episodes yet. Meanwhile, Julian Wilson took timeout to head to URBNSURF in Melbourne to combine his love of skateboarding with his preternatural surfing talent and pull together a rail session that has to be seen to be believed.
As 2020's cancellation saw Carissa Moore extend her reign as world champ, filmmaker extraordinaire Peter Hamblin released Riss, the documentary produced while travelling with Carissa on her triumphant 2019 tour of duty. If you've ever wanted to see the dedication that goes into winning a world title, this is the documentary for you. In more fly-on-the-wall film making, 2020 saw the launch of Following, our behind the scenes look into the lives of our Championship Tour competitors, starting off with the current Hawaiian season.
With international travel rendered redundant in 2020, seeking adventure closer to home certainly was not. For South African Jordy Smith the year gave him the opportunity to explore his homeland like never before, and Shaping Jordy was the stunning result of a 1,500km road trip with fellow South African shredder Mikey February. In Bali, closed borders meant empty waves for locals and long term residents and Scotty Hammonds' epic early season Sessions edit had surfers the world over trying to plot and plan a way to get to Indonesia. Which, in the end, some did.
Speaking of Scotty Hammonds, he's the man responsible for the video at the top of the page, a cutdown of the finest moments of all things Red Bull Surfing for 2020. It wasn't the easiest year, but the surf pumped and provided a much needed outlet for many. We sure hope you got your fill, or could at least be entertained by all the action that went down in the seven seas. Hit play above, enjoy the show and here's to many more salty moments in 2021!
Part of this story

Kai Lenny

Kiteboarder, windsurfer, wing foiler and so much more – even his name means 'sea' in Hawaiian. Kai was destined to become the world's greatest-ever waterman.

United StatesUnited States

Lucas 'Chumbo' Chianca

Brazilian Lucas 'Chumbo' Chianca realised early on that his future lay in big wave surfing and he's teamed up with Carlos Burle to become the best.

BrazilBrazil
Surfing
Surfing

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