On Style

From Hemingway’s analysis of artful killing in Death in the Afternoon to the absurdity of dialing up a fatality in Mortal Kombat, it’s clear that, in feats of skill, final acts matter. In surfing, there are myriad ways to punctuate, most dictated by what the wave offers: the endsection air, the closeout hack, the composed tube blowout. Existing in a stylistic class with the latter, any quiet-bodied, over-the-back exit (especially when executed at high speed in waves of consequence) is the kind of understatement that speaks to the tenets of concision and resolution—an acknowledgement that all that was required is complete and the time has come to gracefully bow out. Relevant sample: Cliff Kapono in Fiji. 

[Feature Photo by Todd Glaser]