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The 8 Best Tube Riders on the Planet Right Now
By Ben Mondy,
14 days ago
From Pipeline to Shipstern's Bluff to underground slabs the world over, where there's a barrel, Nathan Florence will find his way through it.
Photo&colon Stu Gibson&solRed Bull Content Pool
Pardon the asterisks. But choosing the eight best tube riders on planet Earth needs some serious caveats. The list was designed to include those surfers whose skill at riding tubes has defined their careers. That’s why CT surfers were excluded. There’s no doubt the world’s top five surfers are also the best barrel riders, yet it's not their absolute specialty. Sorry Gabby, John John, Jack, Caity, and Molly, this list isn’t for you.
Also, we tried to keep it current. Gerry Lopez would have made the all-time list, but he’s not quite cutting it in the modern world. The list isn’t definitive; it can’t be. A quick scan of those who didn't make the cut shows how subjective this is. Nic Von Rupp, Noa Deane, Soli Bailey, Bruno Santos, Moana Wong, Koa Smith, Jamie O’Brien, Dave Rastovich, Joan Duru, Asher Pacey, Kauli Vaast, Koa Rothman, Vahiné Fierro, and Kelly Slater aren’t exactly a bad bunch of tubehounds. But we had to draw the line somewhere, and that line is here.
In no particular order, here are the world's best tube surfers.
1. Nathan Florence
When asked if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world, it was John Lennon who replied that he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles. The same might be said of Nathan Florence. He won’t argue that his elder brother John is a technically more gifted surfer and barrel rider. He’d also say that his younger brother Ivan is perhaps more stylish.
But none of his bros—nor anyone else in the world—can currently hold a candle to the sheer quality and quantity of time Nathan has logged in the green room. From Mullaghmore to Maui, Skeleton Bay to Shipsterns, Puerto to Portugal, he might be the most barrelled human on the planet.
2. Torren Martyn
Through the lens of collaborator Ishka Folkwell, we have seen Torryn Martyn magically thread tubes all over the world. In a series of films, including Lost Track (Australia, New Zealand, and North Atlantic) and Calypte , the northern NSW surfer has wielded his six-channel twin fins and mid-lengths with unrivaled sneeze. Creative and inventive on his backside and forehand, his tube riding is a mix of beauty and balls.
Following her father Josh's lead, the 16-year-old has quickly carved a reputation as a surfer who is raising the bar for what is possible in women’s surfing. In her 2023 film PreKerrsor , her barrel riding at The Box, Teahupo'o, and Indonesia showed a level of technical ability and bravery perhaps never been seen before. Where she takes the sport is entirely up to her.
We recently covered how Clay Marzo, through his relationship with Logian Dullen and his film franchise Snapt 5, has finally received sponsorship support . That means we should get to see a lot more footage of one of the most creative, unique, and instinctive surfers on the planet.
Now based in Indonesia for half of the year and behind the curtain for half of that, one of the best barrel riders of the last two decades is about to get the coverage his surfing deserves.
5. Erin Brooks
Like Kerr, it is the teenagers who are pushing the envelope when it comes to getting pitted. The Texan-born, Hawaiian-raised Canadian made history with her performance in the 2022 Padang Padang Cup in Bali as the youngest person to ever compete in the event and make the finals as the only female rider.
Her Team Canada coach Dom Domic said, “No one can believe someone so young and so small is so good. She’s a freak. She’s like an alien who got dropped down onto this planet.”
Matahi Drollet is the undisputed tube lord of Teahupo’o. Growing up under the tutelage of his elder brother Manoa (who was one of the best tube riders of his generation), it is now the 26-year-old who is leading a pack of incredible locals like Kauli Vaast, Vahiné Fierro, and Eimeo Czermak.
While out of the water, he is calm to the point of glacial—no surfer is more at ease when Teahupo’o gets deadly. Of the best dozen towed and paddled waves at the Tahitian slab in the last five years, Drollet can claim to have ridden half.
7. Mason Ho
“Building an incredibly diverse quiver of boards so that Mason could go out and paint Salvador Dalis has been a total sidebar bonus to my career and design life,” Matt Biolos of Lost Surfboards said about his team rider Mason Ho. A lot of that painting is done behind the curtain, be it on 7-foot guns at maxing Pipe, or his specialty—getting barrelled at half-waves over dry rock.
His barrel riding technique mixes the futuristic with the throwback, and few on this list do it with the swagger, the style, and the smile of Mase.
It was a toss-up to include Noa Deane or Harry Bryant in this list. Both are hard-charging, hard-partying Aussies who have taken uncompromising and unorthodox paths to tube-lord status. However, we gave the nod to Bryant, largely on the back of his “Motel Hotel” film which showcased his last two years of slab hunting all over the globe. It was a statement film from one of the best tube pigs in the world.
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