Johnny-Boy Gomes
Johnny-Boy Gomes
Johnny-Boy Gomes started young. He began surfing aged 6, and robbing people — or getting caught robbing people — aged 12. He was sent to a juvenile detention house, then adopted by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole — whose rendition of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow‘ you’ve almost certainly heard — and then convicted of theft a second time. His 14-month sentence ended on his 18th birthday.
In the years following his release he devoted himself to surfing — although in Gomes’s conception of the sport violence and intimidation were always integral components. Not much use in smaller waves, and not all that interested in them either, Gomes forewent the world tour and focussed instead on the Hawaiian contests, where he achieved great success. He won the World Cup at Sunset in ’93; the Pipeline Masters in ’97, beating fellow wildcard Michael Ho in the final; and the Backdoor Shootout in ’99, taking home $56,000 in prize money, which at the time was the most ever awarded to the winner of a surf contest. That same year he placed 3rd in the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau.
Gomes’s considerable wave-riding ability was complimented by an imposing physique and a willingness to avail himself of it. “He’s outrageously talented,” Tim Baker wrote of him in 1993, but has “soured more surf sessions for more people than any surfer alive”; and while he could be charming, too, his mood swings were notorious.
Beatings were commonplace both in and out of competition — sometimes administered there and then in the lineup, other times saved for the beach. In 1991 he punched an opponent during a heat, and was duly fined $1,000; in ’93 he slapped female pro Jodie Cooper at Pipe for getting in his way (Cambridge University lecturer cum surf writer Andy Martin recalled seeing her afterwards and assuming the cuts and bruises on her face were the work of the reef); then in ’99 he broke a surfer’s nose at Chun’s Reef on the North Shore, for which he was convicted of assault and fined $6,300. Rumours have long circulated that Johnny-Boy and Koby Abberton, who also features on this list, once had a difference of opinion that was resolved in a public toilet; they were apparently seen entering together and leaving alone, Gomes — for once — looking considerably worse for wear.
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