2001 ASP World Champ CJ is lauded for charging big lefts, but his air game has remained relevant even through recent paradigm shifts. Photo: Frieden/A-Frame

One of the Tour’s most prominent Christians won an ASP World Title partly due to radical Islam. It’s not the 2001 ASP World Champ’s fault that the season he won was the 5 event season (without winning an event) with cancellations due to 9/11, but that’s the way history remembers it. Despite that, CJ’s credentials in big barrelling reef surf along with twin bro Damien are not disputed, while his movie parts for Globe down the years have held their own with the very best. Quite how so many Floridians (Slater, Hobgoods, Cory) have gone on from piddly beginnings to be known for mastery of heavy reef surf is one of the sport’s little quirks.