Photo: Glaser/A-Frame

Like Machado, another San Diegan reformed competitor (in his case WLT) turned liberated post-contest hepcat, Joel Tudor rode longboards in the 90’s and naughties when pretty much nobody did without shame, yet gained mainstream surfing plaudits largely through performances at Pipe and an overall mastery of wave reading and riding. Sure, logging is cooler than shade grown Arctic cucumbers at the mo, but it wasn’t always thus, and before there was a crown prince Knost, there was a Tudor king. “Surfing’s not a jock sport, it’s not football or whatever” he told SE last year at his Biarritz Duct Tape gig, “We’re not fucking ‘athletes’, we’re surfers.” Perhaps it’s straight up logic like that that explains why Tudor has been universally revered, from legends past to uber chic hipster groms to the Sport Billy tour pros he prefers to distance himself from.