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The north shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu
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is just over 2,400 miles from the west
coast of North America.
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The ocean floor rises five miles to the
shores of what people call,
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"The Seven Mile Miracle".
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It's home to some of the most amazing
water and sand in the world.
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What would it be like to be born on this island,
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to grow up on these shores,
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to witness this water everyday?
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You're about to meet someone who did.
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Here's John Florence and his birth certificate.
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He was born in Honolulu, on October 18th 1992.
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This is where John grew up,
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this is John's office,
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and this is a story about John John Florence.
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John John Florence or whatever
isn't John John anymore.
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He's just plain old John.
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John has a tight-knit group of friends and
family living in the north shore of Oahu,
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also known as paradise.
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Like John, Kelly is a world-class surfer.
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He's also John's neighbor and pretty nosy.
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I'm thinking about maybe reporting
this illegal tree house
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to the authorities so it'll get chopped down.
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Another world-class surfer neighbor is Jamie.
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He and John were best of friends growing up.
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Jamie was an asshole.
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He tied my board to the top of a coconut
tree in his yard one time,
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and I was so bummed but Jamie was still
laughing the whole time.
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Ouch! Rough neighborhood.
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Don't let the palm trees fool you.
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John surfs from dawn to dusk
often into the night,
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everyday, ten hours a day.
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Or so he claims.
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One wonders when he has time to workout.
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I do not workout, I just surf.
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In 2014, John nabbed the number one
spot in the surfer poll
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from Kelly Slater after 20 plus years.
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How many time has Kelly won now? 22 times?
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Like, this is old as I am, yeah.
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Here's a wave breaking.
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Here's a wave breaking John.
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While he was recuperating, he picked up
a less dangerous hobby.
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So, I originally started flying.
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I still had my pilot's license long before
I had my driver's license.
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So John was a world-class surfer
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and could fly before he could drive.
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Thank god you don't need a license to sail.
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This...is not John's boat.
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This is.
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John also plays the guitar.
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Ouch.
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This is John's film storage
fridge in his dark room.
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These are John's favorite cameras.
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I'll say I use this one the most.
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Already at 22 years old,
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John has countless stamps to remind him of the
many places he has been to,
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places that most only dream of.
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Um, sometimes I look back on the passport and,
yeah,
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it does make me reminiscence,
rem-remi...remember.
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So props to you, John,
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for living the dream, living our wildest dreams.
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Pipe dreams, wet dreams, sweet dreams,
broken dreams.
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For you, John, it's not a dream.
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Dream on, John.
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What else do we need?
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Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait,
hurry up and wait.
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I wonder if the road's as bumpy
as it used to be.
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Ah! There it is.
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It's here.
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- Holy shit.
-Enough size for it.
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-Look at this one.
-Look at that one.
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That's just for one.
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-That's a nice one.
-Oh, damn it.
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We meet in an hour of change and challenge,
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in a decade of hope and fear,
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in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.
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The greater our knowledge increases,
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the greater our ignorance unfolds.
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...that all great and honorable actions
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are accompanied with great difficulties,
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and both must be enterprized and overcome
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with admirable courage.
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Many years ago, the great British explorer,
George Mallory,
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who was to die on Mount Everest,
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was asked why did he want to climb it.
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He said, "Because it is there."
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Well, space is there,
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and we're going to climb it.
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And the moon and the planets are there,
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and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.
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And, therefore, as we set sail,
we ask God's blessing
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on the most hazardous and dangerous
and greatest adventure
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on which man has ever embarked.
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Thank you.
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Oh, look at the ocean.
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Oh, imagine some inside cruising.
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Oh, no hand.
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Oh, my gosh.
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See you later.
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Should we go right here?
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I'm sure it's pointless to
walk all the way down.
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You end up right here anyway.
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And so, for now, our time with
John comes to an end.
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Any last words, John?
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How about a wave?
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Not that kinda wave, John.
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That kind.
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Check one, check two, check three, check four.
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Check 55, or not.
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Yeah, well, for, you know, for me...
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-Oh, shit. Is it still going?
- Yeah.
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Everything I associated with
surfing in the ocean,
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was 100% to do with my brother.
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He was my ultimate influence and I didn't
realize that until he was gone.
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A lot of drive, insight for surfing
kinda went with him.
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It took years for me to find that
love for surfing again.
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It's through guys like John,
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seeing how he's evolved from a kid to a man,
to what he's doing now...
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That's what got me psyched, it made me wanna
reevaluate my whole surfing life.
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I can't wait to see what's next.
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Every session I go out with him, it's exciting,
it's already the future,
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I see progressing with what he's doing.
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For me, it's nice to be around that psyche,
that energy,
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and how damn good he surfs.
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I think that's why I think why he
is where he is at,
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'cause the way he surfs and he draws these
lines that no one else draws.
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It's explosive, it's wild, it's
unorthodox and it's...
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It's John John.