Best Sections of All-Time: Dane Reynolds in Sampler
By now you have seen and heard everything about my trip across the pond a few weeks ago. What I failed to tell you about was how I injured my back. Partially because I didn’t really do anything to injure it so the story was pretty uneventful, and why would you care anyway, right? Well, I’m pleased to let you know that I’m almost ready to make my return to the ocean. To get in the mood I’ve been frothing on vids.
I’ve been soaking up as much surfing as I could through all these premieres that have been happening everywhere like Smooch, Coast Film Festival and even Taro’s premiere in Malibu. Not to mention the YouTube archives. I got lost for hours a couple days in a row. Taro’s new clip got me so pumped and sent me on a deep dive through the interweb for hours.
Nonfictioncreatives has some incredible underground parts that I rewatched, Caity & Timo Simmers/Toasted Media page got me hyped, and the old Marine Layer Productions Archive is always one to spend some quality time studying. Plus when I asked one of my favorite surfers, Taro Kelly Slater Watanabe, what his favorite surf section of all-time would be, he replied almost without hesitation, “Sampler.” It’s the part that he’s watched and studied more than any other in his years of refining his now patented layback blast that seems to get better every time you see the next one.
““That first section in Sampler is definitely one of my favorites that I’ve watched over and over again. Close second I’d have to go double Dane and say the Dear Suburbia Japan part with John John, Dillon and Yadin. That looked like some of the best surfing and waves I have ever seen.””
I too began to study this section and could instantly see the influence it made on Taro’s surfing. As I sucked down my coffee and watched it I got more and more psyched to surf. At one point I even grunted at the TV through a couple of the wicked gaffs Dane laid down in the first part.
His timing, speed, power and rawness is like nobody else. It started to make my back hurt again watching how hard he pushed through some of the carves, airs and laybacks. He was attacking every section of the wave like he was trying to prove a point. His style gave off hints of Archy at twice the speed but he took it and blended it into his own brand of surfing which has influenced different surfers spanning across generations. It might be Dane’s peak form era around this time.—Brandon Guilmette
