Watch: Adrien Toyon // First Love

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

Recently Adrien Toyon returned to his parent's Reunion Island house and found his very first surfboard. A Lightning Bolt twin fin shaped by Graham 'G-Force' Smith - yeah, Jordy's old man.

"When I was nine-years old, my parents gave me [the board] for Christmas - almost twenty years ago!"

"I found it again...and I brought it here."

"Here" is Anglet in France, where Toyon now lives. However, he didn't hop straight back onto the board.

"It spent some time in my garage looking at me," says Toyon. But when the time was right, and a nearby left switched on, the board performed.

"That single concave and sharp lines were perfect on this day."

"I never thought I was going to surf this board again, and even more in these kind of waves.”

 

Comments

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 12:59pm

I’d like to see him surf like that on my first board : A shit brown Macgregor single fin from the tip. And I had to share that with someone....

And walk 13 miles through snow barefoot to get to school , wake up 1/2 hour before I went to bed etc etc

Nice waves there and interesting hook to the vid , so it’s a thumbs up.

rooftop's picture
rooftop's picture
rooftop Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 2:13pm

Yeah, mine was some strange 80's thought bubble. About 5ft nothing, 3 inches thick, full deck grip pad. Wish I still had it though... Be nice to see how it really goes.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 1:51pm

Fast enough for ya?

Good bit of Friday stoke.

blower's picture
blower's picture
blower Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 2:42pm

Mad clip! Great concept, sick surfing and very well edited to unreal music (seems a rarity at times). Love it.

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 2:53pm

That guy has a good style.

surfstarved's picture
surfstarved's picture
surfstarved Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 3:29pm

Looks like a fun wave and a fun board, but I just couldn't come at Stairway to Heaven (or just the back half, as it were).

My first board, a 5'10" Force 9 thruster with a classic 80s airbrush, is probably breaking down underneath layers of landfill somewhere. I'd love to do the same experiment with it though, 30 years later. I'm sure it had far more potential than my juvenile floundering could ever extract from it.

Optimist's picture
Optimist's picture
Optimist Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 3:44pm

What were those big green things he was riding on?.. walls?..I think I remember them. Be nice to see some again.

LeoRoberts's picture
LeoRoberts's picture
LeoRoberts Friday, 16 Nov 2018 at 8:28pm

That guy with the kooky do , slashes !,

gnomen's picture
gnomen's picture
gnomen Saturday, 17 Nov 2018 at 5:28pm

Beautiful surfing, only 2 guys out? love it. At times it looked like he was "nursing" the board but with twin fins i found it can improve your surfing because you have to tune in more to the limits of the board( or really your own limits!) and so you can end up doing more flowing turns rather than jamming as hard as you can. I had a DVS twin fin that definitely educated me along those lines, Dick Van S, not afraid to experiment with his boards. My first board was a Barry Bennett "Pop Out" 5 foot something, s deck single fin, i doubt whether i could ride it now!

blackers's picture
blackers's picture
blackers Saturday, 17 Nov 2018 at 5:41pm

Interesting how he nurses it less through the turns on the bigger waves later in the clip, bigger free flowing carves . First board was a homemade (by someone else) kneeboard. Cost me $10 bucks . Can't say I ever want to see it again.

.cylinders's picture
.cylinders's picture
.cylinders Saturday, 17 Nov 2018 at 7:53pm

Fantastic clip!

What a great board to be able to say was your very first. My own first was a nose-rockered 6'6" Vartanian thruster shaped for Todos Santos. It's still kicking albeit in a rocker-less 5'6" format.

blackers's picture
blackers's picture
blackers Sunday, 18 Nov 2018 at 8:59am

Interesting how he nurses it less through the turns on the bigger waves later in the clip, bigger free flowing carves . First board was a homemade (by someone else) kneeboard. Cost me $10 bucks . Can't say I ever want to see it again.

spencie's picture
spencie's picture
spencie Wednesday, 21 Nov 2018 at 6:14am

I'd like to surf that good on a board from 20 years ago.