“There’s a kid coming up right now that is the best surfer in the world. Like, he’s the guy. He’s going places on waves that no one’s been before. Is everybody talking about him?” – Sterling Spencer
“He’s arguably the best surfer in the world when it comes to unorthodox, eccentric surfing.” – SURFER
“He won over the hearts and minds of viewers with his silk-spinning water-wizardry and endearing mystical charm. Ari might not be the most well-known surfer of his generation, but he may well be the best frictionless surfer.” – Stab
“Ari is an illiterate, lazy, friction-free cowboy construction landscaper who loves to slide around and have fun. I wouldn’t listen to him, and if I did, I wouldn’t believe a word he says.” – Ari “Krooky” Browne
Who is Ariel “Krooky” Browne? Maybe a better question is, why is Ari “Krooky” Browne? Or what? Or even, when? The 33-year-old Byron Bay-based wizard-sprite has quietly occupied a narrow, niche groove in surfing’s subconscious. Is his surfing the thin edge of the wedge, or the full cream fat that the culture needs? Well, we dived in, in a series designed to blow his creative smoke over finless surfing, the perfect quiver, surviving and thriving in Byron and work-life balance. Is that too much Krooky? Is there such a thing? We’re about to find out. This is the first installment of a four-part series that we’ll be running over the next month. Slide in and enjoy…
Episode 1:Finless, Frictionless and Free
The ancient Polynesians started it, and in the last decade, the art of going finless has made a comeback. If Derek Hynd was the modern founding father, Krooky has been described as “the best frictionless surfer of his generation.” Here, he breaks down what he calls the dance between chaos and order and how best to get a start on the dance floor.
The Transition
There’s a mental transition to make going from fins to fins free, even if now for me it’s almost autonomous, or second nature. But sometimes, if I’m a little overexcited or not paying attention, my brain takes five seconds to catch up. I’ll need to do a little recalibration as I’m paddling out to remember you’re doing this, especially if it’s on a wave of consequence. I’ll remind myself that I’ll need to grab my rail on my bottom turns. But on that first wave, instinct takes over.
A Dance Between Order and Chaos
One of the biggest reasons I come back to surfing finless is the flow state you can reach. It’s more instant and reactionary. On my twin, I’ll be cruising along a wave and thinking about the next open section, and what turn to do. With finless, it’s a bit more of a dance between chaos and order, and you’re flickering between the two. Sometimes it’s so immersive and intense, I’ll kick out of a long wave, and I can’t even remember a single thing that happened. I was so in the moment, so hyper alert, nothing else registered.
It’s Not Difficult (and it Makes You Laugh)
It’s really not that difficult, especially to have fun. That’s what’s so sick about it. If someone tries, it’s almost guaranteed laughter in the first session. 100 percent. Good surfers actually struggle more; they don’t like the chaos or lack of control. But once they succumb and let shit happen, that’s when they find it laugh-out-loud funny. If you’re a basic, competent surfer, you will get the hang of it pretty quickly. And you’ll be laughing.
The Ideal Set Up To Start
It’s pretty hard to beat a standard 7-foot soft top to start. Just take the fins out. It’s right in that sweet spot of rail length. You’ve got heaps of rail for a bit more directional stability. It paddles good. There’s a nice flat stretch with no rocker in the middle of the board. A normal shortboard’s pretty rubbish to try and go finless on, but anything with a bit of rail length, rip the fins out, away you go, and you’re off. You’ll be sliding, laughing, slipping, and spinning in no time.
It’s an Ice Breaker and Conversation Starter
Years ago, I remember people warning me about the locals in Punta Roca in El Salvador as being super nuclear. Anyway, my brother and I went out early riding finless when it was cranking. The locals were seeing what we were doing as they were paddling out, and they were like, ‘What the fuck is going on here, then?’ They loved it, started talking to us and letting us get waves. So it can butter people up in the line-up, which is cool, and it’s a conversation starter. You can definitely make more friends in the surf. People just see that you’re having fun, and that’s always an attractive proposition.
You Can Get Tubed
I surfed Kirra the other day. It was going so quick. I got a couple of pretty long tubes. I was kind of tripping. I was like, wait, this is way easier. Initially, I was concerned. I thought it would be criminal to like ruin good barrels, but there were only one or two that slipped away, so it was kind of a lovely sweet release.
Related: That Time Jimmy Buffett Took Colin Jost Surfing—And Saved Him From Drowning
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