This Is The Most Viewed Surf Clip Of 2017…

The votes are in, the clicks have been counted and verified, it’s time to announce the most viewed surfing clip of 2017….

Last year we reported, somewhat disappointedly, that the most viewed surf video was not one of the many excellent feats of cinematography that graced our screens over the proceeding twelve months, but instead a sordid little number called ‘4 Surf Girls Wearing Body Point’ which boasted the following description: “These 4 surfer gals look like they’re wearing wetsuits, but look again! They’re actually wearing pasties, strapless thongs, and body paint!”.

Without wanting to be too disrespectful to the film makers, the clip had all the production value (and film burn effects) of a GCSE Media piece, but it turns out people just can’t resist tits covered by a fine layer of paint.

Anyway, this year, dear friends, the times appear to have a-changed, as 2017’s wining clip contains precisely zero half naked women. Instead it features an all star cast, with this year’s hottest surfing craze as its centrepiece. Behold, Kai Lenny and The Hydrofoil:

Here’s what we wrote about the video, which has notched up a whopping 4.5 million views, when we posted it last month:

Until recently foil-boarding was one of those sports, like live pigeon shooting or horse long jump, that appeared to be well on its way to being consigned to the history books.

Although it has enjoyed brief moments in the limelight over the last decade or so, courtesy of Laird Hamilton, nobody paid much attention to it until earlier this year, when a clip of Kai Lenny dropped online, featuring him catching two consecutive waves in Fiji without touching the water.

‘What sorcery is this’ cried the internet! ‘I wanna go!’ cried the world’s best (and Richard Branson) and thus a new craze was born. Indeed nothing signals the activity du jour’s arrival into the mainstream more than its addition to the sign of things you’re not allowed to do at the MOD owned K-Bay in Dorset, and earlier this month, hydrofoils were added to the list!

Many still consider it a gimmick, and a seriously dangerous one at that, with the foil accused of having the potential to cut through unsuspecting fellow water users like a hot knife through butter.

However the sport seems to have amassed a team of ambassadors money couldn’t buy, including the likes of JJF, Kelly Slater and JOB, and featured on the cover of STAB, so we’re guessing it’ll at least be around for a little longer.

Whether it will open up any new opportunities in our sport (hello foot-strap backflips) remains to be seen, but we’ll be watching closely and, as with any questionable fad, whether it disappears into the ether, or becomes a wave riding main-stay, we’ll pretend we’d known what was going to happen all along.