I can remember about 8 years ago when Rip Curl sent ThreeSixty mag a back page advert with a picture of a grommet in a french beachie barrel and we all wondered what it was all about. Where were their top riders like Jason Hazel and Brad Hughes that were usually in their ad’s?
Word on the street was that they had just sponsored a young kid called Pierre who had just beaten France’s best riders to win the national championships. He was only 16.
If I had a penny for every time I heard the line “he’s gonna be the next world champ” I’d have a wallet like that Loadsamoney guy off the old Harry Enfield sketches.

PLC was the one that lived up to the expectations. Here’s the vid of the amazing event where he was crowned, at Fronton just before Christmas.

Enjoy.