Those in the know in the world of longboarding say that Kai Ellice Flint is a longboarding fundamentalist, one who likes to watch the master Joel Tudor and all the colleagues who appreciate and know about the traditional.

Basically, it consists of using a board that doesn't allow cheating, meaning that you can only hang on the nose if you're in the true pocket of the wave and not five meters away from it, someone who maintains a line and composure, a grace, pleasing to the eye... So that it doesn't look like you're struggling, but rather like a dance.

Over the years, surfers who still use these techniques, like Harrison Roach, have won the World Longboard Tour, while others haven't. I don't take anything away from any of them; they won by playing the game, but I prefer world champions like Kai Ellice Flint and Harrison Roach.

Those who practice the more traditional longboarding.

Yesterday, after watching El Sunzal in countless competitions and even surfing the wave myself, I finally understood what it truly means to stay in the pocket. It's a wave where staying in the pocket is incredibly difficult, and where it's also easy to get completely out of it.

The wave has power, generates a lot of speed, and the boards allow that movement at an interesting distance from the pocket.

Kai Ellice managed to fade just right to get in the pocket. He did it with his chest up, without gesticulating, without crossing his feet, without soul arches, and almost without celebrating… He surfed perfectly at El Sunzal.

She played with the wave and it was great that the judges were able to reward what should be rewarded: Hanging in the real pocket, using the whole board, grace, style and no weird stuff with the arms and such, nor crossing legs or anything like that.

I've seen some good longboarding in my life, but I think what happened yesterday was on a level that shocked me.

In other words: I saw the one who claims to be a fundamentalist actually be a fundamentalist.

Perhaps I didn't like that he hardly celebrated at all; it was almost forced that his soul didn't come out and he started screaming like a sick person.

Consider the circumstances: He had never reached a final, he hadn't requalified last year, and now he's winning and winning with a crazy amount of traditional longboarding.

But anyway… That's how fundamentalists are, they go to hell, with their level of surfing and their level of fundamentalism.

I loved seeing that world champion. I have the feeling that it wasn't an athlete who won this year, it was a surfer.