Brendan Ko for The New York Times
HALEIWA, Hawaii — John John Florence, maybe the best surfer of his generation, can see the world’s most famous surf break, the Banzai Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore, from the beachfront deck of his house. He just has to turn his head slightly to the right.
“Oh, look at that wave!” he shouted recently, interrupting something he was saying about the reconstructed right knee that has kept him out of competition since June.
Florence, 27, has stared at and surfed this stretch of Sunset Beach all of his life.