This intro to Flynn Novak was written by The Sean Davey, North Shore photography legend and all-around nice guy. Obviously, he took the awesome photographs as well. Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to check out www.seandavey.com for some of the best surf photography in the world. -Czar Zach



Folks let me introduce you to one of Hawaiis most talented yet under-hyped surfers: Flynn Novak

What is there to say about Flynn Novak, I hear you asking... Quite a lot, as it turns out. Sure, you probably don't even know anything about this guy. Some of you will have seen the odd crazy cover shot of him inside a huge Pipe pit, but other than that hes not exactly the guy that you see gracing all the adverts for the big multi-billion dollar surf clothing conglomerates. For some strange reason, Flynn seems to have totally flown beneath the talent scouts' radar. A regular at big Pipe and Rocky Point's long, winding lefts, Flynn has - for as long as I've known him - operated on an extremely modest amount of sponsor funding. I don't think he was getting even 2K a month for the longest time. He was sponsored by MCD for quite a few years, but by the time he had come aboard, they'd already lost Andy Irons to Billabong and were pretty much running on the smell of an oil rag.

I saw a much-heralded sequence of a much more famous and very sponsored Californian surfer pulling a vertical flip at Rocky Point. It was not only used in saturation advertising but also became the subject of editorials in various magazines. It turns out that the surfer had been at Rocky Point and been inspired by seeing Flynn pull one of these flips. Flynn has actually been doing them for a few years now, but despite numerous images of him being sent to the magazines, he never received his credit for doing them. This is a typical example of what a battler Flynn is. He knows that if he lived in California, he too might find better sponsor dollars and thus more credit for his amazing surfing, but he's a North Shore boy, born and bred, and doesn't have any plans to move away any time soon.

Many of you are familiar with the rise over the past several years of Jamie O'Brien (also from the North Shore) known for his spectacular aerial maneuvers and casual approach to mental Pipe barrels. Flynn possesses the same qualities as a surfer. He charges huge Pipe with a calmness that comes from a lot of experience and his aerial arsenal seems to be limitless. He always seems to be coming up with new ways to get airborne. I was setting up my gear late one day and noticed that the sun had become eclipsed. I also noted that Flynn was out surfing and I made it my intention to get a shot of Flynn busting a huge air silhouetted by the setting eclipse. I didn't think I was going to get the shot (a veritable one-in-a-million), but somehow I nailed it, all thanks to Flynn's aerial skills.

Being one of the elite crew of Pipe Specialists, has finally brought Flynn a new Sponsor (Pipeline Posse) who are stoked to help bring Flynn into the spotlight. Flynn's an awesome surfer, one of my favorites to shoot. You'll be seeing more of him for sure...