Aerial

Here Comes the Sun // Aerial Magazine

Here Comes the Sun // One on One with the Elusive Harry Styles
The world-famous ex-trapeze star, who has traded the sky for the sea, gives Aerial Magazine an exclusive interview about everything under the sun.

For those of us who dwell on land, it's easy to forget that more than seventy percent of the earth is composed of ocean. Sixty percent of our bodies are also composed of salt water. It's a powerful life force, a chaotic mystery, powered by tides, wind, the rotational force of the planet and the sun. The ocean is a universe as cosmic and vast as outer space, right below our feet and our noses that we'll likely never fully traverse in our time on this planet.

Becoming acquainted with merely the surface of the ocean is something that a lot of us may never experience, but will instead gawk at with a sense of awe and amazement. Because it's risky, it's daunting, it's unpredictable. It's a terror. And one must be a terror themselves to outsmart it, or at least be radical enough to try.

Born and raised in England, Harry has led a life that most of us will only ever watch on film screens or read about in books. He dropped out of high school and fled home as a young teenager to join a traveling European circus, working his way up from shoveling elephant droppings and slinging cotton candy to becoming the world's most renowned trapeze artist. Even then, Harry withheld a high degree of secrecy, never giving more than single-phrase answers in interviews and avoiding public speculation at all costs. That tendency only increased when he disappeared without a trace for over a year, only to resurface in California with a new gig and a new trapeze partner in tow. And then the pattern repeated once again, but this time with a whole new surfing career and outlook on life.

Credit is due to Mr. Styles for pioneering a major and possibly permanent shift in surfing and tournaments. Before Harry had made a splash in the world of professional surfing, most surfers defaulted to long, eight-and-a-half foot boards for their practice and competitions. Longer boards are slow and not as easy to maneuver, but their large size does facilitate paddling and wave-catching. Shorter boards are quick, easy to turn on and flashy in the waves. However, that also means they require a lot of extra experience to ride, as they're more difficult to paddle due to the fact that they create less foam in the water. Less board space also means less balance and less area to stand on, making them harder for beginners to learn on.

From what Harry has shown us, once the short boards are mastered, the air that can be caught and the tricks that can be accomplished are well worth the training and potential danger. Which is exactly why the professional surfing realm is rapidly following in his footsteps in order to keep up. Proving himself once again to be an adrenaline-junkie and trendsetter, simply by following his heart.

On a typically balmy, sunny summer day in Los Angeles, Mr. Styles and I meet at a quiet beach spot of his choosing. He's already there when the photographer and I arrive, with a pink Mini Cooper parked in the sand and his surfboard strapped on top. Styles explains that he's been here for hours already, riding waves under the sunrise and then eating a large meal before napping in the sand with his T-shirt draped over his face. In the backseat of his rental car, there is a horribly tattered copy of J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey which he claims to have read over a dozen times, two open and squashed packs of pink cigarettes, a couple changes of clothing, a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, suntan oil and a well-loved journal that appears to be on it's last leg.