Quantifying success can be hard when it comes to surfers, simply because there’re so many different ways for them to excel. Take Eric Geiselman, for example: In ’06 he won the U.S. Pro Junior circuit, but in ’07 he slipped to sixth overall. In any other sport, finishing a competitive season with such a slide would be interpreted as a sign of weakness, but for Geiselman, it looked more like he’d simply moved on. With the “win-the-domestic-pro-junior-series” benchmark already cleared, E.G. spent much of the last 12 months showcasing the fact that there’s more to him, as a surfer, than heat horns and colored jerseys. He locked down the award for “Best Maneuver” during the 2007 Surfer Video Awards—an indicator that even when measured against the most progressive surfers on the planet, like Taj and Dane and Jordy and Julian and Jamie—he stands out. He spent a big chunk of time on the North Shore this year, upping his heavy-water game. He traveled. He dipped his toes into the WQS arena. He did his due diligence in front of the lens. The result: At the beginning of 2007, Eric Geiselman looked like a great “competitive” surfer. But now, at the outset of ’08, he looks like a great surfer, period. The type that defies easy labeling. The type that’s capable of doing anything and everything, and doing it all well.