In His Own Words: Growing up on the Big Island, on the Westside, was so beautiful. There’re hundreds of square miles of black lava and the deepest blue water. It was rad because we don’t really have any sandbars, so we were basically bred surfing slabs. It became a casual thing—it just made you go and forget about the reef. Me, Torrey [Meister] and Tonino [Benson] started surfing these really heavy slabs lately and we’ve realized that you can get the slab of your life without leaving home.
I’ve always had friends to surf with, but mainly it was always me, Torrey, and Tonino. We surfed together everyday. We were always psyched. I remember waking up during a full moon one time at like 4 in the morning and me and Torrey went and woke up Tonino and we just got down to Banyans as the moon was setting and it was like four feet, offshore, and perfect. That’s what I remember about growing up with my friends.
I didn’t really start trying to compete until I was 10 or 11, but my parents were really supportive. It can be hard for groms to get off of the island and get noticed, but my parents helped me get to contests when I qualified for regionals and that led to sponsorships. The hardest thing, though, coming from the Big Island, is that we have to work hard. The photographers pretty much stay in Oahu—and now they’re going to Maui—but we don’t get that much hype. You have to leave the Big Island to have a future for yourself, but home is such a beautiful place so it can be hard to leave at first. I’ve realized now, though, that it’ll always be there, and that I only have about 15 years to make my mark so I better do it now. I look at Shane [Dorian] and look what he did and what he has now. He was on the road for 15 straight years and it paid off for him. I think it’ll pay off for me too