The North Shore ain’t the same since Zeke Lau had to battle for waves as a kid. Photo: Zeke Lau//Facebook
In the early 2000s, the formula for earning waves across North Shore lineups was different. Today, talent can get you much farther, according to former Championship Tour surfer Zeke Lau.
Lau recently went on Jack Freestone’s Washed Podcast, and the two dove into the touchy subject of localism in Hawaii. They both shared stories about how hard it was to find their place on the North Shore in the pre-social media era when brand-owned surf houses ruled the social hierarchies.
The 32-year-old Hawaiian said he got kicked out of Velzyland for paddling too close to the top, and was yelled at by local legend Tamayo Perry for being in the impact zone at Pipeline after a wipeout. Freestone said it took him five years of sitting in the lineup at Pipeline before he was allowed to sniff a wave, and even said that Lau himself would often drop in on him at nearby spots.
But the biggest change, Lau says, is a shift to a more pure meritocracy, no matter how many years you’ve put in.
“The groms run the lineup,” Lau said. “Now it’s all about who is the best surfer. If you are a good enough surfer and you are in the spot, then you deserve it. Now I think that’s what decides the pecking order.”
“You can’t really just pull rank and say, ‘I’m going,’” he added, referencing the more structured, egalitarian workings of lineups nowadays.
But Lau said that the young surfers see how the middle generation still gives way to the old-timers, and they get in line.
Lau can probably see glimpses of a younger version of himself, and sees how hungry the groms are for waves. He said his generation hasn’t passed down the hardcore localism of those that came before him — possibly a byproduct of the smartphone era that actually results in consequences for documented aggression and violence.
“If you are in the spot, and you want to go, you can show me how much you want it,” Lau said. “That’s more the energy now. No one is going to burn you.”
As a result, the waves on the North Shore are more equally distributed, whereas before, a smaller group of guys would get all the set waves.
“You see a lot more different guys getting good waves now,” Lau said.
Growing up in more localized lineups wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Lau credits Baron Mamiya’s prowess in heavy waves for being one of those kids who had to take leftovers at Pipeline.
“Baron is super gnarly because he had to go out, and his only option was to go on the wave that no one else wanted,” Lau said. Those waves were either “deathly, dangerous, or horrible.”
