We could cliché the you-know-what out of this commentary and go on and on about how 16-year-old Eli Hanneman surfs well beyond his years. But that wouldn’t give us any answers about how and why a teenager is possibly this good at surfing.
He charges waves more than twice his size with an obvious level of comfort you wouldn’t expect from somebody who’s only been old enough to drive for about a month. And he does so with style, unafraid to stand tall inside one of those things and throw his arms behind his back to let us all know that yes, he’s freakishly talented. And while a lot of surfers have one aspect of their game that stands out above the rest — small waves, big waves, silky smooth turns, airs — Eli’s already obviously playing with a full deck. He put on a clinic on a trip to Texas this year, turning BSR into an actual aerial playground.
This edit was filmed while Eli was 15-years old at home in Hawaii and on trips to both Texas and Indonesia. It’s potentially one of the most well-rounded edits and displays of talent you’ll see from anybody his age. And the only explanation we can possibly think of for it all is that the kid is not in fact from Hawaii, but from an entirely different planet altogether. He’s that impressive.
