For a time there, the upper echelons of Maui’s surfing talent pool walked around with a chip on their shoulder. Their reputations overshadowed by pros from other islands – namely Oahu, Kauai, and occasionally the Big Island. But around 2010, that all changed.
After Taylor Steele and Nathan Myers launched their website, Innersection, the floodgates were opened to an entirely new crop of talent pushing hi-fi surfing to new heights. Chief among them, Maui’s Matt Meola who took home top honors in 2010 and 100,000 bucks and quickly became a household name. Matt’s buddy Albee Layer won in 2012 for a video part that seems especially prophetic today – Albee gathering up all his surf trophies and torching them.
Together Matt and Albee ushered in a new era and Maui quickly gained a reputation as the center of aerial surfing innovation.
Looking ahead at Maui-born-and-bred hotshot Axel Rosenblad, it appears Maui’s surfing future is in good hands.
