They call him Tank for a good reason: the man’s built like a goddamned wrecking ball.   That’s Mililani’s Kekoa Bacalso for you—an open-handed slap in the face to all of the Yoga-ball toting and CHEK doing pros on tour. Give this man a katsu plate, two scoops of rice with a side of mayo and some open face and he’ll put on a display of rail work, finesse, and power unseen since the likes of Sunny G. years past. Fitness buffs and surfers that can touch their toes, eat your heart out.

Truth is, we’ve always been a fan of Kekoa Bacalso. But when the Tank qualified for the tour, we had our doubts. Yes, he’s ridiculously talented in all things surf, may it be 2-foot Huntington or 12-foot Backdoor, he’s dropped our maws on more than one occasion. But the CT is a road littered with the broken dreams and dismantled aspirations of many a  talented surfer. We’ve seen it time in and time out: No matter how much talent and savvy, some guys just can’t hang…Kekoa Bacalso—praise the heavens—is not one of those guys.

Going into his debut year, Kekoa drops two solid results on us straight out of the gates with a 17th at Snapper and 9th at Bells. A 9th at Bells in some nasty conditions? A difficult task to say the least. At Bells, in some Iron Man-type conditions, Kekoa fought his way tooth and nail through three difficult heats and put on a show worthy of admiration from his CT brethren, drawing comparisons to a young Sunny Garcia in the process. His stock just hit the stratosphere in our book.

So what’s next for Tank? Going into Teahupoo and the third event of the season, we’ll be making the call that Kekoa will continue his run of success on the tour, finding feats of grace and glory in the hollow pits of Tahiti. Keep an eye out, Hawaii, there’s another great surf star on the rise…and his name is Kekoa.

To stay up to date on Kekoa’s run on the World Tour, stay glued to freesurfmagazine.com. We’ve got Kekoa covered.