By Rebecca Parsons
Mainland and Hawai’ian surfing has never been so well represented on the Championship Tour…and it could just be the start of more to come.
In 2024, an eye-popping 20 surfers from the U.S. and Hawai’i will set sail on the Championship Tour. A full-on generational shift, while the Brazilian Storm has been pummeling the surf world over the last few years, it now appears the American Wave is rising.
“It’s historic,” surmises San Clemente’s Griffin Colapinto, who finished his 2023 Championship Tour campaign ranked number three in the world.
Spawning revolutionaries like Christian Fletcher, Matt Archbold, Dino Andino and Shane Beschen, San Clemente has long been a hotbed for mainland surf talent, but this time it’s different. They’ve traded rolling papers for journals, bongs for barbells and are serious about where they want to take their surfing and how they’re going to get there. Largely driven by Dino’s son, 29-year-old Kolohe Andino, it’s a study in what happens when one door closes and another opens.
With the pandemic raging, as the 2021 Championship Tour season loomed, Andino headed over to the North Shore to train and get ready.
“Sunset and Santa Cruz contests got canceled, but I still wanted to go to Hawai’i and figure out some boards and try to see what’s going on. I usually stay at Off The Wall and I wanted to see the wave from a different angle. I stayed with John [Florence] and we surfed for three days together—three eight-hour days,” recalls Kolohe.
“I pulled into one of the bigger barrels I’ve ever gotten and the wave just clamped on me. It must have bent out to sea at the last minute and just got me,” he continues. “My ankle was kind of swollen, but not bad. The next day was firing, that’s when John got like 20 15-point rides. It was all over Surfline. It was crazy. I thought, maybe, I was okay but might have made it worse because I surfed on it.”
Back home in California, Kolohe underwent an MRI and got news that would turn out to alter not only the trajectory of his career but also the fate of American surfing.
“Turns out it was pretty bad. It was an ATFL ligament and a high ankle sprain, both grade-three injuries,” Kolohe describes.
Undergoing surgery with Dr. Warren Kramer, Kolohe spent more than two months with his foot in a boot. Eventually recovering to compete in the inaugural Olympics, when Kolohe returned to the Championship Tour he was unable to conjure results and after more than a decade on tour, like that, his run was over.
At home, Kolohe’s family was growing. With a little girl and another baby on the way, his attention and priorities also shifted from a full-time diet of competitive surfing to something considerably more domestic. With more time in San Clemente, Kolohe started to focus on the up-and-coming kids that were chasing their dreams.
Originally, his plan was to launch a video channel focused on his own surfing called “Stagnant Ambition,” but after spending more time with the groms around town, by the spring of 2023 it had morphed into “2% Surf.” Supporting each other in the water and out, Kolohe not only mentored the surfers, but also paid for video gear to support a burgeoning crew of young filmers and photographers.
By the time the 2023 Challenger Series kicked off it was all systems go. Built like a linebacker, goofy-footed hammer Cole Houshmand rattled off win after win and was the first to secure his spot on the 2024 Championship Tour as finished the Challenger Series in the pole position.
“All that hard work is paying off. All the sacrifices. The good and the bad. The wins and the loses. I had one of my hardest years last year, and I think everything happens for a reason,” Cole explains with a sigh of relief.
Crosby Colapinto, younger brother to Griffin, and Sawyer Lindblad were the next two surfers from San Clemente to qualify. On the final day of the final event of the season, Kade Matson also locked in his spot. Along the way, Maui’s Eli Hanneman picked up on the energy of the 2% Surf crew and started traveling with the boys. Like Matson, he earned his CT spot on the last day of the Challenger Series season.
Not only was it a brilliant run on the Challenger Series this year, but there are a number of surfers waiting in the wings to join their friends on tour when they get the chance. Jett Schilling finished 15th on the Challenger Series, while ISA world champ Kirra Pinkerton and Bella Kenworthy were also in the mix going into the final event.
“We’re super vulnerable with each other and talk through all the thoughts we’re having so we’re not scared of hard times. As friends it brings us closer together,” Griffin describes. “You don’t see them as competitors, you see them as your brothers and you just want the best for them no matter what. I think it feels like a genuine brotherhood right now.”
But the picture is much larger than what’s happening in San Clemente. A few miles south in Encinitas, Alyssa Spencer and Jake Marshall have both qualified for the 2024 Championship Tour. Meanwhile, Eli will be joined by fellow Maui local Imaikalani DeVault.
The new class of American surfers will be flanked by reigning world champ Caroline Marks, five-time world champ Carissa Moore, three-time world champ John John Florence, world number three Griffin Colapinto, teen phenom Caitlin Simmers and tour vet Lakey Peterson. Meanwhile, Hawai’i’s rookie of the year Ian Gentil, Barron Mamiya, Seth Moniz, Gabriela Bryan and Bettylou Sakura Johnson are all back next season. And just to add a little more depth to the roster, the WSL has granted 11-time world champ and greatest-of-all-time Kelly Slater a wildcard for the season, who will be 52 years young when he pulls on the jersey.
Compare this to 2009 when Brett Simpson was the only American on tour under 30 and Melanie Bartels was the only woman. In 2010, Patrick and Tanner Gudauskas, Nate Yeoman and Timmy Reyes all got blasted by the mid-season cut. It would take more than a decade for North American surfing to bounce back. John John and Carissa have given Hawai’i plenty to cheer about as they’ve racked up their titles, but in recent years the conversation has largely been dominated by the rise of Brazil as a surfing superpower.
“We all want to see each other succeed,” tells Griffin. “We have the same goals and stuff, so it’s really nice to have each other to relate to and motivate each other. Seeing someone do really good makes you want to go out there and do your best. And I think we have a really good balance between having fun and being serious. None of us do drugs or anything, but we can still go party and enjoy life and have fun. Then we get up the next day and get after it in the surf.”
Out of the 15 qualification spots for men and women on the Challenger Series, over half went to surfers from the U.S. and Hawai’i. Australia saw five surfers graduate from the Challenger Series, while Brazil picked up two. Clearly the big winners when it comes to qualification this year, the U.S. and Hawai’i are well poised to dominate the global surfing narrative over the next 12 to 24 months.
In total, 20 surfers from the U.S. and Hawai’i will start the 2024 Championship Tour season. And while Kolohe and the 2% Surf crew may have been the proverbial pebble in the pond, the ripples created by the movement have reached across the Pacific to Hawai’i and will undoubtedly continue to inspire rising stars from the region to get out there and chase their own dreams.