Eli Hanneman is something else. He has a World Tour arsenal of surfing talent, a Hawaiian-bred pedigree, commendable work ethic, he’s rock solid in heavy surf….and he’s pretty humble and cool about it all if we’re being honest.
“His specific approach to riding waves is unique in his timing,” Ian Walsh told us about Eli in 2020. “He has this innate ability with timing; when he clicks off an air, when he’s projecting through a turn, when he’s hanging at the top for just a fraction of a second before getting down the face and into a bottom turn, lining up the timing with the lip. He has a really unique ability with timing and I think that’s at the foundation of what’s so special about him.”
When we met Eli not too long before a pandemic put all his competitive endeavors on hold, he told us he aspired to contend for world titles someday. These 27 waves are video evidence the young man has every tool in his bag to make that happen. No music to distract you. No flashy graphics, dissolves, and complex video editing to distract you from anything but his surfing. And the occasional quips from the peanut gallery behind the lens are right on point with how we react to most of what Eli Hanneman does on a surfboard.
