When Eli Hanneman was a five-year-old, he started surfing. Growing up in Lahaina, Maui, it was a pretty natural step. The island has produced some of the world’s best surfers, and Hanneman is primed to join their ranks. What wasn’t natural, though, was how quickly he picked it up. By the time he was ten, the world was sitting up and taking notice. It wasn’t unwarranted hype, either–Hanneman just keeps getting better. For someone so young, he’s got his head on straight, too. “I want people to think my surfing is perfect, flawless,” he said. “I wanna prove to everybody that I’m an all-around surfer. Not just some guy who can only do airs or a guy who can only charge and can’t surf small waves. I want to be able to do everything.”
