Ezekiel Lau is a surfer who is basically built for Sunset. It’s a powerful wave that requires powerful surfing. It’s a shifty wave that requires a deep well of knowledge about how the place works. Those are the kinds of waves that Lau excels in, so he’s always a concern to anyone who draws him in a heat. He’s famously aggressive with his tactical surfing, which was on full display back in 2018 in a heat against John John Florence. And now, he’s at the center of another priority squabble.
It’s never a smooth ride for the Hawaiian surfer, who seems to be constantly falling off tour only to bash his way back onto it. He first qualified for the CT in 2017, then followed it up twice more in 2018 and 2019. Then he fell off tour before winning the ABC’s The Ultimate Surfer. That came with a prize of $100,000 and three wildcard spots on the 2022 Championship Tour, the latter of which Zeke didn’t need. See, he’d already earned his spot through the Challenger Series.
At the Sunset event, Zeke found himself in lead with just a few minutes on the clock. He was surfing against Leonardo Fioravanti and Rio Waida. With about two minutes left, Zeke made a half-hearted attempt to paddle for a wave with priority. At the time, the judges didn’t take priority away, so he thought he still had it.
“About a minute-and-a-half later,” Fioravanti explained, “with 30 seconds to go, I guess the judges watched it back and changed the priority. That’s a really late call, because the priority switched right before a wave came.”
Zeke, still operating under the assumption that he was in the right, paddled for a wave that Rio Waida was paddling for. That earned him an interference call and cost him the heat — which is not something he was too happy with. But, if history has taught us anything, it’s that Zeke Lau will shake it off and come back firing on all cylinders.
