When I met Zeke Lau in the backyard of the Quiksilver house in early December of last year, he didn’t know he’d be on tour in 2017. The heavily tattooed 23-year-old was quiet, reserved, but also one of the most friendly and respectful guys I’d ever met. He has a firm handshake and looks you in the eye when he says “It’s nice to meet you,” giving you the feeling that the refrain goes beyond simple pleasantries.
When I asked him about coming so close to outright qualification then (for all intents and purposes he was already planning his 2017 QS campaign after coming up one spot short) he was poised. No visible signs of frustration. A take your lumps and continue doing your best kind of mentality.
I can’t say I followed Zeke closely when he was grinding it out on the ‘QS for years, but I became a fan of Zeke Lau the day we met. His pride for his Hawaiian roots is contagious. His eyes lit up when talking about the inaugural Makahiki event at Turtle Bay, a kind of Hawaiian cultural day, that he organized to kick off the Triple Crown. He’s a benevolent ambassador of that cultural history that often gets lost during the North Shore circus in the months of November and December.
A few weeks later I watched hopefully from back home as Zeke’s friend Kanoa Igarashi battled Jordy Smith in the quarterfinals of the Pipe Masters. By then, number crunchers had come to the conclusion that if Kanoa made the semis, he’d double qualify for the 2017 tour, opening up a slot for Zeke.
Cameras panned from the water to the backyard of the Quik house, where Zeke and I sat just weeks before. Zeke had a hat pulled low and dark sunglasses on as he stared at the ocean. And for all the emotion and nerves that made every second of that heat likely feel like an eternity, he showed none of it on his face. Unless he was whistling and hooting for his friend Kanoa.
It was nothing short of poetic when Kanoa made it through, ensuring Zeke’s world tour dreams would be realized this year. When the cameras panned back to Zeke after Kanoa’s win was certain, everyone in the backyard of the Quik house was jumping up and down, patting Zeke on the back. He had a look of disbelief. But also, unadulterated joy.
People may go on saying Kanoa got Zeke on tour. And while technically at the very end that may be true, let me offer an alternate narrative. It was Zeke’s potential qualification, so well-deserved as it was, that gave Kanoa the fire in his belly to pull out a win over Jordy. So let not anyone question whether Zeke’s spot was earned there in the end. He deserves his spot – perhaps more than most. And anyway, the World Championship Tour is a better place with Zeke Lau on it.
