Zeke Lau is an interesting guy. He’s on the tour one day, off the next, swinging for the fences to get himself back on. He’s done reality shows, won wildcards, scraped and scratched and done whatever it takes to continue his journey to as high up the ranks in pro surfing as he can get. He’s also a brand-new dad with a brand new sponsor.
That brand new sponsor is a brand called AVVA, which was founded by Lau’s friend, Keko Cazimero. Lau’s exit from longtime sponsor Quiksilver was a bit of a strange one. After falling off tour last year, he felt a twinge of anxiety.
“I knew my contract was up,” he told The Inertia. “So I knew I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not the best thing.’ I knew the Challenger Series ends in October and so did my contract. I felt like a lot was riding on if I was on tour or not. So my whole thing was that I needed to make sure I’m back on tour so I could secure my contract. In the back of my head, I’m thinking I should be pretty good. And then if I qualify at the end of the year, I did my job, you know? But then came the end of the year, we’re going back to renegotiate and it was just a tough time with the company. They have this whole buyout thing happening, budgets are frozen, and they aren’t going to offer me a contract for 2023. But they say, ‘Hold on for us. And we’ll try and make it work.’”
As it turned out, it wouldn’t work, but Lau’s move to AVVA is a real blessing. Cazimero and Lau surf together regularly. One day, while they were out in the lineup together, Lau spilled his guts about everything that was happening in his life. And Cazimero saw an opportunity that would benefit them both. And from the looks of it, it’s a bit of a match made in heaven.
