3| Ezekiel Lau
Birthday: November 23, 1993
Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii

One would assume that kids from Town get the short end of the stick. With big waves not quite as readily available, and tourists impacting lineups at nearly every spot, when compared to their peers on the other side of Oahu, kids from the South Shore are at a bit of a disadvantage. But then consider for a minute that Gerry Lopez is from Town, and he almost single-handedly rewrote the sport of surfing. And don’t forget about Buttons and Bertlemann, a pair of the best performers Waikiki has ever seen. So when a talent like Ezekiel Lau emerged, surf scouts took exceptional interest. “Ezekiel is the leader of the pack in his age division,” explains Rainos Hayes. “He’s become more creative in his surfing, and he’s really confident in his ability to perform—plus he has that aerodynamic shaved head.” Along with Carissa Moore, Lau is part of a little south-side freak factory, where innovation is the mainstay. Spending most of his days in the water at Kewalos, it’s only a matter of time before he graduates to the North Shore and bigger and better things.