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Ola Eleogram
Written by Jen Johansen

“After a long trip you just want to come back to Hana for a little bit.”
To Ola Eleogram Hana is home.

Eighteen years ago he was born in Hana, Maui, home of sand bars and mythic beauty. “It was ok for me…I’m good friends with most of the people,” Ola recalls of his growing up in Hawaii, the most geographically isolated group of Islands in the world, where the Oceans peak and trough thousands, if not millions, of times before they reach Hawaiian shores with epic waves.

“Being in the water (in Hana) feels so good, it’s kinda comforting for me, it’s really relaxing, the water’s nice and cold on your back,” Ola describes passionately his life long experience with Hawaii’s surf. “It’s so free.” “I love being in the water…going down on waves, pumping down the line it’s the best feeling.” “The feeling of getting up, it just comes to me naturally,” and his ability today shines brightly amongst the waves of his childhood.

With Hana as a backdrop, this talented young surfer began his life in the water with his brother, and good friends at Koki. At the age of six, Ola went out for his first time with his present-day, toughest competitor and loyal friend Hank Gaskell, Hank’s dad, and his brother.
It’s the first time that he remembers being on a board. After years of watching the older guys from Hana, like Kelly Everett and Carl Kamahi, they all went out to hit the break.

“No one really taught us or anything,” Ola digs back into his past. “I didn’t like it, I was scared. I was really scared…But, Koki’s become my favorite wave, now.” “It was way different when I was younger.” Ola’s fear didn’t keep him from the water. He and his friends began taking surf trips to the other side of the island, and also started competing in contests. At the age of eight Ola, entered the Gerry Lopez Contest at Ho’okipa, and has been surfing competitively ever since.

With the support and competitive push from of his friends and family, Ola entered the NSSA circuit and earned a Quiksilver sponsorship at the age of 10. He’s since become a Regional and Hawaii State Champ, and began competing with Dan Pahia of Quiksilver-Oahu, and the Quiksilver team in California. Pahiah became Ola’s trusted coach and mentor, sharing his knowledge of surfing and the art of competition.

“When I was younger, he (Dan) would go with me to every contest, and coach me and I got a pretty good perspective on contests from him, he would tell me all this stuff…And now when I do it by myself, I think of the stuff he was helping me with…He use to be a judge and he knows what’s going on.” Ola recalls his lessons of perspective and focus, and can describe the feeling of dropping into waves vividly now.

“I’m looking ahead, always looking at a section, trying to find something where I can hit it, trying to think of what I should do on the wave.” He tries to look at what he’s got. He tries to line it up where he should hit it, and tries to time everything right. And when his timing is off he says that he can feel it, “I’ll hit at the wrong time or the wrong place, you need to know when’s the right time…You gotta be pretty focused”.

As an innovator who is continually trying to bring fresh ideas to the sport, it’s this focus that Ola battles for. “I will think of something to do, I’ll practice it,” and “one day it just clicks, practice makes perfect…I definitely want to get better, I never want to just stop, I always want to keep getting better and better.” And Ola will have to do just that as he’s entered his rookie year of the QSs, placing a tough 5th in Nationals.

It is hard, the Pro World, there are so many guys, and better guys. The bar has been raised. The level of competition has risen to the height of Jaws and Ola recognizes this, “You kinda gotta move up slowly…You gotta keep perspective,” rather than getting mired in anger and frustration. Along with the love of winning comes the dread of losing. Ola’s largest obstacle seems to be this delicate balance of nurturing a competitive drive that does not become destructive.

In the first five minutes of a heat he can tell if he’s on. “If I catch a wave within the first five minutes and like it’s a pretty good one, I feel like I’m on, I feel like I can win it and everything, if I start off with a real slow heat, it’s a real battle, and everyone catches a real good one right after, my mind starts playing games and that’s when I really lose it, my mind takes control of the situation.” “If I get a good start I’m usually good, it’s the slow starts that get you…You’re thinking of so many things, everything’s going wrong, next thing you know your heat only has a couple minutes, and you haven’t caught a good wave yet…the trick is to keep it from going down that way…You gotta be a real good surfer, you gotta be a real good contester, and know how to control your mind, be really smart…Be a smart surfer.” Ola’s saving grace, is his awareness. He knows what happens to his mind, and thus far, it seems like he knows the trick.

Ola has developed into what the surf world likes to call the “Young Hawaiian Aerialist.” When asked about the title he laughs and candidly replies, “Yeah, I don’t know how I got that…I just try to keep up with my friend Hank, he does some really good airs.” Two years ago Eleogram won the national air show and the reputation lives on.

“I think I am more of a regular kind of surfer, but I definitely try to do all weird stuff, like airs.” Well, regular or not, Ola Eleogram has built on his talent, focus, competitive drive, and awareness to make a living doing what he loves, surfing. He was recently spotted competing in Florida, Tahiti, North Carolina, New York, and France. And in 2005 Ola will be in the Galapagos Islands for photos and gearing up for the Big Time.

With his final words Ola, wants to thank everyone in his life and everyone who has ever helped him out, and he also chose to share some advice to all you young groms out there who want to one day be a professional surfer, “Surf as much as you want, don’t try to talk your surfing up, let the surfing do the talking…Let it go and everything will fall into place, if it’s meant to be…Having fun is the main thing, have fun and you’ll surf the best.”