Let’s Meet A Business Major With A Stab-High-Worthy Air Game 

Traveling the world as a modern full-time professional surfer can teach you invaluable lessons about life (by processing a Round of 128 loss), other cultures (via Tinder), and new languages (how to incorrectly pronounce the word for ‘hello’ and then point through a glass counter at the piece of food you want to eat). 

And yet, some still elect to pursue more traditional academic opportunities. 

In 2022, there were three CT surfers pursuing college degrees while competing. 

Today, we’ll meet a gent who just dropped a noteworthy edit and is a few heats away from qualifying for the CS, all while studying business at Point Loma Nazarene University. 

His name is Makana Franzmann (which, we must say, is a nice mix of Rhineland winterbush and island chic). 

“Growing up, I really wanted to make it in surfing and I put a lot of energy into that,” says Makana. “But when I was getting towards the end of high school, my mom really encouraged me to go to college. She’s a business owner. The North Shore can feel like a bit of a bubble, so I thought it would be good for me to live in California for a few years and study. When I’m older, I want to be able to make a living and still surf a bunch.” 

Makana is currently sitting in 10th place in Hawaii Tahiti Nui regional QS rankings. With one event left — and the top five slots getting CS tickets — another good result will see him at Newcastle this May. 

“If I make the Challenger, I want to switch to full-time online school and see how I do,” says Makana.  

But that’s the CS. And this (above) is an impressive freesurf edit. Shall we learn about that? 

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“I go home for Thanksgiving, and then I get a few weeks off from school around Christmas,” says Makana. “That’s where most of these clips come from, but there are a few waves in there that I’ve been sitting on for a while. And some from an Indo trip I took in between school years last summer.” 

If you keep your eyes on the nose, you’ll notice a sticker change from RVCA to Quiksilver in this edit. Makana is now backed by the mountain and the wave from the classroom from the Changa.

And how about dem backside airs? 

“I grew up at Rockies, which is one of the best left air waves in the world. And I grew up really into skating — more than surfing for a while. I was scared of bigger waves when I was younger, so I’d just go skate. I think the different grabs in this edit came from my skate background. I wanted to show something that was a little different.” 

Works for us.