Brodi Sale: The Big Island’s New Hope

The Big Island – despite being 63% of the Hawaiian archipelago’s total land mass and larger than Rhode Island and Delaware – hosts only 13% of Hawai’i’s population. 

There are a lot of reasons for the low size/population ratio. For one, among Hawaii’s 137 islands, there is only one natural harbor wide enough and deep enough for large ships to move in and out of: Honolulu Harbor on Oahu’s south shore.

So, naturally, some time between Captain Cook first spotting King Kamehameha’s kingdom and the U.S. expanding its hidden Empire by annexing Hawai’i as its 50th state, Honolulu Harbor became Hawai’i’s hub for trade and commerce, which then made it its hub for population, and then governance, and then tourism, and inevitably, popularity.

Just like that, the Big Island – once the spiritual and administrative capital of the Kingdom of Hawai’i – was largely forgotten. It’s also largely blocked from the brunt of Hawaii’s wintertime north-northwest swells, which doesn’t help on the surf tourism front, nor their competitive prowess.

While Oahu, Maui and Kauai all claim a rolling cast of CT regulars, the Big Island has only one its history: Patrick ‘Shane’ Dorian.  

Now, the Dorian isle may have produced another contender in 23-year-old Brodi Sale. By all accounts, Brodi is a class act. He’s reportedly up before others at the Billabong house every winter, works harder than most, and is kind and polite. This lethal work ethic mix has landed him support from Billabong and Slater Designs in a tricky labor market for young surfers. To add to Brodi’s momentum, he’s also got great guidance in girlfriend Bettylou Sakura Johnson, who knows a thing or two about qualifying for the CT.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Surfline (@surfline)

Despite the support and talent, it’s been a difficult last few years competitively for Brodi. “To be honest, the last two years I’ve had a pretty bad run of results and I feel like I keep trying new things and they don’t work out result wise,” Brodi admitted. “It’s just a constant battle of telling yourself that you’re doing all the right things and you need to bring this in and do this to try and see how that works and just keep testing new things to try and add to your slice of the pie. I’m trying to do all the things that you think you need to do to get to where you want to be. So just staying consistent, journaling, training a lot, surfing a lot, just trying to stay balanced and know that everything’s happening for a reason and to be confident in my decision making and to keep learning. My focus right now is on making the Challenger, then making the CT.”

The edit you see above are recent highlights from Brodi’s last six months at home on the Big Island and abroad (mostly Indo). Come for the frontside wrap – stay for the stand-up-boogie at the funnest right tube you’ve ever seen. 

Watch out for Brody the rest of this 2026/27 season to see if he finally reaches his goal at making the Changas, and time will tell if he can make the Big Island and mentor Shane Dorian proud by becoming Kona’s second-ever CT surfer.