Zeke Lau + John Florence Mow The North Shore’s Many Meadows

“I’ve known John [Florence] since we were like 5 or 6. I used to have this guy texting me pictures of him scoring firing waves while I was sitting in a classroom. I remember thinking, ‘I would way rather be doing that, but I can’t. That’s just not how it is for me’,” Zeke Lau told Stab, recalling his unique upbringing on the South Shore.

Over the years, the two gents from polar ends of Oahu faced off in competition countless times, through the NSSAs, Q’s and twice head-to-head at the CT level, where they went 1:1 apiece.

Their last clash at Bells in 2018 had missives flying, mostly at Zeke, after the two pinballed off each other at Rincon before priority was established. 

Zeke’s side of the Paddlegate fiasco beneath, for those interested. 

All water under the bridge now, obviously. The two older, wiser, both fathers.

Here’s some recent North Shore sessions featuring both gents at some of its marquee meadows.

Grass clippings everywhere.

“Not for a second was I going to take it easy on John. That’s just not how I operate.

The moment at Bells was unfortunate. At first, I was proud of it, but after seeing the backlash I was bummed. Especially the whole Hawaii thing, that we’re both from the same place. But John’s gnarly! He’s not afraid of a paddle battle. I feel like his demeanor, his interviews, his social media, and his brand isn’t aggressive, so that’s not what people think when they see John surf. But, when it comes to positioning, John is one of the gnarliest paddlers out there.

It cracks me up, because people thought I went out there with a plan to rattle John [laughs]. I couldn’t plan that if I wanted to. I was so in the moment. All Snake told me was, “Make sure you have the inside at the start of the heat and get the first wave.” That’s it. So I did. John was warming up, catching waves before the hooter started. I just sat and waited. John paddled back out, and for the first three or four minutes of the heat, he was trying to paddle around me. We were pretty much at Rincon and he was still trying. I was like “Dude, I’m not letting you back there” [laughs].

I got the first wave, and I was so fired up after that. It was so heavy that he was trying to do that, but at the same time I loved it. I love that energy from him, and I was stoked I was able to endure it. Then, I got this weird idea to paddle circles around him, so I literally did that. It got under his skin, and things played out how they played out.”