Surfing takes Molokai boy around the world and to the top of the NSSA leaderboard.

Ka`oli Kahokuloa didn’t stand up the first time he was on a surfboard, but then again most nine-month-olds can barely stand up at all. A few months before Ka`oli’s first birthday, his dad took him out to the waves of Rock Point on Molokai. He’s been in the water ever since.

“Everybody was worried,” Ka`oli said of his first surf session. “They all thought my dad was crazy, but ever since then, I guess I’ve really loved the ocean.”

Ka`oli KahokuloaFourteen years later, the teenage Ka`oli has no problem standing up. In fact, he is currently standing in first place of the Open Juniors Division and the Explorer Boys Division of the Hawaii National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA).

Ka`oli started this season off with a bang. He racked up perfect scores of 1500 in each of the first two events of the year. After sitting out the third contest, he jumped right back into the action with another first place finish. He is the only boy in NSSA who has broken 1,000 points five times and with three events left in the season he has a comfortable lead over second-place surfer Jessie Guglielmana.

“I’ve been doing a lot better this year. The past year I was struggling, I didn’t make a lot of finals,” Ka`oli said. “My parents and I set a goal for me to at least get better. We had that goal every since we started the new year, and so I’ve just been working of fulfilling my goal.”

This is now his fifth year competing with the NSSA and Ka`oli is showing some big improvements. He attributes his high scores to being one of only three boys in the division that can consistently throw airs on his runs.

“I just decided to start trying them during my heats at Lahaina and I noticed I was getting a lot of points,” he said.

Ka`oli’s success this year has convinced him and his parents that he’s ready for the next step. Next year, he will go out for the Junior Pro division – a definite stepping stone into the ranks of professional surfing. The 105-pounder said that as soon as he puts on enough weight to get the power he needs to compete at the next level, he will make the jump.

Globetrotter
Surfing has blessed Ka`oli with much more than trophies. He has also gotten a chance to travel and meet his peers from all over the globe. Quiksilver – one of Ka`oli’s six sponsors – has agreed to send the young Molokai native on two international trips each year. This summer, his first trip led him to the foreign shores of Bali.

Kahokuloa has been impressing NSSA judges with airs like this one all season.“It was kind of a lot like Hawaii but a lot crazier,” Ka`oli said. “There’s a lot really old buildings that people still live in and mopeds speed past you on the streets.”
Ka`oli was in Bali for a photo shoot with three other boys from Australia, Italy and France. The resulting photos from the trip are set to be released in Europe this year.

“It’s a lot of fun to meet boys from all over the world and hear them talk different languages and try to understand them,” he said. Ka`oli said he is hoping his next trip will take him to New Zealand, but no date has been set yet.

Between his home-schooling, surf competitions and traveling the world, Ka`oli has a very busy schedule. He and his family moved to Oahu a couple of years ago to make their lives a little simpler. Ka`oli said he has not been back to Molokai in almost a year, but still considers it home.

“I wished I live there again. Everybody in my home wants to go back,” he said. Despite having surfed waves thousands of miles away, he still considers Rock Point to be one of his favorite spots in the world.