Ezekiel Lau is all about power. The 28-year-old seemingly bends waves to his will, speeding through barrels and launching off lips to the delight of judges and spectators alike. His megawatt style has scored him a slew of sponsors and a win last summer on reality TV’s most dramatic surfing competition. In a sport where you’re practically judged on chill, Lau walks the line between power and tranquility, playful and serious.
“Surfing has shaped the way I view everything in life,” says Lau, who surfs to celebrate his native Hawaiian culture—and to win. “There are natural forces outside of your control, so you learn to be open to change, adapt, and go with the flow.”
Unlocking that physical and mental flexibility is the key to a rewarding adventure when you’re in the business of chasing waves. A lot of thought and preparation goes into Lau’s training and gear, so when that perfect 6-footer comes, he’s ready for the ride of his life. Here, Lau gives a glimpse inside the tech-powered world of a pro surfer.
He starts each day by checking Surfline, a service that uses data collected from things like wave buoys, satellites, a live-camera network, meteorologists, and on-the-ground reporters to forecast swells at breaks around the world. “I get excited when I see a 6-foot-plus swell with light winds directed off shore,” Lau says. “This means the waves will have good size and a nice, clean shape.”
If it looks promising, he’ll jump into his Toyota Tundra to scout the waves himself. “Chasing swells is a hard task,” he says. “You have to be prepared for any outcome, because forecasts are constantly changing.” He bought a Toyota Tundra after his first pro win, and tricked it out so it could easily reach his favorite breaks off the beaten path. “I got the four-door with the 4WD TRD off-road kit, a 3-inch leveling kit, and 33-inch tires to drive through the sand at those hard-to-get-to surf spots,” he says.
Sometimes, with a totally killer forecast, he’ll venture far from Hawaii. “My friends and I made a call four days out to chase a swell in the Mentawais to get video clips for a surf film,” he says. It took them three days, three planes, and a 15-hour boat ride to get to the island chain off the west coast of Indonesia. But it was all worth it. “We scored some of the best waves of our lives!”
Heading out, he’ll grab a few boards. Picking between the 30 or so in his quiver is a bit of an art. “I’ll choose a different model when the waves are clean and barreling, compared to when they’re bumpy and hard to ride,” he says.
In 8- to 10-footers, he’ll grab a “step-up” board that’s either 6’ 4” or 6’ 6”, depending on how powerful the waves are. In clean conditions, he likes about 30 liters of foam, one of many details he’s constantly tweaking with his surfboard shaper, Wade Tokoro. (For comparison, a typical 7-foot soft starter board has around 65 liters of foam.) “There is more water moving when the waves are bigger,” he says, “so more foam in your board helps to match the power of the ocean.”
In 2- to 3-foot waves, he’ll go for his “small-wave board,” a 6-foot thruster with a squash tail, meaning it has two slightly rounded edges where the water flows off the back to allow for quick, sharp turns. And in head-high waves, he’ll ride a 6’ 2” thruster with a pin tail, where the back comes to a point for extra traction. “A thruster,” he says, meaning a three-fin setup, “is the easiest board to ride, and will work in all conditions.” No matter what, he likes to run his boards on the narrow side to hold his speed.
If the waves are huge, he’ll wear an inflatable top. Quicksilver’s Highline Pro Airlift Vest assures he’ll make it to the surface faster if, say, a 20-footer pushes him under. He also uses it to milk the moment. “I’ve pulled the vest a bunch of times,” he says. “It helps to preserve your energy, minimize risk, and maximize your energy during big swells that don’t come very often.”
When the swells aren’t ideal, Lau will work on his overall fitness. “The better your cardio is, the better your breath hold is,” he says. “That gives me confidence when surfing waves of consequence.” To build his endurance, he mixes things up between boxing, Pilates, long-distance paddling, and running—all while keeping tabs on his stress and recovery with his waterproof Whoop activity tracker, so he knows when to push and when to pull back.
At the end of the day, “The result is not the end goal,” Lau says. His adventures are all in pursuit of discovering the best version of himself, fully experiencing the world, and spending time with the people he loves most. “It’s the best to be able to back your truck up to the beach, put your tailgate down, surf, and hang all day with the family.”
Discover more about the Toyota Tundra TRD Pro here.
This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Toyota.
