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SURFING/KANOA IGARASHI
Igarashi surfing at the age of five – he’s been on an upward
trajectory since he learned to surf when he was three
surfing gave the youngster a
route to success. “Growing up
in Huntington, I always stood
out, because I was Japanese –
I was different,” he says. “But
surfing was the thing that put
that racism aside and brought
my world together. It definitely
helped me fit in.”
Igarashi’s school in
Huntington was close to the
beach – close enough that his
mother could pick him up after
school with his wetsuit and board
in the car, and he could be in the
water five minutes later. “Surfing
was like my playtime, my recess
back then,” he says.
But before long, his playtime
seemed to have serious potential.
He was featured on a local news
show on TV when he was six.
Educated admirers began calling
him “the next Kelly Slater,”
referencing the legendary pro.
Sponsors came. Wins at local
youth tournaments came. Flights
to faraway places came.
By the time Igarashi was in
high school, surfing was a way
of life. He was travelling nine
months a year and the pressure
of balancing that with his
schoolwork was getting rough.
His mother, who prioritised his
academic performance, wanted
him to finish high school but
Igarashi felt he was ready to join
the Qualifying Series Tour, a pro
circuit that is also the pathway to
the World Surf League’s senior
Championship Tour. When he
was 17, he convinced his mother
to let him take the his high-school
equivalency exam. “That was
crazy,” he says, recalling what
happened after he passed. “I was
17. One minute I was travelling
and surfing with friends and
bang, the next minute I’m on
tour. Suddenly I was on a roll,
and it hasn’t stopped since then.”
Pipeline dreams
Igarashi says he’s come to the
North Shore every year since he
was nine, and you can trace his
rise in competitive surfing over
those years. “I’ve been coming
here since I pretty much started
surfing, and every year I come
here I’m catching bigger waves,”
he says. He caught a wave at
Pipeline when he was nine;
caught a “proper barrel” when he
was 13; and paddled out for
“bigger days” when he was 16.
If anything, his progression
only accelerated from there. Just
two years later, when he was 18,
Igarashi was back at Pipeline as
a pro on the Championship Tour,
and made the finals – beating
his idol Kelly Slater in the semifinals
along the way.
As Igarashi’s consistency and
explosiveness improved, so did
his ranking on the Championship
Tour. In 2017, he finished as the
world’s 17th-ranked surfer and
the following year he concluded
the season in 10th place overall.
2019 represented yet another
breakthrough, as Igarashi
finished the season in sixth place
overall, notching his first
Championship Tour event win
along the way. (After five
competitions of the new season,
he’s ranked ninth.)
There’s a side to Igarashi that
has a sharper edge than his lovethe-water
philosophy. “I love that
feeling of wanting to rip that
guy’s head off,” he says. “I love
that feeling of wanting to be
better than my opponent that
day. There’s this competitive
side of me that’s like this animal
that shines on contest days.”
Nestled somewhere in
between his mentality as a
trained killer and his emotional
connection to the ocean lies
a methodical athlete who’s
20 THE RED BULLETIN