Column: H.B.’s Kanoa Igarashi shows unexpected maturity on the tour and in life

It takes many of us until we are in our 30s, 40s, or even 50s before we have a sense of perspective on life, knowing and focusing on what’s important.

But for Huntington Beach surfer Kanoa Igarashi, everything seems to come early. After all, last year he became a World Championship Tour surfer at the ripe ol’ age of 18.

Now, at 19 and on the WCT for his second season, Igarashi has taken a deep breath, taken stock of where he is, come to understand what’s important and let that mindset rule his approach both in and out of the water.

Admittedly, this mature mindset was somewhat forced upon him.

Last year, as a rookie on tour, it was almost a dream season. He never was eliminated before the third round in any of the WCT’s 11 contests. And to cap it off, he had the performance of a lifetime when he reached the finals heat in the last contest of the season, the Billabong Pipe Masters at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu.

So Igarashi surely enjoyed the three months of the off-season, looking forward to improving on his performance last year. But then something unthinkable happened.

The right wave didn’t come at the right time, he made a bad decision or two in the water, and it snowballed.

In the first three contests of the season, the Australian leg, Igarashi failed to get out of Round 2, not once but twice, something that never happened last year.

He came home to Huntington ranked No. 29 on the WCT, weighed down by two 25th-place and one 13th-place finishes. And that’s when he got hit with that sense of perspective.

“It’s been kind of a rough start for me,” Igarashi said on the World Surf League broadcast of the Oi Rio Pro, currently taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “I felt like I was putting too much pressure on myself and wasn’t having that much fun.

“I went home for a little bit, and I went to Portugal and just relaxed and had as much fun as I could. And didn’t worry so much about the event and didn’t worry so much about training and all that stuff because it all adds up, and I’m only 19 years old. I just thought I’d enjoy my time in being able to come to these countries and travel around the world, being able to enjoy it, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Igarashi came to the conclusion that he, like any competitive surfer, only has so much control of how each heat unfolds. The ocean can be tricky, and sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good when it comes to being in the right position to get the right wave.

“I just want to surf,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s 30 minutes in the water, and you’re in the ocean, so anything can happen, you know?”

That mindset paid off in his Round 1 heat in the Oi Rio Pro at Saquarema. Initially he was scheduled to compete against Kelly Slater and Santa Barbara’s Conner Coffin. Slater, though, had to drop out because of a lingering back injury and was replaced by Sebastian Zeitz of Hawaii.

Igarashi scored an 8.00 late in the heat to come out on top, the heat victory enabling him to skip past Round 2 and move directly into Round 3. Last season he had three Round 1 victories.

And while his mindset certainly had a lot to do with his heat win, it also didn’t hurt that he had a lucky board under his feet. Turns out he came across an “older” board of his while he was in Portugal, and decided he’d take it to Brazil.

“It’s from last year, it’s a really old board,” Igarashi said. “I found it at one of my friend’s in Portugal, in the garage. I broke a lot of boards while I was in Portugal so I just looked for a board and found this one. It felt pretty good, and I feel comfortable, and I’m around good people, so I hope I can get more waves here for the rest of the contest.”

JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at joe@juvecreative.com.