Ethan Ewing

The Curious Case of Ethan Ewing

I first heard of Ethan Ewing in the days following the 2016 Hurley Pro. A friend had sent me a txt; ‘Check the kid who got second,’ he said, ‘surfs just like Andy.’ The claim was enough to get my attention; Andy was—and still is—one of my favourite surfers, a surfer whose approach I’m always drawn back to whenever the nostalgic mood creeps up on me and Youtube is within reach. I was both excited and nervous—if not a little suspicious— at the idea of a junior surfing like my idol; so often weighty comparisons like this are the death knell to rising talent. My suspicions, it turned, were unwarranted; here was a kid who surfed just like Andy. Watching the highlights of Ewing’s run to the final was a time warp moment: here I was, back in high school, watching over and over my VHS copy of the MCD video Raw Irons (in particular, the section where Andy wins the pro junior at Huntington). The bent back arm, the deceptively graceful manoeuvres, Ewing seemed to have it all, in abundance. Without giving it a second though, I joined the hype brigade.

Fast forward to March this year and my enthusiasm had only grown. Ewing had qualified for the World Surf League and was lining up to surf the first competition of the year, the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. The hype seemed more than justified when he scored a nine on his first wave. The ripple effect amongst the fans and the commentators was palpable; Ewing had announced himself.

Then: nothing. A poor back up score meant that Ewing would have to surf in round two. And so it has been for remainder of this year, so far. Ewing currently sits at number 36 on the World Surf League ratings, the lowest of this year’s rookies (the highest rookie is Australia’s Connor O’Leary, who sits at number 10). With half of the stops on tour now complete, Ewing has five opportunities left to turn this poor run around or risk falling off the tour. This scenario draws an eerie parallel with Andy, who dropped off the tour early in his career. But whereas Andy’s early setback was caused by his own reckless ego, the reason for Ewing’s lack of progress is much more elusive and hard to define. In post-heat interviews, he comes across affable and level-headed, which makes the situation all the more strange.

As strange as Ewing’s story is, it is not a new story to surfing. Look back over the past few decades of professional surfing and there is a long list of surfers who have failed to live up to the hype surrounding them: Kalani Robb, Bruce Irons, Dane Reynolds. The difference between Ewing and the three surfers listed is that each of them were productive outside competition filming clips (even Bruce, who’s known as much for laziness and disdain for the surfing industry, managed to amass a decent catalogue of clips). Search Ethan Ewing on Youtube and the results are slim. This might speak to the current climate in professional surfing, where less and less, it seems, clips are seen as celebrations of talent and more as vanity projects for those surfers who don’t compete. I don’t mean to suggest that filming a clip will remedy Ewing’s current situation; rather, I feel it is a way to keep his surfing fresh in the mind of the surfing community. Reynolds took this approach and made it wildly successful, keeping himself front and centre of most surfing conversations for years.

Of course, Ewing could suddenly find his groove and go on a strong run for the rest of the year. But in the event that he doesn’t I believe he mustn’t let his talent be lost to the WQS, whose grey and mechanical schedule seems to value routine above everything else. C’mon Ethan, we’re all waiting…