Controversial, innovative, endlessly entertaining.
These are just a handful of ways to describe San Diego, California pro surfer Jacob “Zeke” Szekely. He’s not afraid to stir the surf world pot; he’s pulled off some of the craziest aerials ever in wavepools and the ocean; and he has a reckless abandon approach to his surf style, online persona, and interactions with the surf community at large.
Now, Zeke has lived up to that reputation, by doing something groundbreaking, hilarious, and never been done. Essentially, it was a big, lighthearted, metaphorical middle finger to the competitive surfing machine. In other words, Zeke in a nutshell.
At the SLO Cal Open in Pismo Beach, CA, Zeke actually pulled off two firsts. Initially, he paddled out on a soft-top in a shortboard event and won his heat. Never been done at this level of competition. In his post heat interview, Zeke said:
“I just like to have fun; I like to mix it up. I feel like too many people get stuck in the same lane and are doing the same thing over and over again. To me, when I mix it up and try new things, that’s when I do the best.”