In Conversation With Duct Tape Invitational Winner Kaneila Stewart

[This conversation was recorded at the 2019 Vans Duct Tape Invitational as part of our series exploring contemporary longboarding’s most interesting characters. See more from the event here.]

Seventeen year-old Hawaiian Kaneila Stewart, known as Kani for short, has had a barnstorming start to 2019 by any measure.

First, he snapped up an invite to the longboard division of the Da Hui Backdoor shootout, snagging a few crazy barrels on his way to a respectable 6th place finish, behind some of his local heroes. Then, he made the quarters at the WSL Noosa comp, losing to Harry Roach by a mear 0.5 of a point. At the start of this month he bested 79 of the world’s best loggers to take out the Mexi Log Fest, followed up by a big win at the Vans Duct Tape invitational last weekend in Ericeira.

With such a rap sheet, it’s no surprise that Kani turns heads wherever he surfs. His nose riding already looks second to none, with an uncanny ability to remain casually perched through even the most critical and inhospitable of sections. His power carves and traditional flourishes see him celebrated by both of longboarding’s often disparate camps, and his overall awareness on the wave, as exemplified by the video below, is something to behold.

Just before the final of the Duct Tape we hit him up to ask about how the iconic waves of Waikiki have shaped his surfing, how he ended up charging Pipe and his aspirations for the future.

Is this your first time in Europe?

Yea it is.

Did you do any special prep ahead of the event?

I was checking out some videos of the surf break on youtube and I could see that it was going to be so much fun- and that was pretty much my plan.

And is it living up to your expectations?

Yea! I made it to the final, so hopefully I can get first in the finals, that’s my goal, but if not, that’s ok, just as long as I have a lot of fun.

Tell me a bit about where you’re from and the kind of waves you grew up surfing?

I’m from Waikiki, on the island of Oahu. During the winter time it’s really small- it can go flat, but in the summertime it will get about head high, or maybe overhead on good swells, and that’s helped me a lot, because it’s the perfect range for a single fin. Usually, it’s not a very powerful wave, it’s nice and soft, so easy to nose ride and do some turns, so that’s how I train every day, pretty much.

And I guess it’s pretty busy too, does the vibe out there set you up well for a comp like this where you’re sharing waves and doing board transfers?

Yea of course, I surf every day with a bunch of my friends, we have our little grom squad, we’re always switching off waves, party waves, all that stuff. I grew up with them since I was little, and we’ve always stuck together.

Where do you put yourself on the spectrum of traditional and high-performance longboarders in terms of your equipment and your approach to the wave?

I ride both, so when the waves are small to shoulder to head high I’ll ride a single fin, and then when it gets overhead or barrelling I’ll either ride a shortboard or a performance longboard.

So are you into the WSL high-performance comps?

Yea, I did the tour two years ago and then I went to China, Papua New Guinea and Taiwan. Last year I wasn’t able to qualify again, but this year I did the event at Noosa and came equal 5th, so that was cool. I’m looking forward to trying to do a couple more of those contests.

So you’re going to try and keep a foot in both worlds?

Yep, totally, I’m trying to do all of them.

And do you feel like you can do that and still maintain respect from both crews?

Yea, of course. I don’t choose a side. As long as you’re having fun, that’s my motto.

We saw a shot of you surfing on a pretty solid day at Pipe on your high-performance board, are there more waves like that around the world you’d like to have a crack at?

I don’t know, I just go with wherever these trips take me. Each trip I try and find some little barrels- a couple days ago, there was a barrelling right out front of our hotel and me and my friend Kai got barrelled on our single fin logs and it was about overhead and that was so fun.

How did you end up surfing Pipe on your longboard?

There’s a contest called the Da Hui backdoor shootout, which is pretty much an invitational for local guys, and there’s a longboarding division put on by Duane DeSoto and he invited me and his son. We’re kind of in the same age and he just said ‘boys, you’ve got to come out and surf Pipe,’ and that just pushed me. So I got out there before the contest and tried to get some good waves.

So you hadn’t surfed it much before that?

No, I wasn’t surfing it before. Two years ago was my first time surfing proper Pipe- I’d only surfed it on little days.

Did you get the bug for it?

Yea, I did, I got that urge for more barrels.

What are your other aspirations for the coming years with your surfing?

I’m just travelling having fun, trying to win as many contests as possible. I’d like to win a world title maybe one day, you know, that’s pretty much it.