Riding a wave: Surfer makes 指名する with ビデオs over contests
The 29-year-old surfer from Hawaii doesn't 参加する in a lot of contests. Not really his thing.
Matt Meola's a soulful sort of surfer who likes to fish , 追跡（する） , wants to design fishing 誘惑するs using his hair and is raising a deer. That's 権利, a deer 指名するd Doe-nut .
He's 支援するd by sponsors and has a film 乗組員 - more like one person - who follows him to the waves . The 2020 Tokyo Games, where surfing makes its Olympic debut? That's not him.
Meola's content catching a wave wherever - and whenever - there's a wave 価値（がある） catching.
"All my best memories of surfing are my 最高潮の場面 waves I've caught," Meola said in an interview from Maui before leaving to 参加する in the World Surf League's 空中の event in フラン beginning this 週末. "I'm more into the innovative 味方する and trying new tricks."
His introduction to surfing began when he was 2 years old and his dad took him out. It wasn't his first love, though. That 栄誉（を受ける） belonged to skateboarding as his family 絶えず took him to the park to ride. As a teen, his dad was working on a 事業／計画（する） 近づく the beach and Meola tagged along. The 誘惑する of the ocean was too hard to resist.
In this June 8, 2018, photograph 供給（する）d by Swilly, 29-year-old surfer Matt Meola is shown 近づく Meantawai Islands, Indonesia. Hawaiian surfer Matt Meola doesn't like contests, but is one of the bigger 指名するs in his sport in part because of his films. (Swilly/儀礼 Photo 経由で AP)
He started on the contest 回路・連盟 when he was 15 - a couple in Maui, a few more on the other islands, but it was expensive and really not his forte. Sure, he did 井戸／弁護士席 - really 井戸／弁護士席, in fact, like winning a 明言する／公表する 選手権 - but he felt like he was in a 圧力 cooker.
"I don't like 存在 told when to surf or only to be able to go out for 30 minutes at a time," Meola explained. "I see surfing more as an art form than a sport, anyway. It's hard to 裁判官 because everyone has got an opinion on who they like. I've never really been into it."
Filming 連合させるd with surfing? Now that's a different tale.
A few years 支援する, he made a ビデオ clip - with the help of cinematographer Elliot Leboe - of his surfing 偉業／利用するs that won him a $100,000 contest . The ビデオ went viral and helped 開始する，打ち上げる the next 一時期／支部 of Meola's career, 収入 him a を取り引きする Rockstar energy drink, along with other sponsors like Sanuk footwear. Before that, Meola was making $700 a month.
It changed nothing, though. He's still a surfer who's in it to, 井戸／弁護士席, surf.
"I'm trying to do the next big thing that I 港／避難所't done yet," he said.
One of his favorite 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs was in Peahi, Hawaii, which is better known as "Jaws" for its 抱擁する breaks that can 越える 50 feet. Once, Meola caught a 巨大（な） wave and wiped out at the end. The wave （海，煙などが）飲み込むd him and the leash from his board bou nd his feet together. Somehow, he worked his way 解放する／自由な .
That was pretty much the end of his big-wave riding.
"He was shook up for a very long time," his mom, Nancy, recounted. "He 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s and goes for it, but we're like, 'You know, you don't have to do that.'
"He just loves surfing more for its artistic 代表. He's an artist. His art is putting together these ビデオs that are 心配するd, because he's probably one of the most innovative surfers of his time."
These days, he's way into 空中のs, where a rider does a trick off a wave. He 熟考する／考慮するs snowboard and skateboard 作戦行動s and takes them to the water, even though no two waves are the same. The WSL will 持つ／拘留する a contest this week for this event and he's の中で the favorites - even if he's not a big contest person. The event will feature a 深い field spread across qualifying heats and a final.
For most, it could be 見解（をとる）d as a good way to squeeze some practice for the Tokyo Olympics that's off the distance.
Not for him. The Olympics aren't on his レーダ.
"Winning a gold メダル would be pretty 抱擁する," Meola said. "But to me, the best surfer in the world is the surfer who can do it in all 条件s.
"My passion is to go out and try to get the best （映画の）フィート数 I かもしれない can and piece it all together and make a 冷静な／正味の edit for people to watch."
A maestro on his surf board, Meola and his buddy, Jon Spenser, have （手先の）技術d 非常に／多数の short films . Meola's the actor, of course, and helps 選ぶ the music to 逮捕（する） his unique wave riding.
On his musical playlist these days is a mixture of country, Rolling 石／投石するs and, of course, songs from his sister, Lily , a bluesy sort of singer - think Joni Mitchell, Amy Winehouse and Ella Fitzgerald - who was singing in a cafe one day when Willie Nelson walked in. Yep, that Willie Nelson. He wrote 負かす／撃墜する some songs on a napkin and said he would like to sing them as part of a duet with her. He ended up 財政／金融ing her first 記録，記録的な／記録する and taking her on the road.
That resu lted in Lily Meola 存在 調印するd by Interscope 記録，記録的な／記録するs, where she's 現在／一般に working on a new album.
"Lily's written over 100 songs," Matt Meola proudly exclaimed. "She's way talented."
When he's not surfing, he's fishing or 屈服する 追跡（する）ing. の中で his pets is Doe-nut , a deer he took in.
This is how he （機の）カム to raise a deer: While 追跡（する）ing on a ranch, a buddy texted him that he had 発射 a deer only to discover she was 妊娠している. His friend 配達するd the fawn, gave her CPR when she wasn't breathing, and put her in a backpack to carry out. They met up with Meola, who ended up 可決する・採択するing the fawn. She's become part of the family .
"It's pretty 冷静な／正味の," he said.
A soulful sort of surfer.
"I'd like to be more 認めるd as an outdoorsy person who likes to surf, 追跡（する）, spearfish and fish," Meola said. "Surfing is a small part of that. When you blend it all together, that's really who I am."
