Keahi is GKA vice world champion 2018
Keahi de Aboitiz has just finished the 2018 GKA season with a victory in his homeland Australia, while winning the title vice world champion in the world ranking. NeilPryde went and had a chat with him on how it feels to win in your home country and his recap of 2018. See what exciting things he had to say.
Pictures are by @James Boulding & GKA/ Ydwer Van der Heide
NeilPryde: Keahi, congratulations to your victory in the GKA event in Torquay and of course to your 2nd place in the 2018 world ranking. How was this final event for you?
Keahi: Thank you! It felt amazing to take out the first ever GKA event in Australia on home turf with a home crowd cheering me on. Going into the event with a pretty tough forecast, it looked like it was going to be tricky to get a result, but luckily the wind came through for us in the end and we got some fun conditions. Going into it, I knew there was an outside chance I could move up to second overall if I won the event, but I didn’t really want to think about that too much. Luckily everything aligned in the end and I couldn’t be more stoked with how it panned out. Even better that it all happened on my birthday, too!
NeilPryde: Recap of the season: How has the 2018 season been for you?
Keahi: 2018 was a lot of fun but a tricky one at the same time. We had the most events ever with 7 events total but with the majority of them being more strapless freestyle based, I didn’t get quite the results I would have liked through some of the European stops. It felt really good to finish off the year with a bang in Australia though. I also had some amazing trips focusing a little more on chasing some big swells around the world which was really fun! Overall it was an amazing year with some really fun memories.
NeilPryde: What was your best moment of the season?
Keahi: I had a couple big and really memorable barrels this year, but the highlight definitely had to be taking out win in Torquay on my birthday for the last event of year. It always feels amazing to get a good result in front of the home crowd. The hangover the next day wasn’t great though…haha
NeilPryde: What are your plans and goals for 2019?
Keahi: For 2019, although I might still try make it out to a couple of the GKA wave events, I’m really looking forward to spending a bit more time focusing on chasing some big swells around the world and creating some unique content so stay tuned for that! It should be another amazing year!
We want to thank Keahi for taking a moment to answer our questions, and wish him all the best for the new season!! Of course we are looking forward to getting inspired by his amazing trips. May the new year 2019 be at least as exciting as 2018 for you Keahi!