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| Meet Leilani Gryde |
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 By Keli CampbellShe’s been called a few things; difficult, mean, a boy. However, Leilani Misty Gryde has too pretty a name to be just a cross-dressing hoodlum. Besides, she’s grown out of her fear of feminine wiles and pink. As for the attitude? It’s still there, but what most people fail to recognize is that most of the time, she’s joking around. She’s a smart-ass, quick-witted jokester with an unshakeable sense of loyalty and incredible focus. At 19, Leilani’s the youngest Hawaiian currently rated in the top ten on the World Qualifying Series, and she’s not going anywhere but up. Her journey has been completely on her own terms, even when things would have been way easier if she’d just worn a bikini. For the first five years of her career, most people thought Leilani was a boy with a pretty name and beautiful eyes. She surfed like a boy, dressed in baggies, sweatshirts and beanies, and her vocabulary consisted mostly of broisms and profanity. This didn’t stop her from excelling in the surf and earning a sponsorship, which gave her a shot at a professional surfing career. Even though she didn’t fit the mold for marketing, her talent in the waves outweighed her lack of fashion sense. Even at a young age, Leilani did things on her own terms. When the ever-present ‘they’ asked her to surf in a bikini, (something she had never done) she said no. She stayed true to herself. Leilani surfed, and was sponsored to surf, not show off her goodies. She knew what she stood for. She’d seen some girls get sponsored, and end up modeling more than surfing, which might have worked great for them, but not for Leilani. She wanted to rip—and that’s it. Amidst much advice about how she could make so much more money if she’d just dress like a girl, or wear a bikini, Leilani chose her own path, continuing her ascension in the surfing world. “Oakley basically picked me up not expecting anything, except for me to surf, and then [shrugs] I decided to be a girl! I’m the type that wants to do exactly the opposite of what everyone is telling me to do,” Leilani admits. Now, she’s the whole package: stunning, strong and more than capable in the waves. And most surf shots you see of her today, ironically, she’s wearing a bikini and shredding. Having traveled all over the globe since she was 14, Leilani has a different worldview than most local Kona kids. She comes home, and as much as she misses it, can’t wait to get going. Kona’s famous for mediocre surf, so to be able to travel the world and surf year-round makes many of Leilani’s peers envy her. But those same envious peers put her where she is today. Jenny Crusat, a local Kona legend, helped Leilani start surfing through the YMCA. Lei surfed Kohanaiki on the weekends, and, like many other surfers on the professional path, eventually graduated to Banyans. “Everyone yells at you, but you just keep going,” the goofy-foot says. She started doing NSSA contests with Tonino Benson, quitting a year early to attack the WQS. But the Banyans crew always pushes her while she’s at home. Life traveling the world has taught Leilani how to deal with people, roll with situations, and to be realistic. She’s not on any crusade for women’s surfing, and she doesn’t have any agenda to pump up the sport as a whole. She just wants to make the WCT. And if she does, well, the lofty goals will follow. For now, she looks to her bruddahs Tonino Benson and Casey Brown to accelerate her learning curve. While Lei is definitely full of girl power, she’s no-frills about the state of women’s surfing. “We just aren’t as good yet,” she maintains. “I mean there are girls who rip, but no one’s Kelly Slater, yet. So yeah, I like to surf with guys. It pushes me harder.” On the road, Gryde has some stiff competition from her traveling partners Stephanie Gilmore and Karina Petroni. Stephanie, currently ranked second on the WQS, is already heralded as the next world champ, and Leilani simply nods in agreement, “Steph, by far, out-surfs all of us on the tour. She’s on a different level. I don’t even try to compete with her. Me and Karina get pretty competitive though. Steph is so good, but Karina really pushes me more.” Leilani’s attitude sometimes loses her popularity points, but she’s not worried about being liked. She just wants to surf her best and win. “If I don’t like you, I’m not gonna be nice to you,” she admits. “But if you’re cool, then I’m cool. And you know, I know how to separate contest time and friend time, even though it sucks.” Once in a contest in Florida, Leilani had to ‘sit on’ Karina to keep her from getting a wave, in order to advance. “Ahhh. I felt so bad!” She laughs, “but that’s what you gotta do, and she knew it too. She was pissed, and I felt super bad, but that’s what competition is about. You leave everything on the beach—even your friends. When you’re back on the beach, you’re back to you.” Leilani is one of the few Kona surfers who loves competition. Most Kona kids are content surfing without a crowd, but Leilani uses the pressure to her advantage. “I can’t see myself not competing,” she says. “It keeps my drive up. If I don’t have a contest coming up, I just mess around and don’t even try. Contests keep me driven and inspired to get better.” After nearly losing her spot in the top six in South Africa, Leilani came back a little shaken, but more determined than ever. For seeming like such a hard ass, Leilani’s just a self-deprecating, humble soul, content to hang with her friends or cruise alone with books. On a trip to Costa Rica this summer, she spent most of her time out of the water reading works by J.K. Rowling and Nicholas Sparks. More irony from a complex surfer chick. “People see me different ways, but, you know, whatever. I’m just a dork. I’m a bum. I sleep on friends’ couches and travel and read. At the moment, I just want to qualify (for the WCT) and improve my frontside surfing.” This reformed tomboy has no intention of losing focus on those goals. Hopefully one day she’ll suffer some more name-calling like, “pro surfer” or maybe even, “world champ.”
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