Eli Olson has a handful of side hustles. Or, to put it more professionally, the North Shore of Oahu native has a multifaceted career portfolio.
First and foremost, as this audience knows him best, he’s a professional surfer. He tags along with the likes of Nathan Florence and Koa Rothman, the modern generation of North Shore surfers, sitting at the pinnacle of the Pipeline lineup hierarchy.
On the side, however, Olson has other interests. He’s a black belt in jiujitsu, and fights MMA; he also works as a stunt-double in Hollywood productions, like most recently, the Jason Mamoa show Chief of War on Apple TV. And so, his latest video pays homage to that portion of his life, while blending his first love: surfing (and wiping out) at Pipeline.
The edit uses dialogue from the 2024 Ryan Gosling film, The Fall Guy, which is a love letter to stuntmen. “They’re in almost every movie,” Gosling narrates. “You just don’t know that they’re there. Because that’s the job. They’re the unknown stunt performers. And they get paid to do the cool stuff. They also get paid to take it on the chin. And everywhere else if you know what I mean.”
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In fact, during the filming of most of this edit, Eli was injured. As the caption reads, “During one of the best winter seasons at pipe Eli dislocated his shoulder and rolled his ankle. In many of the clips featured in the film, Eli is surfing with injuries. But if you didn’t already know, Eli also is a professional stuntman working in the film industry. Taking a beating for one of the loves of his life, he can’t help but fall for Pipe.”
The whole concept brings to mind those cliched quotes about skill vs. luck, or talent vs. hutzpah. Or, to keep with the Hollywood theme, the quote from Alfred to Bruce Wayne: “Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”
Eli Olson has made a career of picking himself up — in the water and out.
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