FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR
THE ESM INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HOLEMAN
by Matt Pruett

 The "Flying Sinus" sits upright. Better known nowadays as John Holeman, his slimly opened eyes flicker back and forth between two images on his computer monitor. The right image is of surf god Cory Lopez, flying from section to section like Hermes to Mount Olympus' Fed-Ex box. The other is of Jeff Noble, a barely sponsored local kid who, though holding potential, is regularly beaten and outshined by better, more experienced peers like Eddie Guilbeau and Sean Tubbs. "The first thing I ask when screening my students is, 'Do you wanna be a better surfer or are you looking to get sponsored?'" Holeman says. "If he says 'sponsored' I tell him I have no interest in coaching him." John draws on a graphics tablet multicolored lines to Cory and Jeff's corresponding appendages while recording voiceover observations. "Look where Cory's head is directed upon landing, already viewing his next target... Now look where your eyes are..." the voice instructs, a blue arrow following Noble's surfboard nose to an inevitable pearling point.

Holeman, still flying in the 21st Century. Photo: C. Wilson
Before sitting down to tend to his homework, so to speak, Holeman surfed a two-hour session out front. Two hours is pretty much all he can last these days, although otherwise he's in the best shape of his life. Forced to undergo an emergency heart transplant in 2003, a pacemaker now regulates John's daily movements. And though he's still rotating clean, lofty punts in 2005--a miracle in itself for any healthy 42-year-old--it's not his own career path this legendary aerial pioneer is navigating, but that of younger surfers wishing to progress. Hence, Progressive Surfing Instruction (PSI), the revolutionary training system Holeman has taken upon himself to begin on the East Coast. Based upon a computer program known as Siliconcoach, PSI utilizes videotaping and motion analysis software to advance the technique of intermediate and professional surfers. While this digital coaching system has produced remarkable results in Australia and other countries, it's been slower to catch on in the United States. Nevertheless, as expansive a legacy as Holeman has given birth to during his many years as a wave wizard--more than the 360 aerial, more than the inspirational fighting spirit--he wants PSI to be his ultimate gift to East Coast surfers. ESM met with John at his Satellite Beach, FL, home while his wife Patricia played with their five-year-old son Paul in the backyard.
 
ESM: I guess you becoming an aerialist wasn't exactly paradoxical, huh?
JH: Well, I was born at Andrews Air Force Base, next to the Pentagon. Then we moved to Satellite Beach in 1965, the Space Coast [laughs]. I started surfing at five, but wasn't exposed to international pros until 1984. Matt Kechele was by far my biggest influence. Even though we were the same age, he was much more advanced. I'd go to pro events just to watch him, because he was doing things I hadn't even seen in magazines.
 

“When I was a teenager, John, Speir and myself would video constantly and then go home to watch and critique each other. He was always so amped to surf, he seemed more like a grom than us at the time. John was a great mentor and role model for me. He helped me to be the surfer I am today, and along the way I learned a lot about being a standup person.” –Sebastian Inlet big gun/ Smith optics rep Paul Reinecke. Photo: Dugan
ESM: When did you realize you had a knack for approaching waves with a technique that was so alien to the surfing establishment in the '80s? Was it directly skateboard-inspired?
JH: I had no skateboard background whatsoever. To this day, I can't skate to save my life. I just literally studied how Matt did his aerials and wanted to push it further. He was rotating his board 180 off the lip and bringing it back around like a tailside. I thought the whole rotation could be done in the air. I didn't know what it would lead to, but the higher I did my aerials, the easier it was to rotate.
 
ESM: What kinds of board dimensions were you riding back then?
JH: I saw longboards go to single-fins go to twin-fins, so by the time I was in junior high, I could perform pretty decent maneuvers. Pete Dooley, one of my team managers at Natural Art, tried to train me on tri-fins. I rode 'em for eight years and didn't like them. I still don't. I stuck with twins. My favorite dimensions to bust air would be a 15-inch tail, maybe a 19 3/4-inch middle-- fairly wide for what people would ride then, and especially for what people would ride today. But that's just my style. The waves have very little power in Florida, so instead of working so hard to get the board to do what I want, I want the board to just not trip me up.
 

"After watching him at Hatteras one year, we were trying to figure out what we had just seen so we broke out the video camera and watched it one night in slow-motion. We just called bullshit on it. He was so fast it was a crime. My team guys knew that if they had him in a heat they where surfing for second. The thing was, when you met John he was so humble and cool you couldn’t despise him." –Former ace East Coast pro/ current Heritage Surf and Sport owner Brian Heritage. Photo: Mez
ESM: Do any certain epiphanies come to mind when you first realized it was time to try your hand at the professional side of things?
JH: I was working my way up the amateur ranks and just decided in 1984 to give it a shot. It was the peak of the East Coast pro tour, which traveled from South Florida up to New York. You couldn't get rich, but you could have a second job and actually make a decent living as a pro. So I followed the whole tour and at the end they added everything up, and I was Rookie of the Year and the East Coast champion. That was a unique year, too, because they combined a couple 3-star and 4-star events with the Eastern tour and I got to meet all the pros. The Hawaiians really liked the aerial tricks I was performing. And I have to admit, way back in junior high, Larry Bertlemann was the first guy I actually saw take his board up over the wave. They didn't have a name for it back then. They were like, "He caught air."
 
ESM: What were some highlights of the pro life?
JH: My highlight was pushing the boundaries of aerial tactics. I can't say I was respected by too many people because it hadn't been accepted. Style and power dominated. And I'll be the first to say it--I had no style. I had no power. Anyone back then will tell you, Bill Hartley and Jeff Klugel were the epitomes of style and power. I spent so much time learning aerial tricks that I lagged greatly behind on other things. But it was my choice to concentrate on aerials. I'm not ashamed. That's what had to be sacrificed to push the boundaries.
 
ESM: When did you realize competing as a professional wasn't the way you wanted to go?
JH: Once I got the ball rolling on my pro career, it ended, because I didn't have the financial backing or resources to travel. In 1986, they pulled the plug on the tour and it was either move to California or stay here and continue laboring in factories. I went to California for a couple weeks, surfed all over, and wasn't that impressed. It was really hyped. By the time I got out there, I was expecting paradise. What I found was polluted water, crowds everywhere I went, and the most egotistical attitude I've ever run into. There were a lot of aggro surfers who rejected me, and I came from a small town where I knew everyone. So I stayed behind in Florida, surfed the few contests they'd have, went back amateur a couple times, bounced around and just decided to take a break. And I did... I took a break for many, many years. I started coaching a few people, not to make a living, just to pass on some advice. Little did I know it would be the cornerstone of what I'm building today.
 

"He made quite a scene at that first wavepool event in Allentown, PA, back in ‘85. Everybody in the entire ASP was in shock to see him use his body mechanics to lift the board up out of the wave and rotate it in the blink of an eye. They knew no one could touch him if he were able to ride out, but the waves didn’t have enough push so Tom Carroll beat him. But y’know, unless stuff originates in California, it’s not happening. Fletcher and those guys are still taking credit for stuff John was doing years ago.” –Former ASP World Tour competitor, fellow aerial pioneer, current Kechele Surfboards shaper/ Quiksilver core East Coast surf marketing man Matt Kechele. Photo: Mez
ESM: Was scoring the cover of a major international surfing publication (Surfing Magazine, August 1993) a little bit of redemption after taking a backseat to the surf stars of the era?
JH: Not so much redemption, but definitely an unexpected highlight. There's not a whole lot you can do with fame other than lay your head down at night and go, "Yeah, that's nice." It will be a proud moment to one day show my son what Pops did, but other than that...
 
ESM: Not to take a turn to the morbid, but can you elaborate a bit on the heart condition you were born with?
JH: I was born with congenital diaphraghmic hernia, which is just a big fancy word for an extreme hernia. Your diaphragm closes up at eight months old, and mine never did, so my intestines and stomach were all pushed up into my chest cavity and had to be pushed back down. During those first months, cardiologists think my heart got deformed a bit. But the main problem I had was congestive heart failure through a walking pneumonia virus that attached itself to the inner wall of my heart, which grew to be 2 1/2 times larger than normal. It couldn't pump efficiently and just got worse and worse. I was diagnosed in February of '03, and had to have a heart transplant that July. I was scared to death, but Shann's Hospital is one of the leading hospitals in the nation. They do two to four transplants a week--no big deal to them. They actually just tuned up my pacemaker so I can have a limit of 160 beats a minute instead of 120. I actually feel better now than when I was 20 [laughs]. But I'm still limited. I can't surf six to eight hours like I used to. I surf a couple hours and I'm wiped. I get winded, come home and take a nap. And if the waves are too big--like the giant hurricane surf I used to pray for--I can't charge it anymore. It would be very easy for me to have a stroke or heart attack, so I have to play it cool. For that hour or two I spend in the surf, I try and push it as far as I can. But once I get tingling fingers, I have to back off.
 

Powered by Medtronic, superior boardbuilding... and a very supportive surf community. Holeman, still well-sponsored today. Photo: Dugan
ESM: Did you have to quit work as a result of being placed on permanent disability?
JH: When you have any kind of organ transplant, you're very limited to what you can do physically, and you can't be around chemicals. You can't even use ammonia to clean your house. Well, being a faux artist and housepainter, I couldn't smell fumes, and skin absorbs paint chemicals, so I had to retire. But you know what? It was a blessing in disguise. I didn't want to paint houses in my forties. It's hard enough when you're 20. So I got a rare opportunity to start coaching surfing, which is what I've always wanted to do in the first place. And with today's technology--the cameras, software, computers--I can push coaching to another level in the United States.
 
ESM: What can you say about the community response on your behalf, specifically the hugely successful "Hearts For Holeman" fundraisers?
JH: It made me feel like people cared. People I didn't even know on a personal level were donating time, finances and efforts to organize things. It showed me that whether you're a longboarder, shortboarder, kneeboarder, 50 years old or 20, we need to quit putting these barriers up when we paddle out. We tend to see someone on a longboard or a bodyboard and automatically get on the defensive. Hearts For Holeman opened my eyes up to be more acceptable of the differences we have in the surf industry. It made me thankful for all those who cared enough to support me. I can't put into words how grateful I am for that. It kinda fueled my fire to do this whole PSI thing.
 
ESM: Give us a little background on Progressive Surfing Instruction. How did you come to learn about it?
JH: I did a Google search on "surf coaches" and I got page after page on Australians and New Zealanders, who've been clearly dominating international amateur and professional competition for years. I clicked on a couple and found out they're using motion analysis software to coach their surfers. It's a fancy term for being able to draw directly on the footage and do voiceovers. It's been around in golf, tennis and mainstream sports for a while. A surfer can see exactly what they're doing right and wrong and I can instruct them how to adjust and fix it. Other countries are catching on faster. Even the UK and Brazil are using it now. If it's working for them, why not us? I think one of the biggest problems we have in America is a lot of our surfers are too lazy to train. I've yet to see but a handful, especially here in Florida, who want to dedicate the time and effort to surfing better. When I go to little league games, youth basketball, whatever, those kids are being trained by their coaches. And a lot of people don't realize this, but even Kelly Slater has a coach! If our top pros have coaches, why not our amateurs? Very few young people want to dedicate themselves to PSI, because they know I'm not just down there videotaping so they can see themselves surfing. They have to make changes in their surfing. They have to make sacrifices. And when you're changing somebody's style and technique for the better, they're gonna go down before they go back up. And it's hard to convince the parents sometimes. I get chewed out like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes they'll think I'm ruining their kid's surfing. But the surfers who stick with it thank me because in the long run they come out with more power, more maneuvers and a better, more professional style than before.
 

PSI’s newest pupil Jake Kirschenbaum, rising to the challenge. Photo: Carey
ESM: I suppose some soccer moms and dads can be a bit overbearing.
JH: I don't wanna put down parents who're putting forth effort into their sons or daughters' surfing. But how much personal experience do they have? Are any of these soccer moms ex-professional surfers? Have they spent years studying other surfers' styles or maneuvers? I had this very good up-and-coming amateur at an NSSA contest one weekend. After a heat in which I thought he performed quite well, his mom came up and grabbed me by the arm, pulled me in this circle of 12 people who follow her everywhere she goes, and just chewed me a hole: "You changed his surfing!" "You're clouding his head!" I didn't say two words to her until I got home. And I ended up firing them.

ESM: Come to think of it, I did have a wrestling coach in 7th grade who never even wrestled before. Boy, did we suck that year.
JH: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink. If you don't dissect something, absorb it and try to apply it, you won't go anywhere. I'll get a handful of surfers who'll sign up for PSI but very few will stay because it takes a lot of hard work. They'll realize it in the long run, but by then they'll be 25 and it will be too late. I see kids 16, 17 years old with $40,000 contracts who tell me, "No thanks. Don't need it... doing just fine." But when their glamour is over in four years, what are they gonna do? They're not going to college. Real coaching is a new business on this coast, so there's this huge wall in front of me to climb, but I'm not giving up. I've worked with Kris Wiernicki for almost three years now and his surfing has gone from "so-so, has-it-in-him" to "through-the-roof!" Now he draws his line in order to get to the next maneuver more vertically. Surfing a wave is like chess--you have to think three, four moves ahead for the move you're gonna do now. I started showing Kris that from a young age, even before I started PSI. Those who stick with me and take the lumps will be better for it in the long run. (Editor's note: Kris just won his fourth NSSA East Coast title this year.)
 

"My first surf trip was this bus trip to Florida for the Easter Contest in 1983. I was a total kook, but all the best Vah Beach guys were on it. We pull up, 40 of us pile out of the bus and the first thing we see is this guy screaming down the line. Suddenly he spins an air 360 and rides out of it. I’d barely seen a 360 on the face and was in awe. I think a lot of the VB guys were ready to skip the contest and get back on the bus after that. Holeman was light years ahead." –Former ASP East champion, current prolific journalist/ competitive surfer/ camp organizer Jason Borte. Photo: Dugan
ESM: What would you like to see the future of coaching to be here in the States, both as a cultural phenomenon and as a business model?
JH: Fantasy? Well, if they get this Orlando wavepark perfected--one that generates a wave that is ceiling-high and legitimate, surfing will eventually become a mainstream sport. You'll have it in Wyoming and Kansas and you'll start seeing Nike, Mercedes and other multibillion dollar companies putting money into it. So if that happens, I'd like to see at least one PSI coach for every pool put up in the United States. I'd personally train every one. But realistically, in the long run, I'd just like to have a steady stream of a strong, dedicated group of pro and amateur surfers--just 20 or 30 athletes are all I need for my little life [laughs].
 
ESM: What do you think about surfing going more in the direction of varying rotations, different grabs, flips, shuvits and varials, etc. and your contribution to its acceptance?
JH: I have no idea what influence my aerials had on the rest of the world because I'm so secluded. I mean, Brevard County, where's that? Mez and Dugan would submit hundreds of pictures of me and Kech, and the mags would barely print anything. Then when the '90s hit, it was like "Fletcher, Fletcher, Fletcher..." You couldn't tell the California guys anything. There was a time when I'd go to the Expo and glare at Fletcher, but he had nothing to do with it. It was the magazine's hype. But I watch the Fuel channel a lot and can quote Chris Mauro: "Christian Fletcher... the godfather of aerials." Excuse me!?! Christian pushed it to a higher level, how big you could go without breaking your legs or your board. But Larry Bertlemann was doing aerials in the '70s before Fletcher even knew what a surfboard was! Thank goodness for Slater and the Hobgood and Lopez brothers. They pushed things to another level of acceptance for East Coasters.
 
ESM: And thank goodness for the guy who showed them how to spin their airs...
JH: Well [blushes], it's been a very strange ride from Day One--amateur to pro to underground to the heart transplant and back into the surf industry--a real rollercoaster. But look at other people's lives. They all experience full circles, too. I'm very grateful for what surfing's given me and how many wonderful people in this industry have had my back. And this, PSI, is how I'm looking to return that compliment. I don't wanna scare people, but heart transplant patients have very limited time. I knew that going into it. I'm not gonna be around forever and I don't know how many people are willing to step up and do PSI--coaching it or training under it. I hope to pass the torch and see it continue, though. Our athletes deserve it. It's time.
 

Interview
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