Go, CoCo, Go!

Following in the wakes of her legendary father and uncle, Coco Ho, 18, picks up a win in her first year on the pro tour and looks for bigger things in 2010

Wednesday - December 30, 2009
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Just 18, the daughter of legendary surfing champ Michael Ho is ready to improve on her first year on tour, which included a win in Portugal

When Coco Ho looks ahead, she sees 2010 rolling in like a big wave rising on the horizon, and she’s in the lineup, ready to ride it with everything she has.

And if the new year is anything like the old one, the 18-year-old from Sunset Beach will have a very good year. She just completed her first year on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) women’s World Championship Tour (WCT). She was the youngest to qualify, the last one to make it (there are only 17 slots) and entered the tour at the lowest seed.

She started the year placing third in the first event, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in Australia, then finished ninth and fifth in the next two events.

Then, in October, she claimed her first ASP Dream Tour victory at the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Search in Portugal, making her the only rookie to win a contest this year. The final seed ended up fourth in the world, earning $50,450 while living her dream.

Like most kids, Coco Ho didn’t know how cool her father Michael and Uncle Derek were until she started competing and others raved about them

As the daughter of two-time Triple Crown champion and 1982 Pipe Masters winner Michael Ho and niece of 1993 ASP world champ Derek Ho, Coco continues the family’s legacy of surfing champions.

And she’s not alone. Brother Mason, 21, also is a rising star and a member of the World Qualifying Series.

“There’s definitely pros and cons,” says Ho of her surfing royalty bloodline. “The pros are I have a lot of support from all the travels (Dad and Uncle Derek) have done, and all the friends they’ve made in the world are backing me now, and I don’t mind it.

“Then there are other things, not through the family, but through the outside world - they generally have big expectations and sometimes I can’t fulfill them.

“I didn’t really know how cool my dad and Uncle Derek really were until I started competing myself, and people would say, ‘you’re Michael Ho’s daughter,’ and start mentioning his accolades.”

Ho may lack some confidence, but with each win comes added faith. And with dad by her side (he was at all her contests this year), it’s an added boost.

Graceful on a wave, Coco Ho was the surprise of the 2009 women’s pro tour

“He gives the best advice on equipment and boards, and is the best in wave knowledge,” says Ho, whose contest ritual includes giving Dad a kiss before entering the ocean. “Also, he knows exactly what I need for what waves and if something looks good or bad.

“He also teaches me that I will lose a lot more than I will win, and now that I’m on the tour I have a target on my head and that I just have to deal with the pressure.

“People are going to have expectations, and you can’t let them bring you down. You just have to move past it and move forward.”

Ho, whose sponsors include Volcom, Nike 6.0 and Mayhem Surfboards, describes her style of surfing as graceful. Her favorite surfers are her brother, of course, and current world champ 21-year-old Stephanie Gilmore of Australia.

“I’m always watching my brother and trying to do his tricks, but still be graceful,” says Ho, who lists Rocky Point and V-Land as her favorite surf spots. “And I really like doing anything progressive. There’s nothing better than landing a good air.

“The biggest waves I’ve surfed was probably Sunset at 10 feet. I haven’t really given it any thought to get on a Jet Ski and surf big waves. I generally like progressive surfing and pushing myself harder each turn and on different waves.”

While on tour, Ho, who is of Hawaiian, Chinese and Caucasian ethnicity, also completed her senior year at Elite Element Academy, a private online hybrid school.

“Almost every kid on the North Shore goes to this school,” she explains. “We all have our Macs and video chat each other and our teachers.”

She also was among a dozen top female surfers featured in a photo spread

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