Ferd Lewis: Surfer Coco Ho rebounds from injury and illness

Last month Coco Ho returned to the Waco Wavepool, the scene of the biggest injury of her surfing career to attempt the air reverse maneuver that resulted in a torn medial collateral ligament in her left knee a year ago.

“I went back for redemption,” she said. “I just needed to know that I was strong enough, healthy enough again,” she said.

If that excursion to Texas was to prove something to herself, then participation in the World Surf League’s Michelob Ultra Pure Gold Rumble at the Ranch today in Lemoore, Calif., is a personal affirmation and show-and-tell for a wider audience.

After a 2019 season truncated by the one-two punch of the knee injury and a comeback slowed by a months-long bout with the Epstein-Barr virus, “I just want to surf well and (prove) my adversities of 2019 won’t hinder me,” Ho said. “This is a great opportunity for me to show that I still love it, that I still feel like I can be at the top, even though I’m not in the rankings for 2020.”

Ho will be paired with Felipe Toledo of Brazil in competition among eight coed teams. The field also includes Carissa Moore, Seth Moniz, Kelly Slater and Tatiana Weston-Webb at Slater’s wave pool, 100 miles inland from the central California coast.

Ho has been a fixture in the WSL rankings for a decade and is a member of the North Shore family of surfing royalty that includes the late Derek Ho, father Michael Ho and brother Mason Ho. But she was waylaid by the July 2019 knee injury.

Her comeback was then detoured by the onset of chronic fatigue that was eventually diagnosed as EBV.

“My knee and legs felt healthy again, but I started feeling the chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue and it was such a Catch-22 for my return,” Ho said. “The whole months of my return I just had straight-up fatigue that lingered for a while. It was really hard to surf more than two waves.”

Ho used the enforced layoff to take a deep breath, reevaluate her routine, diet and re-chart a path as she turns toward age 30. “They say you can learn something good out of the negative and I really did.”

Ho said, “I got to step back (and) to take a break that I never knew I needed. I got to re-focus on strength and the gym. My 11 years on the tour had just kind of turned into constant traveling and no self-care. It was just one hotel or airbnb to the next. So (the comeback) made me slow down and reminded me that I need to train, that I surf better when I train, and to re-focus on the little things.”

The irony of a North Shore native turning to a man-made wave pool to prove herself is not lost on Ho.

“It’s kind of funny when you think about it, that it would kind of be frowned upon coming from Hawaii,” Ho said. “But I’m from a generation that is past that and with an open mind.”

Her first experience in an artificial environment came seven years ago in Spain with her father. And it opened wide her eyes.

“The waves were small but we saw the potential to do things you might not see much of on the ocean,” Ho said.

The wave-making technology has advanced significantly with fluid dynamics that turn out uniform, translucent waves that inspire elite surfers to challenge themselves. Precisely the kind that Ho hopes to use today as a launching pad to a re-boot of her career.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.