Last year, surfer John Michael Van Hohenstein, also known as Johnny the Ripper, achieved a childhood dream and made it onto the World Surf League (WSL) Longboarding tour.
Johnny was born in the Philippines, moved to Thailand, and finally settled down in Hawaii. At the age of six, he started surfing and developed a passion for it. As he grew up, his dream was to join the WSL Longboarding Tour with his friends and family. Just last year, the 21-year-old was finally accepted onto the tour for the first time. When he was accepted, he felt so accomplished to reach his goal and said it was the “best feeling ever!”
However, getting onto the tour wasn’t as easy. He said he needed a lot of support and sponsors to help him get to the surf competitions, and it was not cheap to travel as a longboard traveler athlete competitor.
When he competed for the first time last year in El Salvador, towards the end of the tour, he beat four-time world champion Taylor Jenson. He then went face-to-face against Kaniela Stewart to win the whole competition and move into the top eight, qualifying him for the finals in Malibu.
Stewart won the finals. Hohenstein finished in 11th place overall in the 2023 tour, which many agree is amazing for his first year.
This year, he got into the 2024 Longboard Tour again. He went against Taylor Jenson again at Bells Beach and moved up his rank from 11th to 2nd. After surfing in Abu Dhabi, he made it into the finals to win the Longboard World Title for the first time and finished 3rd overall.
