Surf world in mourning after horror accident involving former WSL CEO Erik “Elo” Logan

“A complicated, decent man.”

We’ll never know how close we came to losing the popular former CEO of the WSL and before that Oprah Winfrey’s right-hand gal, Erik Logan, in a horror surf crash in Fiji but if you read ‘tween the lines of Elo’s latest substack piece, oowee, it was close.

The accident occurred during Elo’s almost five-year tenure as pro surfing’s north star, which was cut short on a moody June day in 2023 and with no reason given.

Several weeks back, you’ll recall, Elo was named as the head of Robbins Research International, the corp that runs all 121 biz’s owned by motivational god Tony Robbins. 

Tony Robbins, the most successful motivational speaker to stroll among us, said, “Erik brings the lived experience, discernment, and execution that enable us to grow our impact, strengthen our foundation, and touch even more lives”

Anyway, on a big day in Fiji, the location isn’t named, but given Elo paddled out it was likely Restaurants, a surprisingly difficult left directly out the front of Tavarua’s beach bar and which explodes over a foot or two of water and sorta bends away making it real hard to surf.

Elo takes up the story:

I had been surfing long enough to be dangerous, which is exactly the problem. With most new things you take on later in life, you can quickly progress to a very pedestrian level. With surfing, you start catching some dribblers. (Those are very small ones) Then you start catching a few actual waves here and there. Then you move to real waves out in the lineup.

You begin thinking you have figured it out. Your ability improves, and your ego inflates right alongside it. The only difference is that your ego is always a few steps ahead. In my case, way ahead. Spoiler Alert– not good.

On a postcard November morning in Fiji, we had a very solid swell. Waves way above my pay grade. And staying on an island with really good surfers, people’s excitement was at an all-time high during breakfast. So here I was, frothed out of my mind, wrong board, ego in full, I paddled out. Convinced, today was going to be MY DAY!

I was going to make the turns, look for the photographer on the boat, and get my photo of me doing the GOAT Kelly Slater’s patented move. I was going to show the ocean who was boss. What could go wrong? Nothing! It’s MY day!

A lazy paddle on a solid wave. A takeoff under the lip, which is a total kook move, started a flurry of hell. A full tour across a reef that sliced the tops of my feet open. In a split second, underwater, disoriented, lungs burning, I genuinely thought, “This is it. I am going to die out here.”

After that first batch of reef tattoos, the waves behind the one I missed lined up. The next three, which were bigger, didn’t disappoint. A leash snap, board lost, tired from swimming, bleeding, coughing, and realizing there was no real way off this reef in the middle of the South Pacific.

I did not die. But my ego did.

Here is the thing about the ocean. Mother Nature always wins. The ocean always wins. Every. Single. Time. You do not negotiate with it. You do not outsmart it. If you take your ego into the water, the ocean will beat it out of you and wash it up on the shore so you can pick it up on the way back to your house.

Henceforth, when I go out, here’s the rule:

“Leave Your Ego on The Beach.”

Important lesson!

Later, Elo explains that his near-death experience in Fiji taught “me one of the most important skills of my professional life. How to read a room. A room is a lot like a wave. It has energy. It has direction. It has things it will give you and things it will not. Just like the ocean, the room does not lie. It tells you everything — if you are willing to listen instead of perform.”

It wasn’t the first lesson Fiji would teach Elo.

Barely three months ago, Chas Smith reported Elo being involved in a near-fatal encounter with two-time world champion Tom Carroll.

“In any case, and back to the moment we almost lost Tom Carroll, there floated Logan in the dumbest spot. As it happens, he got picked up by the wave and nearly tossed straight into the head of the unsuspecting legend. The girth of Logan’s SUP would have certainly taken Carroll’s head right off. Even a glancing brush with the fully traction’d deck would have ripped all face skin to shreds.”

Sign up for Elo’s Substack here.

Other excellent stories include Riding the Waves of Passion and Profession, The Price of a Dream: are the sacrifices worth it and Trees Don’t Grow to the Moon.

Inspiring and essential etc.