Surfer Life

If you found surfing in your life at a young age, as I did, and have any hint of entrepreneurial spirit, you’ve considered starting your own surf company.  Growing up I always thought it would be a hell of a career to work in. But when I got a taste of the surf industry, I knew it wasn’t for me. Initially it seemed like the cool dudes ran it, but when I toyed with the idea of making a career out of it, I couldn’t bring myself to be 100% passionate about pushing someone’s brand. Maybe if I started it myself, or was part of something when it began it would have been more exciting. That’s been part of the mission statement of Surfer Life since we started the podcast. We want to tell surfer’s surf stories, not focus on what brand pays for a surfer to slap a sticker on our board. I feel like surfers in general are a fairly conscientious sort, but our loyalty to brands is disingenuous to the core to our character. It all leaves a bad taste in my mouth.   Still, if you’re a surfer it’s difficult to not get wrapped up in the excitement of working within the industry. If anything, it’s not a bad working environment to coordinate with like-minded people who share the same passion. So this will be a rare Surfer Life episode. We’re going to break from the mold and provide you with a unique podcast simply because we think it’s pretty darn interesting. It’s going to be about the industry that’s pretty hard to avoid if you’ve made the activity of surfing part of your life. We sat down and spoke to Dennis Olsen of Kona Surf Company. We spoke with an insider like Dennis because the company he works for is at a really exciting period in their evolution. They’ve been a brick and mortar store for decades, and just last week they launched a website and are attempting to start a legitimate surf brand. Most boardriders have considered it, but these guys have done the research and are actually doing it, in a modern era where your contacts in China might make more of a difference than your surfers stumbling into your shop for wax. When I spoke with Dennis you could see the excitement in his face and the exuberance in his character. It’s intoxicating. At the end I almost asked him how do I invest.

Surfer Tommy Connett is connected to the world around him when he gets in the water.  He deeply appreciates being a guest in the water and he respects his hosts including dozens of dolphins and a shark or two. It's not just riding a wave - it's being one with the ocean. 

Matt’s taken his love of fishing and his love for the water and turned it into a career as a stand up paddle fishing guide.  He’s combined a mish mash of a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies a love of his hometowns flora and fauna , the ocean, the salt and finally the fine lines of a self propelled water craft and he’s made a career out of it. It’s a constant evolution of employment that any suffer would dream to attain and it’s obvious that with matt, he cares deeply about everything he invests his time in.

This week Chris Wall sits down with Eric Arakawa On O‘ahu's North Shore.  We set up shop in the middle of his legendary shaping room as Eric shared some of the best (and some of the hardest) moments of his 40 year career putting his shape and his name on well over 60,000 surfboards! Eric talked with Chris about the early days, building a business, and the true treasure of his time shaping boards - the friendships. 

As a surfer I’ve always been fascinated by board builders. I’ve interviewed shapers and stared in wonder like many young groms at the masters at work. They take a piece of foam and turn it into something that can bring another person so much pleasure. When I finally started thinking about making my own board I googled surfboard kits thinking it would be expensive and a task that I might not want to tackle due to the financial and emotional investment. To my surprise I could buy a kit for under $200. I’ve spent $200 on a lot less meaningful things in my life so why the heck shouldn’t I take a stab at shaping?   The one real lesson I had to overcome before I started sawing and planning away was am I going to butcher this thing and be out a couple hundred. It was a pretty good question. When beginners ask me if surfing is difficult I tell them, you should probably take a lesson. It helps to cut out some of the BS and get firsthand knowledge on skills that might take much longer to learn on your own. So I figured I’d take my own advice and interview one of the preeminent surfboard suppliers in southern California. Foam EZ. I had the privilege of speaking with Brad Nadell, the owner and founder of the rapidly evolving business to get his take on board building for the amateur surfer.   This podcast isn’t the most exciting or amazing, but if will bring you a basis for understanding that maybe without too much effort you can shape your own board. Surfers spend so much time with a product that only requires one thing: the surfboard. Why not have an idea for how its built and the trials and tribulations shapers go through to make the thing that brings us so much joy? Long story short, I hope you enjoy this episode. Maybe after this I’ll finally dust off that brewing kit I got a couple years ago for a birthday gift and finally make that IPA I love. Anyway, enjoy.  

What you’re about to hear on this episode are poems, rhymes, a blending of words by artist Joe Vickers. Surfer Life discovered Joe’s talents when a buddy recommended we follow him on Instagram.

This episode of Surfer Life Radio is a little different than our standard format. We’re focusing on housing, building, and the importance of getting dirty once in awhile and doing work yourself. Shapers already know all about this, but if you’re also interested in some pointers on designing the ultimate mobile home wave chaser, your going to want to tune in. 

This episode features a Florida native son, Scooter Cates. We figured it was probably a relevant time to talk to a guy like Scooter with such a litany of shark attacks this year. Scooter is from Jupiter, Florida, a place that’s just about as sharky as it gets. I’ve surfed with Scooter before, and as soon as I saw a shark in the baitfish-laden lineup, I rode the next wave in. Scooter just laughed at me and kept his eye on it to make sure it kept moving along. Madman.

Mitch reflects on the culture he walked a fine line to assist and avoid. 

Dane Hantz of Vulcan Surfboards

John “Doc” Ewing was born and raised in New Jersey. The surfing bug bit him hard, so as soon as he enrolled in college in the mid seventies, he bee-lined straight to San Diego. There he discovered Mexico, which led him to explore the globe, finding niche areas where he could keep a surfboard with friends and visit year by year. Doc has some magnificent tales of surfing Europe before anyone realized there were world class waves to be ridden, and how living out of a Volkswagen in the seventies was perhaps the most efficient way to travel and live. Enjoy the story of a man who was present in the infancy of the surf industry as we know it, taking advantage of connections in Bali to make a buck in the United States. Now Doc is a carpenter, with a multitude of skills learned during a life well lived. He may tell you about some of his favorite waves, but you’re not going to hear about his secret spots, just small indicators only a local would recognize.       

Doug Deal has been surfing all over the world for over 50 years - 40 of those years here on Oahu's North Shore.

Colin Herlihy

This week we hear a story from our host Cole, and an interview with The Surf Strength Coach: Cris Mills.   Cris' primary goal is to help surfers improve their bodies, through movement, exercise, nutrition, and the foundations of athleticism, so they can keep surfing. It’s that simple. He's all about "Surf Wellness"

West Coast surfer Ted Meyer hangs with Surfer Life host Cole Allen

Aussie Andrew Carruthers sits down with SL to share some of his experience with us.

2015 Surf Expo Highlights part 2

Cole heads to Orlando FL to showcase some of the latest and greatest

Nate is an East Coast surfer with the kind of passion, talent, and humor that proves he's cut from a different cloth.  We caught up with Nate on Hawaii's North Shore when he was fresh from surfing Sunset Beach's HIC Pro.     Nate spent 2014 surfing the ASP (now WSL) circuit racking up points and experience. In this episode he shares some of that with us - enjoy!  

 Johnny “John Boy” Mateu isn’t your standard surfer. He’s like so many other surfers we share the water with on weekends. He’s a weekend warrior who shares his passion for wave-riding with his passion for shredding concrete. The generation of surf inspired Z-Boys from Venice Beach, CA are Johnny’s role-models, and he has taken his talent for skateboarding and translated that quite effectively into surfing.                     Johnny has surf stories, skate stories and life experiences more gnarly than many I’ve heard. He stays soulful while still embracing the culture of searching and destroying. At the same time in his work he has found a quieter side, tooling leather for a living with his pit-bull at his side. Johnny’s not the surfer who watches the swell forecasts like most I’ve interviewed, but when I hear him describe what others might call a mediocre ride as one of the most influential moments in his life, you know his love for catching waves runs deep.