Episode #4 - TAYLOR JENSEN

While longboarding is definitely not a crime, it's a great way to express yourself. Just sand.

The sideslip boogie. It takes a

I'm not a sure for it. If I wanted to, I would, but I just don't find it interesting. Why be like everyone else when you can be different? One fin, one God, one country?

Is a good long border. you know him if you're tuned in at all. Um he's a great competitor. Three time world champion, long border, and uh good family man. And welcome Taylor Jensen.

Thanks, TJ.

How you doing, buddy?

I'm doing well. How about yourself?

I am doing good. Um where are you at right now?

Uh, I am on the m uh kind of the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, so a bit south of Byron Bay.

Um, yeah, and we we were just talking before we started, but um the you've been getting a lot of swell lately, yeah.

Yeah, it's been a a pretty crazy run of swell. Not the best conditions, but um just non stop, nice direction swell down here, so A lot of days at the beach, a ton of surfing and playing with different boards, and uh yeah, just really enjoying um that that's sort of prime time of year down here.

And where have you been surfing the most lately?

Um, I run all over the place when I'm down here. I've uh I spent a little bit of time up in Noosa, um, around the festival when that was on the swell was pretty good.

Is um I I know there's the pass. Isn't there another wave or is that closer to Noosa, the one with like That McTavish used to serve with like the pole in the water or whatever it was.

Yeah, that's Ma uh the pole in the water, that would be like Main Beach Byron that's like

That's

Further down. Yeah, it's Byron. It's like kind of the inside of Byron. Like if you imagine, like Byron's a Bye.

And it's like, why?

down on the inside of the bay. So certain swell directions kind of when Byron when the pass is really big and kind of sweepy down there gets pretty fun.

Yeah, w when I was there it was pretty small, but it was still an unreal little wave.

Yeah, it's insane. Like they're just all the sand bottom points here in Australia. It's crazy. Like we're they're so spoilt down here. It's no wonder they like turn out some of the best surfers in the world to For the kids, like my my two daughters are just getting into surfing, so a place like the past.

Yeah, I remember when I first heard that all those waves I were seeing were sand and it was because we're so used to point waves in California being rock. And I was just like, Are you joking me? It's like you get all the pla you get to have your cake and eat it too. You don't have to worry about rock.

Totally. It's crazy. And like they don't have like how in California we have like the stingray issue. It's not really even stingrays here on the sand. Like it you know, I mean yeah they have jellyfish and stuff like that, but it's just they can walk around on the sand bottom and not really think about getting nailed by a stingray like we do.

Yeah, but you do have the jellyfish. I remember I remember that when I was there. I remember sticking my hand like right through one and having the tentacle marks like go all the way down my arm like a tattoo.

Yeah, uh uh pretty gnarly. It definitely when the wind goes onshore those things come out. Yeah, and kinda try not to surf if unless the waves are really good.

The ones I ran into were pretty mellow as far as like it didn't really hurt. It was just kind of uncomfortable.

Yeah. Totally. It's not too bad. For the kids it's kinda gnarly. They freak out, but um Yeah. Like getting a bee sting, I guess, at the worst.

Yeah, comp compared to a stingray sting, it's

No, it's hard.

Park.

Yeah. Yeah, and if you just wear like a long sleeve rash guard or something and you know, or even a wetsuit if it's cold enough, you're not gonna really get nail.

Yeah, it d it doesn't get too cold though, right?

Not really. I mean, they do get into it depends on where you are on the coast, right? If you're up around Nusa, like you can get away with a two mil wetsuit. the coldest part of the year and be really warm. But if you get down towards Victoria, like Bells and that, like that's cold. That's like that's like Santa Cruz cold. So

So how often are you in Australia? Are there are you there most of the time?

Um, no, we go back and forth. Like we've always gone back and forth since I met my wife. Um, we try to spend about six months in each. Uh it works out being sort of more about around you know. four-ish. It all depends on our our tour schedule. Um with them implementing bells now. In July we're definitely spending a little bit more time in Australia. Um just because you can't financially afford to fly back and forth all the time.

Very cool. And you and when you're in California, you're in Oceanside.

Yeah, yeah. My family's um in Oceanside. My mom grew up there so we're in Oceanside when we're back in town and I love it there too. It's kind of that sleepy part of San Diego and got a ton of fun beach breaks out front. There's always ways to surf. So it it's it's a nice balance I think. Like where we are in Australia is really rural and there's not a whole lot of stuff going on other than going to the beach and surfing and

Nice. Well, why don't you tell me a little bit about where you you grew up and uh how longboarding uh got into your life?

Okay. Um well I grew up in Coronado, California, um which is south San Diego County. Um it's basically people know of it as the little island that's down there kinda near Imperial Beach. South of La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs. Um there's not great waves on the island. It's a beautiful little town. Um

Um yeah, I can relate to the Coronado thing'cause I'm from Long Beach and uh there's really no waves here, except for maybe a couple times a year, based on the swell direction. So I was always driving to the adjacent areas to go go surfing myself.

Yeah, and when you don't have a car like before you get a car you're kind of at the mercy of mother nature or parents or friends. So That's a little bit uh uh that's kinda hard to deal with, uh, you know, when you get ri really into surfing. So I was just I think it made me more of a frother as a kid, like not having good waves on hand all the time. Like

Yeah. And I mean, I know it's the same today, but especially I would say when we were younger, you know, contests were always at the worst spot.

Yeah, it was like every beach break up and down the coast, right? It was like where were we? Hermosa Beach and like, you know. places that weren't really waves, you know, like it it had a pier or something so they'd put us there, but Manhattan Beach or you know, like just places that didn't pick get get enough swell or, you know, never really had sandbars but They had the funding to run these events.

Yeah, I I would say I I can relate to that too. I've I always felt like I was pretty good at surfing small shitty waves.

So well we had to be, right?

Exactly.

Kind of what the most of what we got.

Yeah. So you you mentioned starting to compete. How young were you when you started?

Um, I did I've I actually have a crazy memory of this. I did my like first real contest at thirteen. And the only reason I remember it is because in Coronado they had this event called the Jimmy Riley Memorial Classic. And it was like the only contest that we had in Coronado for surfing. Growing up I watched like a lot of You know, the guys who I looked up in town surfing this event and at thirteen they had a junior division. So I got my first start in that.

Um, you mentioned uh guys you looked up to. Were wh who were some of those guys in your area?

Um ironically it's my shaper now, Dan Mann. Um He we both grew up in Coronado. I was good friends with his younger brother, Doug. Um and we kind of grew up and Dan was again sponsored by Rusty at the time.

Yeah, I remember seeing um I think uh Rusty adds with him and him in the early Longboard magazine.

Yeah, that's right. He had um there was one shot that I had on my wall. early days of when they had to actually like mount the camera, like a water camera, onto the board with like a metal rod. And I remember seeing him get the shot surfing at my home break, pulling into this big left barrel with this huge camera on the nose of his board, and me just thinking how cool that was. And then seeing this sh like early watershot three GoPro stuff. Dan standing in this barrel with the other.

Yeah.

Such a cool memory for me. And then to have it on my wall growing up was

Yeah, I remember that exact photo. Like I haven't seen it in forever, but I remember it. There was like some kind of crazy artwork. Was it I may be mixing up

Rolling Stones whips or something like that. It was like uh the Rolling Stones logo or something like that. There was like crazy

Was that like in

I haven't seen it in in decades and I've tried to find it, like pretty vigorously looked for it and I haven't seen it. But um Yeah, it's just that it's just ingrained in my head. It's crazy.

Yeah, you're totally right. I couldn't remember, but now I remember the um the mouth with the tongue coming out.

Um speaking of Rusty, I know that when I first met you and was like doing contests with you. You were writing a I think it was like a yellow and blue uh single fin rusty.

Yeah.

And did you have like several of those boards or was that just the same board you had for a while?

No, I had a bunch. I was like that was kind of in the era where you kinda had your own you tried to kind of make a spray yours. It was like a thing. I think it was like Pat O'Connell Endless Summer had all those boards that were the same and Wingnut had all those boards that were the same and I was kind of on that theory, like, oh I've gotta like you know, so when people see my board, they'll know it's me, like I've gotta come up with a spray. So I came up with this yellow and blue, which

Yeah, I remember I think we were at a contest at Cardiff. Was like the first time I surfed against you and you were on that board. And now thinking back, that makes more sense that you had a bunch of them because I just thought you were on the same board the whole time.

Oh, I think I had two from remember, I think I had two single fins that were pretty much the same. And then I think I had two two plus ones too that were like rounded pintails for bigger surf that were the same. So it kinda had a backup in case something broke or something. But um yeah.

Yeah, I also remember being a little blown away when I found out that you and I were the same age because you were so much bigger than me.

I always yeah, I always had that problem. People always thought I was like way older and I kinda had facial hair sort of earlier and it just yeah. But I remember looking up to guys too, like showing up to the tourmaline contest one year and surfing against like Cyrus King and Eric Summers and stuff and they had like full goatees dyed black and I was just like, whoa, these guys are like in the under eighteens, like, what in the world am I like, whoa. Just like yeah, super intimidating.

Yeah, I think for me too, I just kind of assumed because I was pretty shy and New to contests and everything, like everyone seemed older than me. Like everyone seemed more confident. And so I just I think I assume that about everybody, especially if they were really good. So

Yeah, I get that. I've kind of the same, it's but yeah.

Um, so how long did you ride for Rusty?

Oh geeze. Oh what a road for Rusty from about the time I was twelve or thirteen till Oh man, about sixteen or seventeen? Somewhere around there. And then I went to go for from Rusty. I think I went to Hobie. So we had a family friend who worked at Hobie and um I was kinda hanging out with those kids up in San Clemente in Dohia. Um yeah, I kind of got tied into the Hobie program.

Yeah, I just saw a a hobie ad that you were in and I kind of and I didn't really remember that time period.

It was a weird it was a funny time period'cause I was kind of I was just going through personal stuff like kind of be rebelling at home a little bit, didn't really want to go to school anymore, was just trying to surf all the time and it was just pushing ga back against my parents and the schooling system and that whole thing and Trying to escape and get north and um

Yeah. Um and there was another guy that I I did the NSSA juniors with, uh was Tyler Warren. Yeah. And uh we called him Pickle back then. And uh he was on Hobies and he was I'm pretty sure Terry made most of his boards too. Ja.

Terry Terry had a huge influence on Tyler's shaping, I know that, but I can remember seeing them in the bay together. back when I was riding for for Hobie and just Tyler really paying a lot of attention. So I'm sure he credits Terry with a lot of influence into his own shapes.

Yeah, um I'm pretty sure I was introduced to you through Travis Carrion. Yeah. And I remember um there was Maybe was it was it the P S T A?

Yeah, it could be the PSAs or the PLAs.

I don't think it was the P L A's because I don't think I did those. Yeah. It was after that. So it was like the early two thousands. And I remember we went down for the event that was at Imperial Beach and then we went uh with you to Coronado, which I had never been to. I don't I don't even think I knew it existed. And uh just getting on that crazy bridge and going over there. And I remember we ate at a um a restaurant that did your dad

restaurant. Oh, eat at my dad's restaurant. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So my dad was the um it would have been the chart house back then. And my dad was a manager of the chart house for far out, like thirty two years.

Yeah, it was like a classic old restaurant. I don't remember it being the chart house, but it was definitely that kind of place. But

Yeah. Yeah, it would have been it had to be the chart house. Yeah. Okay.

And I'm I'm pretty sure Josh Moore was with us also.

Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah, it was TrueTouse for sure.

'Cause I was hanging out with those two guys a lot at the time. Um yeah, that's that's funny. And I think that was it. We may have like stayed with you or something too down there. I don't I don't remember. Whoa.

I I can't remember.

Um S so growing up, um, I know uh surfers in general but Long borders um Uh I'm sure it was the same for you, but uh there was a lot of longboard films that were very influential that we uh kind of studied and uh really watched every little moment um detail by detail. Uh what were some of those films for you that were uh really impactful?

Oh man. Um, all of Herbie's stuff, obviously. Um he just in in California he had a huge influence. Um and then also like I got kind of hooked into the uh an Australian filmmaker named Chris Bystrom. And a movie that he made called Full Cycle. And I love that. Like it just had a different um a different feel to it. Like they were surfing in Australia, it was warm water, beach breaks, like beautiful.

Was uh was full cycle before or was the was that before longboarding is not a crime?

I'm not sure time wise.

Maybe blazing longboards too was before that, but I don't know.

Yeah, that might have been before that. Uh I'm not tired. My memory's a little bit shot around that time. But uh I just remember having yeah, blazing lawnboards in full cycle and repeat. Um and then I was also I was really influenced a lot by like Taylor Spiels and all that. You know, that was kind of in my teens that became a really big thing, like the shortboard movies.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

This person for longboarding, it was like, yeah, go to Chris Bistrom or Herbie's movies, and then anytime I wanted shortboard stuff, it was just tailored steel.

Yeah, that that's an interesting point because being longboarders. Um, I think a lot of us watched everything, like shoreboard videos. I even watched bodyboard videos because I had a lot of friends that bodyboarded. And I was I was into all of it and I tried all of it. Like longboarding was my main thing, but I think that's something that's probably unique uh to longboarders is that we kind of got into all of it.

Yeah, for sure. I mean I think yeah, lawnmowering's such a smaller piece of the whole surfing culture that Um growing up in like Long Beach or Coronado or, you know, anywhere in in San Diego County, the shortboarding's way bigger than what long boarding was back then. So uh obviously our friends that we were hanging out with were probably predominantly shortboarders, so Oh oh yeah. We you kinda hang out and do what your friends do, don't you? So you watch those videos and surf shortboards and

Yeah, I think for me it was like during when the longboard like revolution was happening in the nineties, there was also like a big bodyboard thing going on too. And so most of my friends in middle school were all boogie boarders. And so We'd all go to the beach on the weekend and I couldn't bring my longboard and their mom's minivan so I had to go bodyboarding with them or shortboarding and so you just, you know, kinda ended up doing everything.

Yeah. Yeah, so I mean it's it's Southern California, right? It's kinda everybody's doing everything. Whatever fit in the car and whatever you could your friends were doing, you were doing the same.

Um, so you mentioned um Joey Hawkins and he talked about like local guys you looked up to, but who were some of the like bigger name guys that really um stood out for you?

Um from just like a a a influence sort of my surfing and my style would be like Bonga Colin. Um, Rusty Kalana, you know, those guys have watching them win world titles like pretty big influence on me, just a little bit more performance oriented surfers. And not that I had all that much to do with them, but just um Yeah, just watching them surf and the way that they approached waves and how they competed was pretty influential on me and then in my late teens I got them.

Yeah, that's really cool. Uh Baxter was a I think a big influence on everybody, re regardless of how you wanted to surf alongboard. Like He was one of those undeniable talents, you know, that you you had to pay attention to.

For sure. And just like such a nice guy too. Like I think he was one of the nicest guys on tour when I came on tour. Just really welcoming. Like didn't care. You know, I was I'm way younger than him. brought me into his his group and, you know, just made me feel like I was part of his family. So A big big credit to Josh for kinda ending up where I did. I definitely don't think I would have had it as easy of a a start on tour or just as as much knowledge if if I hadn't met him.

Yeah. I I don't know Joshua. I'm sure I'm sure we met back in the day, but

Mm-hmm.

I keep saying on all these podcasts that I was just so shy. It was like uh hard for me to really like put myself out there, but uh I've been talking to him like through messages and stuff recently to do the podcast. And he's just a really cool guy. And uh he's like really forthcoming with Offering he's like, dude, I got all the magazines, I'll get you whatever you need.

Yeah, he's got everything. His dad had a uh amazing collection of all that stuff. Yeah. So much history. Josh he's been around like he was around all of it, you know, like he's he's been in the longboarding community. Far out, so long, like he's so knowledgeable and has so many cool memories and just been such a a core part of long boarding for decades and decades that Maybe a really cool person to sit down with and and dig into just the whole longboard thing.

Yeah, he's he's on the list. He'll be one of the next ones I do for sure.

Bye-bye.

Uh yeah, and you mentioned his dad. He's a his dad was a famous sixties surfer, had a really famous surfboard model, the Jackie Baxter model. And so there's a there's a lot of history there.

Yeah, tons.

Um I was I just did a podcast with Brock Jones, the son of Bruce Jones.

Aw, cool.

uh I grew up with in my area. He's one of the guys we grew up surfing together and he he has this great story about um riding one of the Jackie Baxter models that his dad shaped at Sano. And uh And he had never met Josh, but Josh flagged him down on the beach and was like, Where did you get that board? Because he recognized his dad's old model, you know? And so they they ended up meeting that way and talking about, you know, the different stories and how they both came to uh

That's so cool. Those guys were super influential too. Like I think that the whole Jones surf team that they had at that time. They were pretty gnarly. Like that was like the PLA days. I vividly remember doing the PLAs and having to surf against all the Bruce Jones team and just being like, fuck man, these guys are fucking really good.

I know. And they were and like obviously you know that and I know that, but like nobody else does. You know what I mean? And like, unless you were aware. They had the craziest surf team. And so that was those were the guys I saw every day. Like and that's who I looked up to, like Jody and Brock and Dodger and Cyrus and Greg Irvin and Tody Faircloth, the the list goes on.

How's that list of names right there? That's like

Exactly.

Yeah.

I know. It's it's nuts. And like most of those guys though, most people have no idea who they are. Obviously Dodger went on to do stuff, Cyrus went on to do stuff. But um I mean I I rode those boards when I was little. I w I think I was only briefly officially on the team but That that's who, like, aside from watching the videos with the pro guys, those guys were like my heroes, even though they weren't even that far an age off for me, you know?

Yeah, that was wild. Well the whole thing kinda went through a transition, right? The PLA disappeared. A lot of contests disappeared around that time. I think people just got kind of over it. Far out.

You do the PLA? You did the PLA, right?

Yeah, I started in the PLAs. That was kind of my introduction to the whole professional thing. Um, doing the PLA juniors and the pro at the same time. trying to figure out how to compete against guys who are way better than me but um yeah they had some cool events It was cool, but it was pretty hard. Like I I just remember getting smoked every contest and being so upset and frustrated by it. I couldn't beat Dodger and Jody and Brock. It like I just could not beat.

Yeah, they kinda had that beach break. Nose ride at the top of the wave, maybe do a couple other things and hit the closeout thing. Like they were like they had it on lock. Like It was really hard to beat them.

اشتركوا في القناة Yeah, and they had like a that kind of like a a soul arch or some sort of a variation of the nose right at the start. That would just like it that was it. Game over. It's like stand up, hang five, hang ten, soul arch, hang five, like a couple of turns in a little bank and the show break and it was like eights and nines all day long. compete like I didn't know how to do that. I was like get up and hang five and walk back and try and do a cutback.

Yeah. So I I you know, watching them for me really kinda dictated the direction I went. Like I was always a Joel fan, so there was that and then I had those guys who were also big Joel fans and so You know, everybody had two plus ones also, but most of those guys surfed more traditionally. Um and but I mean they could still do big maneuvers and stuff too, even with their single fins.

Yeah, well I mean that's kinda I grew up on that, you know, like when when you first met me I was on a single fin, the rusty single fin, which kind of you know, that says a lot right there, but um And most people don't know I think Colin McPhillips' first world title was on a single Um yeah pretty much.

Josh Josh wrote single fins for a long time.

Yeah. I mean everybody kinda did. It was just you kinda had to ride everything, right? Like I remember my first couple of years on tour, like you looked in guys' bags and guys' quiver, they had everything. They had like nine eight traditional single fins down to nine oh performance thrusters because

Yeah, th th that's very true because there was always like the two camps and like there was the guys we looked at that were more traditional and the guys that we looked at that were more high performance. But in reality, they all rode all the different types of longboards. At different times.

You had to. You had to. Like we had the I I never got to do it, but there was the Bear Hollyva invitational. Which was like at eight to ten foot Holly Evo. You know, like y you look at guys like Joel, like he's the traditional dude, but he won his world titles on a two plus one because the conditions called for it and he had to adapt to the conditions if he wanted to win, other than the most recent one at Malibu.

Yeah, totally. And I I want to get into that topic for sure later on, but um You just brought up uh Josh Baxter writing that that bing and You know, obviously we primarily saw Josh on more high performance equipment, but if you were lucky enough to s to see him in person or see some of the video parts where he was riding a traditional

Yeah. I mean uh growing up I guess you know your dad's Jackie Back's where you kinda have to be. But um yeah, and having that old bar contest at Sano too, like that was pretty influential for a lot of us. Like uh you know, Hobie was the sponsor there for a long time and I know all the Hobie team was like we were required.

Yeah, exactly. I got to do that, um, the Santa old board a few times and I remember it was funny that all the Hobie guys had the Gary Proper models. And then a lot of people had the Nueva Nose writers, obviously, and like lightweights and Um there was all different kinds of shapes, but those were definitely the predominant ones. Everyone was calling their uncle to borrow one of those boards.

For sure. I I actually I bought a Wave of Nose Rider just for that event because I was like, man, I wanna do well in this thing and like I think it was Joel had won on a waiver lightweight. Josh had one on his Nueva and I was like, Good too, I need Nueva, otherwise I'm not gonna win. So so I went out and sourced one and found one um for a good price and uh bought one. But um you know, it's funny, those boards still work pretty darn good today. It's not too far off what a modern single...

Yeah, I have a a story, a sad story that I'll never forget. That it it's funny, but it's also sad. Um my dad was a big collector at one point. And had a bunch of like new way of nose writers. And he let me take one of the ones we had, one of the smaller ones we had.

Oh

Yeah. Yeah, was going over the Sunset Beach Bridge back into Seal Beach and it flew off and just got demolished.

Oh

Yeah, I remember uh, you know, I was like I was in high school. And I remember, you know, I was trying to be a tough guy all the time, hadn't cried in a long time, the tears were flowing that day.

Oh yeah.

Remember I

I'm gonna walk back in and show dad uh

Yeah, I like called my mom to tell her first and then I got home and then I I remember I confronted my dad and he was just like, Yeah, your mom told me. Um, you know. That sucks that happened. I'm not mad at you. I'm just disappointed. He gave me that one, you know.

Oh god.

Remember I was like, I'm so sorry, Dad, and he just gave me a hug. Bye.

Yeah, we've got a good doubt.

Yeah, I do. I have a great dad. And uh yeah, he that you know, I owe everything to him for s surfing, buying me boards and all that. Uh we ended up getting it restored and then I had it for since then he gave it to me and then I had it and then I just I sold it recently to to somebody that really wanted it, but Yeah, interesting story.

But you never forgot to tie a board on the roof again.

Um yeah, I don't think uh I had boards fly off the roof, but it was never my fault after that. Um uh when you were talking about uh Josh Baxter and like Joel, when you were talking about your first year on tour, uh what year was that?

Um far out. That would have been two thousand and 2002 maybe? 2001, 2002. Somewhere around there. Yeah, two thousand and two I think. I think it was I just graduated high school. My parents kinda didn't let me go to J Bay. That was the year before I started doing it. So whatever year J Bay um ran in, I couldn't I wasn't allowed to go to J Bay. And then the next year was my first year on tour.

And was there an actual tour that year or was it just like Yeah?

When I started it was four or five events. Which was pretty cool. Like we'd start Start in France and go France, Spain, Portugal. Brazil and then there was like a wild card final stop that would change every year. So we do like the three you did a Europe run, which was just by one ticket. normally fly into France, drive from France to Portugal, surf the Portugal contest, drive to Spain, surf the Spain contest, drive to France, surf the France contest, and then fly back.

With that's all but that's where it ended, right?

Yeah, that's where it would end at those final stars.

Were they all put on by Oxbo or was it just the last one?

Um, I believe Oxbow had a hand in all of them. Um I know like the Beer Ritz one was like a an annual event. that wasn't necessarily just Oxbow, like it was like a big surfing festival. It wasn't just the pro thing. That was always there. Spain, same thing. Spain was like they had other divisions and stuff. Portugal, I think, had other divisions and stuff. Like it wasn't just the pro longboard thing. Like they had other things going on at the same time.

And

More like a more like surf festivals like.

Right.

Yeah, it was pretty good. It was like that.

Yeah, that's that's how a lot of the the longboard contests would kind of go with some other festival that was already happening.

Yeah, exactly. Which was cool. Like it those were fun. Like those were some of my some pretty cool memories on tour, like doing France, Spain, Portugal all in one hit, like

And am am I crazy or did you ride for Oxpo for a while too?

I run for Hawksbow for twelve months.

Oh.

Okay.

And then I got dropped. Um yeah, some funny stuff happened.

What time period was that?

It wasn't my fault. Um that would have been 2010-ish.

Okay.

Yeah, I was Hobie for a long time and then I uh uh no that would've been before two thousand ten. That would have been my Two thousand and four maybe. No, two thousand and two. Actually it was my first year on tour. Oxbo picked me up um about halfway through the tour, I think, because I was I was tied with Joel for first going into the final event in New Zealand.

Um, was that one of the years that Colin won? Oh that was that his second?

Raglan. Yeah, that was his second one and then he retired. That was it. He he he walked away after that one. Yeah. Joel was winning. Yeah, Joel was winning. Going into it and I think it was Joel and Bo in the final. And yeah, it was whoever won won and Bo won.

Oh yeah, it was the rematch of the two thousand or the ninety eight. And then they switch places.

Yeah, that was a really cool event. We had pretty good waves. It was freezing cold, but we had

Yeah, that that's one of those events that kind of got like lost in the ether. There's like very little information on it. There's there wasn't a lot of coverage. Like I don't think there's any videos or anything and not or stuff that I haven't seen.

No, I haven't seen anything. I actually um I was my mom dropped off like a pile of papers at my house. Um last year and and it was like the a printout from the event pre event or something that used to be on one of those websites that used to just have the surf news. Do you remember that? Yeah. It's like one website that like that was the only place where you ever found anything surf related news on the internet.

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Yeah. We used to have filmers that would kind of travel the tour with us like specific guys, so I'm sure there is some out there somewhere, I just don't think it ever made it onto the internet.

Yeah, I hope there is. I I would like to see that. Like another another one that there's almost zero info on was Joel's second world title, which was France, I believe.

in the final.

It was K Code on him?

Yeah, it was Kow and him in the final. Um I I remember standing on the beach watching

Was that a beer?

The goal was almost yeah, it was a beer rits and the waves were good. And Koko is a pretty similar age to me. He might be a year or two older and I just remember thinking, Holy crap, like this kid's gonna win the world title right now against Joel in the final, like how crazy is that? And then yeah, Joel ended up winning, but um

Was it clean?

Yeah, it was clean. It was like good, like think of classic Hossagore, but like not hollow. Like this really fun right that was running off the sandbar right into where the the judges were. I remember how I I just I can vividly remember like standing on the beach next to Josh Baxter and like watching Joel in the final against'cause I was staying with Joel and Josh watching Joel in the final against Cocoa. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, at at that time, um You know, the in the internet was around, but it was like there was no, you know, there was no live updates, there was no live stream or anything. And so like I I knew these contests were going on, but I wasn't there. And then I wouldn't hear about what actually happened. Probably until like the next issue of Long Border came out.

jumped on a payphone and called you. Like I I can remember my f my first competitive win like on the WSL or ASP as it was back then tour was that beer Ritz and I can remember running to the payphone by the contest to call my parents.

That's crazy. What what what event was that that you won? Your first one?

It was the the Beer Itz. It was the ASP World Longboard Tour. I think it was stop numbers.

Three.

'Cause I uh I did okay in Portugal. I lost to Bo in Spain, and then I won B Arrit. And that put me in first with Joel going into the final event.

And what year was that? The two thousand two?

I think it was two thousand and two or two thousand and three.

And then am I right that uh 2003 was also the year You won the US Open, right?

I think so. To be honest, I don't know. It was either 2003 or 4. I had a pretty good run somewhere around there. Yeah. Um the US Open's always been really good to me. I've always kinda either made the semis or the finals or yeah. I I've had a pretty good track record there. But yeah, it would have been around that that time that yeah, one the US Open

Mm that was your first time, right?

Yeah, that was surreal like that. What the US Open was back then was so huge. I just remember like going just walking down on the beach on the day of the of the finals and like walking through the crowd and trying to get to where the surfers were, like just to try and get it was just nuts. So crazy. And I was like I think I was eighteen at the time. Like I was just like mind blown the amount of people that I was gonna be surfing in front of and then to to somehow get the win.

Yeah, that I remember that year because I think that was the first year I competed it in. And uh I think I made it out of a couple heats. I may have gotten to the Maybe like just missed the quarters or something like that. But I remember thinking that this is crazy because I had surfed many contests before that, but nothing. Where anybody really cared. And uh that was pretty wild.

It was yeah, just surreal being on a stage like that. We're used to like the little longboard contest, a couple of tents on the beach, and then all of a sudden like you're on this stage, like the US Open was huge at that time.

We were used to finishing our final and having nobody be there anymore because everyone took off already.

Yeah, totally. And like being the last four people on the beach'cause you wanted to get your trophy to take home. And this thing's like the huge uh after parties and the whole thing. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, I remember you winning that year and being stoked and then another big year was uh when Dodger won.

Yeah, that was huge. That year Dodger won, that was like the crowd was so behind him. I just remember thinking like how cool that would be to to grow up in a town like that and win in front of your hometown. how insane that must have felt for him to have all of his family and friends on the beach. Like the beach was erupting every time he got a good wave. That was such a cool experience. I'm sure for him, like it must have just been insane.

Bye. Yeah, and he was, you know, the Huntington kid, like besides like I guess Josh Moore, but like um or like Joey before that, but um You know, he was a Huntington surfing sport writer. He was a Robert August guy who was right there on Main Street. Uh I think he was still on Robert August at the time, right? Or

Yeah, yeah, he was. He had that uh was it American flag board that he was writing?

Yeah, was that what he wanted?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he went on like the American flag, singleton, Robert August. You have to ask him, but I'm pretty sure like I've got some some memory bank stuff of him on that board.

Yeah, I think he had that.

Dripping on the left going into the pier.

Exactly. And the a lot of the goofy foots have definitely done well surfing that left, the David's left there.

Yeah, for sure. I mean that that left foot south swell in summertime, that's kind of the spot like Unless you've got a little combo swell, which the years that I did well, we had a combo swell and you could get the right under the pier. And it'd be like one in five would be this right under the pier and you could kind of get that and it would run well and you'd be heading right at the judges and get good scores, but

Yeah, and then you can shoot the pair and everything.

Totally. Get the crowd behind you.

Um speaking of Huntington, that's the first time. In in your estimation, like as far as I could remember, um, this last year um at the US Open for the WSL, that was some of the best waves. like contestable waves. I've like, as far as it being clean and fun, it didn't even almost didn't look like Huntington. Like I when I was watching it and I was like, man, these guys are scoring. It usually is not like this.

Yeah, we got so lucky. In like the week leading up to that, we'd all been up there and practice. It was probably the worst sandbars I'd ever seen at hunting. It was this giant gutter, it was a closeout, it was terrible, like seriously terrible Huntington. And we were all just thinking, Oh man, this is gonna suck. Like there's a little swell coming and the sandbars are awful like

Yeah, I I think if you or someone like and I think this probably happened, like a lot of people probably tuned in to the WSL. like younger guys who were maybe more traditionally minded, like have just started to tune in, you know? And they if you're not from around here and you haven't served Huntington, they they totally got the wrong idea about Huntington but by watching

No, never. Like the water was like almost blue. Like it was just a a bizarre deal. Like we don't ever get Huntington like that. Like maybe for a day here or there, I guess, but to have a whole event run through like good ways in Huntington and not be crappy and not be onshore.

Yeah, and like if you know, if you've been following the US Open for however many years it's gone on, like Sometimes it's big, but I wouldn't say that it's ever good, you know. Like When it's big, it just gets it's a little more exciting, but it's pretty freaking tricky. And it's just not a like like obviously I've been surfing there my whole life. I've had a lot of good days, but that's because I go there a lot. Like

No, it's normally pretty crap. Like I I feel like South Side of Huntington's more of a winter wave too, like You know, we've always having the contest in in the middle of summer of South Swells when it's just a giant current going into the pier and You're just kind of fighting the current until you can find somewhat of a shoulder and get a nose right in a little foam climb or something and then go straight till you get the reform.

It definitely is. It's got a lot of great history. Huntington has a lot of great history in general. A lot of a lot of really good surfers, a lot of really good board companies. uh shapers uh have come out of there. Um, but like for me, like growing up, I always wanted to go to the US Open. And then I got to compete in it for a couple of years. And then when I stopped doing that, I kind of

For sure. It's a total circus, like you said. It's just a it's a scene. But it's um Yeah, it's cool to be a part of.

Do you remember um was it the Margaritaville? Uh that they had they they had one there, uh at Huntington. They had one at Was it Imperial Beach or Oceanside?

And they had both. They had Oceanside, Imperial Beach, Huntington, and I think they have one at Queens.

Crazy. And that was right around that. early 2000s.

That was cool. That was was that Longboard magazine?

Yeah, I believe it was Longboard Magazine. Yeah, I was just talking with uh Ryan Engel about he was he was talking about those events being really fun. And that that was like towards the end of Longboard magazine. And they were uh putting on it was just it was an interesting time because there was a lot of different contests and a lot of different things to go do. Whereas there there's kind of a lot now, but it's

Yeah, totally. Especially in Southern California. There was a ton going on back then. I was having uh I can remember doing events like every other weekend pretty much up and down the the coast from I don't think I really ever even went past like Ventura, Santa Barbara. Like I stayed south and I still had events pretty much.

Yeah, I remember.

Cool growing up, like being that age and you know, having opportunities like that, I feel like the kids don't have as much going on now. So it's a little bit harder for them, like this the bigger ones. for the youth coming up like the for me, like the Margaritaville or the PLAs or you know, like NSSA was really big with lawn boarding back then too. Like There's a lot of opportunity as a youth coming up to hone your skills where I feel like the kids these days don't maybe have as much of that.

Yeah, I I remember I pretty much had something, some contest going on every weekend. And my friends would be planning stuff and I'd have know, people be like, oh come come do this with us. And I I just didn't do a lot of the stuff that a lot of kids did my age on the weekends because I was driving up and down the coast doing contests.

Yeah.

Um Um what w your first world title? Um that was twenty eleven, correct? Um, what was the tour like that year? Like how did how did that play out?

I think no it was Italy. Yeah, Italy was the first one. Um we had that was a two event year. Um the first event I believe was Sri Lanka. And then Dwayne won that. And I might have got second. Um yeah, I think I got second to Dwayne and Sri Lanka. Um And then going into the final event, Dwayne was winning and we were in Italy. Um Dwayne had won the year before too, I believe. Um so he was trying to go back to back.

Yeah, that is that is crazy. And um, you know, like during that time period I wasn't paying attention. A ton to the tour and stuff. So I didn't even know it was in Italy. That's crazy.

Yeah, it's pretty wild like to finish in Italy. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it was we had some pretty weird bizarre locations for our onboard tour events. Taiwan and Italy and China and Sri Lanka, you know, like places that you don't think of when you think of surfing. But um it it's really cool to have events that just like a bit of a culture shock for a lot of the spectators who are on hand and just creates a really cool storyline too. These places do have waves and it it can be fun and

That's really neat. Um, you mentioned surfing that semi against uh Tony Silvani and you said it and it was I was already thinking it like he is an animal. Like that guy is a contest animal. Like he ever since he popped up, he's always been in the mix and he's got one of those

Totally. He is uh he's like you said, he's always in the mix and I think that kinda goes back to what I said earlier about growing up in Coronado and having bad ways. Tony grew up in North Carolina. There's not good good ways there most of the time. So you really learn how to surf crappy ways and you really learn how to read ways and like pick the nuances of a set.

Yeah, that that's a good point too, that uh he came from the East Coast. And there's a reason why there's been a lot of really good competitive surfers that have come out of the East Coast, and it's because they're hungry and Uh like he said, like they know how to surf these shitty waves that we often find ourselves in contact.

Totally. I think any time that you can surf a a shitty wave, you can surf good waves, right? And most of the time you're gonna be surfing shitty waves anyway, so kind of play plays to your advantage to surf the crappier wave.

Yeah, an um another guy that I think of that's like a that's always kind of around and in the mix, like since we were young. Also a steward guy um is Shoot. Oh, I can't think of his name. You know I'm talking about he's like he like does like a lot of climbing now.

Eve's Newton.

Steve Newton, sorry, Steve. Um he uh Steve's another one of those guys that If I was in a contest and it just seems like for whatever reason, every time I do a contest, which has been, you know, less and less over the years, Steve's always gonna be in one of my heats.

Yeah.

And I and I it's always good because I like Steve and we're buddies and he's a nice guy. But I'm always like, well, shit, like this guy knows what he's doing out here. He's a good contester.

For sure. Isn't that funny how kind of end up against the same people all the time? Like I have that relationship with Some reason in contest we always end up in the same piece together. It's just it's bizarre. Or Edward Del Perro, that happens to me a lot too. But um

Yeah, I mean that's where I started in the NSSA junior. And I remember the first, I think it was the first contest I ever won was one of the NSSA juniors. And I wanna say it was that like Ponto or something like that. And it was so terrible for the final. And I came out of that final thinking that I surfed awful and that I was gonna get sick. And then it just turned out that uh I surfed a little less awful than everybody else and ended up winning. But I remember just being like, what?

Yeah.

Yeah. before there was no live scores or anything either, right? So you like came in and had to wait for them to to hand tally the scores and then you get your result. But Such a yeah, it just seems bizarre that that was a thing, but it's just what a cool way to win, right? Like when you least expect it.

Totally. I was yeah, I was blown away. Um but that could happen, especially in those shitty waves. You uh you you could feel like you surfed bad, but you know, you surfed. You were the you were the best looking girl at the ugly girl party, so

That's a funny word about it. I like that.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's like an old man. Catchphrase right there. So um let's move into the the current tour and the WSL a little bit. Um W one thing that I noticed this last season, especially, and I've heard a lot of people say it, is that it was really cool to see you. uh kind of switched things up as far as your competitive surfing went and your equipment and uh

Um, thanks. Yeah, uh you know, uh it's contest it's that's kind of an inherent thing that we deal with with competition, right? Like it's subjective and Sometimes the scores go your way and sometimes they don't. Like I was pretty happy with the way that I surfed this year, um, or last year.

Yeah, and I mean you're 100% right. Contests um are flawed, you know, judge sports are Because you're dealing with human beings that think differently about they're all watching the same thing, but they have different viewpoints on what they just saw. And uh they have to give you a number and it's it's just a f it's a flawed thing. And so in general, it's kind of a funny thing. But um Yeah, I um I like I said, I was stoked to see Kai win.

I guess the criteria hasn't changed, just what you keep hearing everybody say. They're just um interpreting it differently. Um,'cause the actual written version of the criteria hasn't changed for years and years. But um You know, uh uh it's a tough one for me because coming into longboarding when I did and seeing how vibrant and and successful and watchable it was at that time. when everything was incorporated and you had to be a well-versed phone boarder. To me that's far more marketable.

Um yeah, I I would have to agree. Um I uh I personally have always leaned more traditional, but I have always had a two plus one as well. And the way we grew up, like we said before, and like you just reiterated, you had to. Like you had to know how to write everything. And um I would say the main like positive takeaway from the new criteria, as far as I'm concerned, is having an emphasis in drilling it into the judges' heads to focus on uh style and fluidity.

Thanks. Yeah, I I mean Yeah, I agree. I d I do think that, you know, the traditional side has brought that element um to to the judges and made them focus on it. That's a really important part of onboarding'cause it is what separates it. But just yeah, I just I um I I think that that's kind of what like like you said, it was nice to see me switch it up. I think it's nice to see people step out of their comfort zone and be challenged or accept the challenge of

Ευχαριστώ.

All right.

One of the things watching you on tour, um and you know, surfing your single fin so well, one of the it reminded me of a memory that I had forgotten about and I remember being at Boca Barranca for the Rabbit K Kai contest uh in the early two thousands. And I knew you and we were all surfing there and we were all there there at the same time. And it's you know that long lap And I think you borrowed somebody's model T, I want to say.

Thanks. Yeah, I remember that actually. I don't remember whose board it was, but um Yeah. I've I mean I've always grabbed the I've always just kind of been someone who wants to grab the right board for the conditions, you know, it just Contests kind of take that away from you because you're trying to fit your surfing into a box. You know, when you're hyper focused on trying to win world titles you just

Yeah, and I think one thing that was obvious and one thing that I've always known and that anybody that's watched you surf over the years has always known is that yeah, you're more of a high performance longboarder. But it didn't mean that you didn't have style. Like you did it all with so much style. And Kai's another one that you watch those old clips in Hawaii and he's doing these huge rebounds and stuff, the guy was always super stylish. And so you guys could always

Yeah, for sure. We we kinda kind of same age, like we grew up in that sort of generations where you had to write everything. You know, it's It makes you a better surfer, I think.

kind of mind blowing to me that even when you had the most light high performance boards, like even back in the day, you were still hanging 10. Like and all the best guys, no matter how high performance their boards were, could still get really tight pocket hang 10. And, you know, that that was kind of one of the reasons why I um started posting on Instagram like the old stuff from the nineties.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I really appreciate you posting all that old stuff'cause I kind of hadn't forgotten about it, but it just kind of re jogs the memories on like like that cover of Kramer the other day and and stuff like that. Like that's the stuff that kind of influenced me to surf the way that I surf.

Yeah, very well said. Um that's basically how I feel. Like and you know, maybe we're just old dudes talking about the old times being better than the new times, but I think there's a lot of truth. in that um there was so much variety and everybody was so unique. There wasn't a lot of guys who were exactly the same, like at all. And um you mentioned uh like Joel and Bonga, like

Yeah.

Yeah. He's the man and and everybody knows that.

Totally. It's uh you know, they're both really well rounded surfers, like. can ride anything. You put an anything under their feet and they excel and they stand out in the in the pack. So I just think that you know it's another testament to Yeah, being remembered and and you know being like a a

yeah i've been i've been noticing like It's really easy for me to see that the pendulum is swung so far in one direction that it's it's bound to come back the other way and it's already started. And I've been saying that for about a year now and I've been revisiting, you know, like speed shape type boards myself and writing more two plus ones again and Just it's been a blast because, you know, I I rode single like pretty much traditional longboards for a long time only. And I just got bored.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah. It kinda has to, right? You can't go any further um down the traditional side of things to kind of reach a plateau there and I mean eventually like you said that certain waves are great for a a really traditional nose writer, but um

Yeah, I think it's important for everyone to remember also that we're longboarding and there is a certain aspect of longboarding that should not be taken so seriously. Like there's a lot of controversy got swirling around about all this stuff and it's and we're into it and we're in it because we're involved in it and we

Yeah. At the end of the day it's like you you go surfing to have fun, right? So If you're writing something that's you're not having fun on it on that day, then you should probably have written something else. It's surfing then we go out there to release.

Exactly. And you know, that's one of one of the beautiful things about being a longboarder. And like I feel like at this point in my life, being older and looking back, like the way that I looked at things and different uh pressure and stuff I put on myself. I'm I've you know. hindsight's fifty-fifty, but I feel like I'm having more fun now because I have, you know, there's no weight on my back. Like I have no dog in this fight. I'm just trying to do what makes me happy.

Yeah, for sure. I mean especially in Southern California. You know. It's it's uh it's kind of a long board paradise with the ways on offer and you know, some of the some of the breaks that we have. So I I agree a hundred percent.

Um tell me a little bit about uh what your family life is like.

Um family life is fantastic, man. I have two little girls. Um one is ten, her name is Jagger, and the other one is five, and her name is Zion. And I'm married to Yeah, my dream my dream girl is my wife Nava. Um I'm like feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to family life. Like no exaggeration. I just

That's awesome to hear. Um, how often do you get to surf with bow?

Um, not as often as I'd like. He's uh a little ways up the coast from here. And I we just don't link up that often. Um, maybe a couple of times a year if we're lucky. Yeah, he's he's a shaper and he's traveling a lot. He spends time in Europe. Like our schedules aren't exactly in sync. So um we might catch up once or twice a year to surf. But um anytime I do it it's really enjoyable. We've had some

Yeah, I you know, he was obviously super influential for uh that nineties, early two thousands time period. And uh I I bet it's kind of a trip to uh look up to a guy like that and to surf against him and then have him be a part of your family, not to mention uh your father-in-law as well.

It's it's cool, you know. Like we're all surfers and we all just spend time at the beach surfing together. Like that's pretty freaking cool, you know.

Well, that's that's pretty awesome. You're a pretty lucky guy.

Yeah, I am. I don't know what I did, but somehow lucked into lucked into meeting my wife, um yeah, with seventeen years ago. So it's um that's been a cool cool ride.

Yeah. Well, I I hope we get to uh run into each other. Some more in the future. I've I've been kinda out of the scene for a while, but kinda dipping my foot back in doing this kind of stuff. So I I I definitely hope we run into each other and we get to surf again soon.

Oh I'm sure we will, man. I'll be back um in California soon. So I'm sure we'll we'll bump into each other somewhere along the road and get some ways in. It'd be fun. It's fun be fun to catch up with everybody from back then. Like Well the Bruce Jones guys and like yeah, I just I don't see a lot of those people who we kinda grew up surfing contests with I know they're around and I know they surf, but I just don't I don't know, I think when you have a family kind of

Yeah, it's always great, like at the club contests and events like that to see people because, you know, I've always kind of had one foot in and one foot out. And so I'll go time periods where I don't do anything and I don't connect with anybody for a long time. And then you you do one of those events and it's, you know, you can like jump right back in, like it's 2003 again with some of those guys.

Yeah, for sure. It's cool and like I feel like maybe it comes full circle when your kids start getting into surfing and you start doing the club contest with your kids and then all of a sudden like yeah a lot of those people have kids. You know, pre connecting through your kids doing the club contest like you did as an adult. Like yeah, it's pretty cool. But yeah, that's just the way it can come full circle.

Well, this has been a rad conversation and I just wanna thank you for your time.

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Yeah, I'd love to do it again too. There's plenty more to talk about.

Yeah, for sure. Anytime now.

All right. Well, uh what time is it over there for you now?

It is three thirty in the afternoon.

Tomorrow for me.

Yeah.

Tomorrow, yeah. Three thirty in the afternoon on Friday.

Yeah, well enjoy the rest of your afternoon and evening, and uh um I'll hit you up again when it's time to do another one.

Thanks, AJ. Sounds good.

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