The ocean warms up this time of year, and turns clear as a creek. I watched the bright orange Garibaldi fish darting in and out of the seagrass waving beneath my feet, as a leopard shark slinked below them, searching…

I got my first surfboard for my 11th birthday. My dad left work early to drive me to Huntington Beach, where a blue and white G&S thruster longingly awaited my selection on the used surfboard rack. We walked to the…

  I stood there, thinking about not going. The ocean had taken a turn, with winter-like temperatures and a stiff NW wind already chopping the water into chunks. This summer has been strange here, with not much…summer. “You should go.”…

I’ve only gotten one speeding ticket in my life. And I was listening to Ozzy Osbourne. I got pulled over about 6 houses from our driveway, on the way to school. Despite my plea for forgiveness, the cop was having…

You don’t have to surf to get it. Here’s the scene. Arguably the greatest surfer of all time, an 11-time world champion, in the ocean on a big day in Bali. He paddles for and catches a wave the size…

Sometimes I wonder if these moments still happen, the ones exploding with unbridled joy. The girl and her friend climbed into the back of the truck, just as a song about losing those moments came on the radio. The music…

I probably wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for him. One thing leads to another, you know? He was a handful of years older than me. Seemed like a lifetime separated us as cousins when I was a kid,…

The Fijian pointed at the island topline. “You see it?” I didn’t see it. I wasn’t even sure what I was supposed to be seeing. “The Sleeping Giant. There. His belly. His boobs. His nose. You see it?” Still air…

I saw them last night, an older man walking his dog. The dog’s hind legs were collapsing with each step, as he pushed himself along with whatever energy his front half could still give him. The guy moved as slow…

I didn’t really know him, but I wouldn’t be here without him. We may have crossed paths when I was younger, but the picture memory is escaping me. The one time that I remember meeting him was when we visited…