RecycledSurf

About

I grew up in a family with six brothers, and we all surfed. I started when I was 12 years old, spending most of my time in the water at Trestles and San Onofre. Surfing and the beach weren't just something we did—they were our lifestyle. And over the years, that lifestyle has become generational in our family.

My career took me farther inland than I ever really wanted to be, but somehow my vacations and time off always seemed to take me back to the beach—and back to two of my brothers who still live there.

The idea of carving surfboards came from my older brother, who is a phenomenal artist in his own right. What started as an idea eventually became something much more personal to me.

I recently retired after a 30-year career in law enforcement. I came out of it without too many dings or scrapes, but I definitely felt well used—in the best possible way.

And that's where I began to see myself in these old surfboards.

They've spent years in the ocean. They've been ridden hard, dinged up, repaired, and eventually retired. I take them, strip away the old fiberglass, clean them up, and uncover what's been underneath the whole time. Then I start carving.

Somewhere along the way, I realized they had become a metaphor for my own life.

Neither one has to be finished just because its first purpose has come to an end.

We can both have a second life.