Firstly, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you.

My name is David Scales.

I am the host of Surf Splendor, thrilled to be delivering our third annual Christmas week

show.

Our first being in 2013, it's crazy how much time has passed and how many episodes we've done

since the start of this. I just, I still sit kind of thinking about this podcast as a side project,

yet it's steadily crept into my priority project each week for the past 120 weeks or however many it's been.

So I'll need to mentally acknowledge its role in my life and cut something else out soon

so that we can really nurture the full potential that this thing has because it is something

substantial and people dig it. And obviously I honor that and it's really exceeded my

expectations. So I appreciate all the feedback that you guys give and contributions and emails

and all that sort of stuff. So anyway, let's get into today's show.

Music Today's show is with William Finnegan.

Finnegan's been an important figure contributing to surfing for the past 30 years or so, mainly as a writer, but really also as a discoverer and an explorer.

Professionally, he's been staff writer at The New Yorker since 1987, the author of five books, including his most recent Barbarian Days, which is the main subject of our conversation here today.

As a journalist, he's mainly written about apartheid, drug wars, border conflicts, that sort of thing.

But Barbarian Days is a memoir, a far departure from his journalistic reporting.

Finnegan is a lifelong surfer, and the book details his journey through adolescence,

adulthood, and even later adulthood as a surfer, exploring the world, and how surfing

fits into relationships, work, and just one's life.

So I loved the book, and I was very honored

that William graciously accepted my invite

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