Today we're launching a new limited run series that focuses on surf shops and their cultural

influence on surfing.

I've been remiss to not include surf shop owners and their stories on this podcast over

the past six years.

The truth is, surf shops are inextricable from my surf experience. I bought my first surf film at

Harbor Surfboards in Seal Beach, one of the shops we'll be featuring in this series. My first

surfboards were gifts that came from garage sales, but after that, shortly after that, the first

boards that I purchased were Ryan Sakel's used boards from his dad's

shop Sakel surf boards on Main Street in Huntington Beach anytime I needed wax I would try to go

into a different surf shop one that I hadn't been in before just so I could peruse all the different

boards that I couldn't afford but I'd fantasize about. I often felt intimidated in those shops.

Like I was under-informed or not cool enough, just didn't know the right questions to ask about surfboards.

So instead I'd usually just nod along pretending to understand it if an employee ever engaged me in conversation.

I remember trying on booties one time.

I was 15 with my best friend, Ryan Williams,

and it was going to be the first pair of booties for both of us,

and obviously, booties are super hard to get in and out of.

So I was hopping around on my right foot

while trying to wrestle the booty onto my left foot, standing on one foot.

And the 20-year-old sales rep, who was a great surfer, and I recognized him from surfing the pier

all of the time. He was looking at us and he goes, man, I've never seen anybody try to do it on one

foot before, which Ryan and I thought to be a compliment, but kind of afterwards thought

...