Christian Beamish - West Coast Craftsman
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Mountain & Prairie Media
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2023
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Christian Beamish is a writer, craftsman, surfboard shaper, and all-around adventurer who lives and works between Ventura and Carpinteria, California. He's the author of one of my favorite books– "The Voyage of the Cormorant"– which tells his deeply personal story of building an open-hulled boat by hand and then sailing it down the Baja Peninsula alone, surfing and camping along the way. He's also the owner of Surfboards California, where he hand-shapes a wide variety of custom boards for surfers of all skill levels.
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Christian grew up in California, and for as long as he can remember, he's been connected to the ocean and committed to building things. He's lived an adventurous life that included a stint in the military, surf trips to the far reaches of the globe, and sailing trips up and down the Pacific Coast. And in addition to his work shaping surfboards and writing, he's also a committed husband, father, and community member. I greatly admire how Christian manages to balance all of these sometimes-competing roles, and I gained a lot of valuable perspective from this conversation.
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I met up with Christian in Carpinteria, just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean, in a building that is home to several surfboard shapers and various creative folks. I've admired Christian's writing for over a decade, so it was a dream come true to have the opportunity to spend the morning with him. We covered a ton in this hour-long conversation– his lifelong connection to the ocean and craftsmanship, lessons learned from the military, how he developed his skill for writing, his amazing book "Voyage of the Cormorant," fatherhood, dealing with intense emotions, the craft of shaping surfboards, favorite books and authors, and much more. You can check out the episode notes for a list of all the topics we discussed and links to everything.
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A huge thanks to Christian for welcoming me into his shop, and thanks to all of you for listening. Hope you enjoy.
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- Christian Beamish
- Surfboards California
- "The Voyage of the Cormorant" by Christian Beamish
- Full episode notes & links: https://mountainandprairie.com/christian-beamish/
- Ed's 2023 Strenuous Life Retreat
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 4:00 - Christian talks about where he grew up
- 9:15 - What influenced his desire to build things
- 10:15 - Christian's relationship to work
- 12:30 - His writing practice and talks about when writing came into his life
- 16:00 - Christian tangles with how his literary interests and writing reconcile with his service in the US Navy
- 17:15 - Overview of his book, The Voyage of the Cormorant
- 24:45 - Christian reflects on the person he was when he started the voyage that inspired his book
- 27:30 - The inner challenges he experienced during his voyage
- 31:30 - His strategies for dealing with emotional challenges
- 33:00 - How having kids has affected his life
- 38:45 - Christian describes the surfboards he designs
- 43:00 - His transition from more standard surfing to big wave surfing
- 50:45 - Christian and Ed briefly discuss skiing
- 54:30 - Book recommendations, and a discussion of his family's history
- 1:01:00 - Parting words of advice for budding crafters and creators
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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody is Ed. Before we get started I wanted to remind you all about the |
| 0:04.7 | 2023 strenuous life retreat which is happening this August at Ranchlands of |
| 0:10.0 | Potter Ranch. You probably heard me talk about it before but the Strenuous Life retreat is five full days of |
| 0:15.7 | adventure, learning, conversation, and camaraderie all in the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt's commitment to living the |
| 0:21.9 | strenuous life. |
| 0:23.8 | It takes place at the Zapata Ranch, which sits at the base of the Songre de Cristo mountain |
| 0:27.8 | range and directly south of Great Sand Dunes National Park. |
| 0:32.4 | The 2022 retreat was a huge success. We hiked high up to some |
| 0:36.4 | alpine lakes in the Songrays, rode horses in Great Sand Dunes National Park, and we rode |
| 0:42.0 | alongside Bison and Elk on the Menno Ranch. |
| 0:45.0 | We had discussions about conservation and regenerative agriculture with expert guests |
| 0:50.0 | and we started each day with strenuous exercise and end of the day with top-notch dinners and a campfire. |
| 0:56.5 | The retreat is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to spend five days with a like-minded crew immersed in one of the West's most spectacular landscapes, pushing |
| 1:05.6 | yourself hard both physically and intellectually. |
| 1:09.6 | Also I just reduced the price for the 2023 retreat. |
| 1:14.0 | So if you were on the fence and you were thinking, |
| 1:16.9 | I'd like to go, but that thing is just too expensive, |
| 1:19.4 | well, I lowered the price. |
| 1:21.0 | So go to the link in the profile to check it out. I would love to see you there |
| 1:24.9 | in August. Thank you. This is the Mountain and Prairie Podcast. I'm Ed Roberson. For today's episode I went about as far west as I could go to the California coast to chat with Christian Beamish. |
| 1:48.0 | Christian is a writer, craftsman, surfboard shaper and all-around adventurer, who lives and works between Ventura and |
| 1:55.6 | Carpenterea, California. |
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