Interview with George Bryan

•              Give us a brief rundown of who you are, where you’re from, and what you’re passionate about.

Putting myself into words is not easy for me. I am a father, husband, and son who was brought up on the sand in Laguna in the 70's and 80s.  I had a lot of freedom, but respect was one thing my mom wouldn't budge on. I was a bit of a social experiment in that my mom and her family  grew up on the Isle of Man, a tiny island in the UK. My mom came to the states by herself as an English nanny. Her move to Laguna Beach brought her to perhaps the furthest thing away from the Isle of Man. We didn't have a lot financially, but we had Victoria Beach, our very own Tom Sawyer Island.

 

•              What’s was the best part of growing up in the early days of skim boarding in Laguna?

Laguna Beach in the late 60's and 70's was a significant cultural atmosphere with surfers, artists and drug exploration from people such as Timothy Leary. And the beach in front of my house was where much of this creativity and athleticism combined. The locals here took advantage of the great shore break waves and skidboarding was taking off, a name that would later change to skimboarding. Victoria Skimboards was born out of our beach in 1976 and this was the place where wave riding on skimboards and skimboard design was advancing beyond anywhere in the world. Just like a soccer ball to someone in Mexico or Brazil, a skimboard and sliding into the oncoming waves is what captured my imagination.

 

•              How influential were the original local older generation in exposing you to get into the sport?

My mom was always one of the nicest, most genuine people you'd ever meet, so she had a great friend group that kept an eye out for my brother and me. Without a father at home, my male role models were the locals at Victoria Beach.  This solid crew of really unique characters, Ray, Hende, The Westguards, was always surfing and skimboarding. Their carefree attitudes made skimboarding seem more expression and camaraderie than sport. The first skimboarding contests would soon follow at Victoria Beach and at the 4th annual contest I was chosen to draw a name out of the list of contestants to win a free custom foam skimboard. The name I pulled was one of my mentors Ray Williams and because he knew I had not been able to afford a board Ray gifted me the certificate. My prize position, a custom watermelon red diamond tail skimboard with original Astrodeck Traction was born.

 

 

•              Did the older generation help you figure out how the sider worked?

At 12 years old we ended up moving deeper into South Laguna where the beaches between Thousand Steps and Aliso Beach were a mecca for  where skimboarding had evolved. Riders were now taking the rebounding wave off the rocks and connecting with larger waves on the outside, similar to the Newport Wedge. The place that I fell in love with for this was just blocks from my home called 10th Street. At the time, I was still pretty small and slow at getting on my skimboard compared to an adult, so I began riding the side-wave on a Mach 7 bodyboard from the sand and then standing up. Conley Ware was the main guy down there on a skimboard at the time and he would call me into waves and often we would ride doubles. Conley and his wife, Kelly, would become part of my new South Laguna family. They taught all of us to share what Hawaiians call Aloha.

 

 

•              How long did it take before you felt comfortable riding it ?

Skimboarding, a side-wave is a lot more difficult than riding straight into shore-break. It takes much more technique but more importantly it takes wave knowledge, the ability to judge and predict how waves break. With all my years spent as a child on the beach, there was finally something that made me feel like I was a natural at it or that I was in my natural habitat. And like music or an art that really excites people, the difficulty to master it makes for something that keeps you coming back. You only get a few opportunities a day, maybe even a summer, to get that perfect set up. 

 

 

•              Seems like in the early 90’s you pushed the progression on that wave so much, what made that change happen?

In the 90's boards were changing again. Shapes and more importantly, the materials and rocker in the board, had taken skimboards past just functionality to state of the art. Influences from skateboarding and surfing were pushing us to take the sport to another level as well. Skimboarding was seen by most as a quick flip off of the board or just sliding across the sand, but we looked at the wave like a halfpipe or line on a skateboard. This side-wave rebound was like finding a rocket booster and that speed opened up the world to us. This sparked our friend group to push each other everyday to see what was possible. There were no skimboard videos or magazines to learn from because we were creating the new maneuvers, new ways to look at it, so we started documenting ourselves and watching the footage to learn. Watching the videos with friends brought us even closer. We didn't just only hang out at the beach together, we spent most of our time together inspiring each other and traveling to new waves and new locations. Every morning it was meet up and spend that day trying to unlock something new in the sport. We were learning and creating something new together while driven from where we were from and the people that inspired us from the past. We were riding the momentum of a generational push to push each other. 

 

•              Your 1st 10th St Bros video also seemed to really put a stamp on what you guys were doing and instantly change the ethos of skimming, did you feel you were changing the sport to what it has become today or you were so focused you didn’t pay to it ?

When we came out with our skim video it was made in my bedroom on two VCR's, now a cult classic, but at the time it was rough and resembled a home video. The next year in 1998 we learned from our first effort and dropped, The Bomb. The Bomb was different. The Bomb was polished, and capturing the raw emotion and groundbreaking efforts of the sport and us riders. The Bomb premiere hit the crowd with an such electricity it was followed by arrests and police in full riot gear.  Skimboarding was different now. Contest results in bellow average conditions were now a secondary measurement to a riders ability to what they could accomplish on their own. People from all around the world could now put a movie in their VCR and see what was actually happening now on a skimboard. Once people saw what doors was open, the next generation would be able to improve at a much faster rate. And the general public could now that skimboarding was one of the most exciting sports done in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Also, riders could now gain financial support by showing companies these vivid videos to prove the legitimacy of the sport. Skimboarders around the world now had a video, a bible, that brought us together. And every year, with the release of  latest 10th Street Bros video production, the next level of skimboarding was revealed.

 

•              Do you feel like the sport is in good hands with the younger generation now?

Every generation thinks that their time is the best time to be alive. And saying social media has affected it poorly is like hearing a broken record to most.  I much preferred the hard work on a video part or two a year and put out something that would be a part of skimboard history. As opposed to a 24 hour splash. And just as importantly, the content for a video is a group effort that is one of the things I remember most fondly about my skimboarding career. We worked together. We formed like pieces to create the whole.

 

•              What accomplishments are you most proud of in the sport?

 I am most proud of my kids first and foremost. They really are the kindest spirits I've ever encountered and are so self motivated to pursue what they love. Besides that, being the first one in my family to graduate from college felt like a win for my family. I always tell skimboarders that going through college while being a professional skimboarder was great for me. Winning a skimboarding world championship had a similar group win feeling, but with my friends for the ride we all went on together. To reach the top of something that you pursued for so long, I definitely use for motivation for any goal I set for myself. When I reflect on my skimboarding journey, pushing the sport, helping others through our videos and being a role model probably makes me feel the best as this point as this point in my life. The fact that people can rely on me in and out of this sport reflects the values that I want to be know for.

 

•              What’s the next challenge for you?

Right now I still want to help skimboarding grow because it by no means gets the support that it should. Personally I have adapted to the times and run several skimboarding social media accounts and direct live sports broadcasts for my occupations. I still have that movie bug in me and would like to create a highly impactful film again to bring some cohesion and opportunities back to the sport.

 

•              How do you stay motivated to maintain to still have the ability to continue in your sport after so many years? 

The reason I still skimboard at 50 is the same reason I was skimboarding at 5. The feeling it gives me.