chris from huntington

Chris from Huntington.
That’s the Huntington Beach in California. A spot any one of us would dream of living. A mythical place really. Even I have a framed photo of Huntington Pier in my bedroom, a perfect barreling wave in the foreground. And now this poor kid is stuck living here with his mom in Akron, aka Crackron or the A-K Rowdy. Life is over Chris, welcome to surfing hell (TM by Mikey Miller). This guy has a legit excuse to some serious depression, or so I thought. That’s why I was floored hearing Chris tell me why he was so amped about surfing here in Cleveland Ohio.

I’ll explain. It was getting dark fast. I ended up staying late at work and literally sprinted back to the rapid station. Damn, I still had to get home to retrieve my board and wetsuit. By the time I got to Edgewater the northeast winds were dying, the sun had already set, and Jamie and Luke were just staring at the dying swell from the beach. There was only one guy left out, so I paddled out like a maniac and soon it was just he and I at the break sharing some glassy three footers.

When you’re a surfer here everyone knows everyone, except I had never seen this kid before. But nobody is a stranger here for long, however, and before you knew it we were talking it up, trading some nice small waves. Hearing that he grew up surfing Huntington, I joked that he had to be suffering some major withdrawal, missing out on much better waves and the real surf culture in California. Instead he told me about how lucky he felt being able to catch waves in a place where surfing was still very much an underground thing. He said that now he knows what it must have been to be Robert August back in the 50’s and 60’s, with longboards, a friendly uncrowded lineup and some nice little waves coming through.

Wait a minute, you’re what, 17 or 18 and talking about Robert August?

Hell yeah Chris. Hell yeah. Welcome to the lineup my friend.

I just looked back toward the city, all lit up with the skyline reflecting back at us in the water. I went from being down about missing a day of surfing, to realizing just how lucky I was to be out of work and able to catch just a few waves in the near dark. This is such a different place when we can just get a little something from the lake. Even some three footers on a calm evening can make a real difference. Chris from Huntington is definitely on to something here.

taken by jamie yanak


Note: we were able to interview Chris for the Out of Place last Thursday. He was up at the lake and living in his car so he wouldn’t miss out on the storms that were coming through. Well, we did get some waves, but they never actually got any good. I’m guessing Chris didn’t care all that much.