...and influence people!
One of the most popular of the self-improvement classics is “How to Become a Revered Surf Journalist and Influence People” by Chas Smith. For those of you who have yet to read it, or for those of you who have read it and want a reminder, here is our collection of some of the best quotes from the book on the themes of relationships, advice, personal character, rapport-building, and influencing. It’s no surprise that this book is the best-selling self-improvement book of all time.
Describe your first surfboard
Oh it was love! I was maybe 10 and living in Coos Bay, Oregon but my cousins, the coolest people ever in my young mind, lived in Carlsbad. We would see them every summer and when I was ten cousin Dan, who later became a bank robber, gave me a chubby 6ft rainbow twin fin shaped, maybe, in Hawaii. I surfed every summer, after that in California but most of my learning and surfing happened on the Oregon coast God bless it.
What is going well/badly in surfing today and how can we best navigate it to have the greatest positive impact on our sport?
I think the progression is unbelievable, not only what people are doing but what the shapers are making, wetsuit tech, awesome fins, etc. Surfing has never been so fun but, on the media/WSL/brand side the fun often gets buried beneath a pile of hypocritical, fear-based, paranoia. Oh the thin skin! We are strangling what we love by refusing to laugh. Here’s looking at you, Paul Speaker! And Volcom!
What is your opinion of artificial waves and the place wave parks may hold in the future of surfing?
I think wonderful! A part of the progression that I find so joyous. For me, surfing is about the beach and, the sand, the rocks, the salt water, the sun, the smells, the entire experience more than simply about riding a wave. But I applaud those brave scientists playing God. Here’s looking at you Kelly Slater!
Can’t get enough? Read more, and advice from Derek Rielly and Matt Warshaw too at the fabulous SurfCareers.com!
first surfboard: oh for christ’s sake
good: surfing
better: surfing with your mates
best: surfing with your mates in fucken good waves
bad: magnetic shark “repellents”, faux nostalgia, old people
very bad: BeachGrit
worst: SUP Yoga
and we should: get off the comments section
wave pools: a mirage
advice on how to become a legend: just remain alive long enough
What? No mention of active wear? Unless you were being subtle with “sup yoga”.
The title read backwards makes more sense: “People Influence and Journalist Surf Revered a Become to How.”
Kind of like this other sentence: “etc., fins awesome, tech wetsuit, making are shapers the what but doing are people what only are not, unbelievable is progression the think I.”
photoshop Chas?
If not, best surf shot.
Would’ve been better if he was driving the Porsche on that trip
It’s not! Deep Yemen with randos!
Are your homies chewing khat?
First Surfboard:
Orange railed 5’11” thumbtail with glass-on fins. Ripped harder on that stiff piece of shit than on anything now… at least that’s how I remember it.
What is going well/badly in surfing today:
Good – Beach Grit (sometimes), warmer wetsuits
Bad – Ever increasing crowds, WSL, warmer wetsuits, Cartel Management, Turpel
Best way to navigate surfing to have greatest positive impact on sport – Stop surfing or quit pretending like it can be a real sport
Opinion on artificial waves:
Fuck you, Slater… just kidding, let me surf yours!… please?… no? Ok, well fuck you.
Are you influenced?
First Surfboard: Early 90’s 6’8″ (!) roundpin Cole with red rails and tribal shit on the deck, a giant, gross old Cole logo and a giant ugly Waterman’s Guild barracuda logo on the nose. It’s still in my garage.
What is going well/badly in surfing today:
Good – surfing is fun sometimes, surfboards, Dane, Steph Gilmore, Sabre Norris, John John, Kook of The Day, the guys at Bubblegum Wax that gave me a rad deal on a boardbag, Virgin America for not charging me excess baggage, short boardshorts, videos with actual good music.
Bad – surf puritanism, spirituality, surf facists, hippies, The Inertia, wavestorm hipsters, crowds, baggage handlers smashing my sleds.
Best way to navigate surfing to have greatest positive impact on sport – Don’t tell people you surf.
Opinion on artificial waves: I really don’t care wither way.
You said it better, especially “don’t tell people you surf.” Words to live by.
It’s a t-shirt don’t you think? Or this? https://uploads.disquscdn.c…