“I almost called you up today to postpone this interview to go surf...”
It is no secret that the VAL, or Vulnerable Adult Learner, has wildly spiked in these the days of our surfing lives. The 30, 40, even 50-plus set discovering what was once a youthful game and giving it a go. Old dogs learning new tricks like “how to get in the way” and “poo stance.” It is inspirational in many ways and Guy Kawasaki must certainly be the most inspirational of all.
The handsome 69-year-old was born in beautiful Honolulu to a fireman father and stay-at-home mother. After graduating from ‘Iolani School, where royalty once went, he matriculated at Stanford. In 1983, Kawasaki got a job at a fledgling personal computer company called Apple as “chief evangelist.” And it was his marketing savvy that launched the “Macintosh” into hearts and minds the world over.
He has since gone on to sit on many important boards like Google, Motorola, Canva and, most importantly to him, surfboard. Yes, Mr. Guy Kawasaki discovered the “Sport of Kings” at the ripe age of 60 and now is ruled by “the tides.”
The brains behind “marketing evangelism,” now lives in Santa Cruz, owns twenty surfboards and has “now surfed almost three continents” according to a new interview in The Information. The whole thing almost got blown off, though.
“I almost called you up today to postpone this interview to go surf,” he laughed during a recent call with the interviewer. “All my meetings, interviews, podcast recordings— everything is scheduled around the tide.”
“His mind is usually half on work, and half on the Pacific Ocean, where he rarely misses an opportunity to surf the low tide,” Margaux MacColl writes before the story disappears behind the paywall.
Enough here for us to discuss though.
Firstly, is the “almost three continents” bit. How “almost?” Also how many continents have you surfed? I’ve got almost five because I thought about surfing in Brazil, when there recently, but didn’t.
Secondly, why is Kawasaki so fixated on tides? I mean, the tide is certainly important.More important depending on where one is surfing, but I consider swell more critical. Am I wrong here? Is this why my progression has stalled?
Well, that’s all I have for you.
Hope it was informative.