Christian Wach

Chris­t­ian Wach is a tal­ented Cal­i­for­nia surfer who lives the dream. With Joel Tudor as an idol and role model, Christian’s surf­ing has taken him all over the world. An avid painter and designer, he shares with us his thoughts.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
My life grow­ing up was pretty rad. My fam­ily con­sisted of three broth­ers and two lov­ing par­ents. We grew up with sand in our dia­pers from Day One. My fam­ily brought us down to San O just about every week­end and that’s where I ended up catch­ing my first wave with my older brother, Steve. I nat­u­rally loved long­board­ing from Day One. My older brother, Steve, was and still is an out­stand­ing 60s-style surfer. My dad was the clas­sic long­boarder who’d hang out down at San O.

As we got older, our mom took us all around to con­tests up and down the coast. As I started to win many of the events, I decided to do as many con­tests as I pos­si­bly could: NSSA, ISF, Coali­tion of Clubs, ASP, PLA, the Easter Fes­ti­val in Florida, Hawaii. You name it. She always took me to these events and was there to cheer me on every step of the way. She was “Coach Mom”.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I got my first surf­board from a friend by the name of James Van­Shack down at San Onofre when I was about seven years old. It was an old Capo Bay with the corki­est air­brush to match, duct taped rails and a semi busted side fin. It was just about the per­fect board for a lil begin­ning grom. I caught my first waves on it at Bone­yard near the jetty at Doho. I was hooked after that.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
“Don’t fall! It looks shal­low and it looks rocky!”

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
I really admired Joel Tudor from the very start. He was my idol grow­ing up and still is in many ways. It’s funny because the rea­son I started rid­ing for Tudor was because I did a series of sketches depict­ing surf shots of Joel from var­i­ous mag­a­zines. And I loved sketch­ing these.

One day, my mom decided to call 411 and get the Tudors’ num­ber. Somehow—I don’t really know how—she got their num­ber and ended up con­tact­ing Joel and telling him about these draw­ings. He wanted to meet up with me and go surf. From the very begin­ning, he was just so nice to me and inspir­ing. I have to say he was my num­ber one inspi­ra­tion. All of my other inspi­ra­tions came from my friends at Doho and San O.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
I have to say I really enjoy going to Aus­tralia. I love Noosa. It’s gotta be one of my all-time favorite places to go. The waves are per­fect, the peo­ple are nice, and it’s absolutely beau­ti­ful there. It’s one of the only other places in the world I could see myself living.

Who/what inspires you?
My friends: Tyler War­ren, Kameron Brown, Wes­ley White­head, Jake the Zilla, Specgnar, Naters, CJ, Joel, Naki, George Trimm, Buckz­ina, O Dog, my dad, my lit­tle brother (Car­son), my older brother (Steve), Har­ri­son, Tom Wegener and Han­nah Norton.

What is your process for cre­at­ing your art?
I like to paint on boards. I use acrylic paint and Posca pens. I usu­ally paint on the hot coat and then hot coat it again to pre­serve the art­work. I have a surf­board label called Can­vas Surf­boards. It’s pretty new, but we sell boards at Icons of Surf.

Tell us about your lat­est ven­ture.
Can­vas Surf­boards is a group of artists that treat surf­boards as pieces of art in the sense that every board is hand painted. Every board is shaped by Ryan Engle at Nation MFG. Ryan’s an out­stand­ing shaper and has some really rad ideas.

I also just went to Nor­way on a trip for Out­side mag­a­zine. It was pretty rad to go surf in the Arc­tic Cir­cle. We also hiked crazy moun­tains, caught mas­sive cod, ate a lot of cod, camped, and went on a Viking ship while we were there. The place was intense and a trip I will never forget.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
The great­est thing I’ve learned in my life is that if you really put your mind to it, you can do it.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
No. I think that every­thing that’s hap­pened in my life has hap­pened for a rea­son and it’s made me who I am today.

What are you most proud of?
I’m proud to be able to say I do what I am most pas­sion­ate about as my career. If I could surf for the rest of my life, and be suc­cess­ful, I would. I think every­body would say the same thing about what they love to do. There’s noth­ing bet­ter than doing what you love.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing has made my life extremely wild. I would have never thought as a grom that I’d go any of the places I’ve been now. I’ve been so blessed to see the world and I feel like I’ve grown up so fast. I’ve expe­ri­enced so much and met so many awe­some, strange, unique and inspir­ing peo­ple because of surfing.

I pretty much owe every­thing to my spon­sor Gotcha too. Other peo­ple who have really helped me along the way have been VonZip­per, Ocean Minded, Sticky Bumps, O’Fish’l fins, NakiSurf, Aviso and Astrodeck.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Per­fect waves bring me the most happiness.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
I think Rasta, Tyler War­ren, Joel Tudor, Her­bie Fletcher, Kelly Slater, Har­ri­son Roach and Tom Wegener are some of my favorites.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
My favorite board has to be my new 6’0 Ryan Engle Can­vas Mini Noserider. My favorite surf spot is Trestles.

What’s your favorite meal?
I love sushi—by far my favorite food. I could eat it every day.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
I love Bon Iver, Dis­cov­ery, Angus and Julia Stone, Mod­est Mouse, Fish­er­spooner, City and Colour and Tommy Guererro.

What are you most grate­ful for?
I’m so grate­ful for my lov­ing fam­ily. They are num­ber one.

What’s next for Chris­t­ian Wach?
Egypt? Rus­sia? Sar­dinia? Antarctica? Hawaii? Why? I dunno. Why not?

Fol­low Chris­t­ian Wach’s blog here. Learn more about Can­vas Surf­boards here.