Kameron Brown

Kameron Brown is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer who always spreads good vibes wher­ever he goes and some­times knee pad­dles out to the surf with a rod in his teeth to catch sand bass in the lineup at San-O. We recently had the chance to reel him in.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
Grow­ing up was quite an adven­tur­ous part of my life, for sure. I have amaz­ing par­ents that kept me doing all activ­i­ties, rang­ing from base­ball to hunt­ing. My Mom was always a great sup­port in my sports life. She worked many hours and still tried her hard­est to be there for every­thing. She has taught me many life lessons and I couldn’t have made it where I am today with­out her. My Dad has taken me on some pretty intense out­ings in my life­time: hunt­ing 200 pound Euro­pean boars, lob­ster div­ing at 1:00 a.m. or sim­ply home-cooked meat­loaf for din­ner. My Dad bought me all my equip­ment and has really set me up with the best gear for as long as I can remem­ber. “Spon­sored by Dad” is my motto! He is seri­ously the coolest Dad any­one could ask for!

When did you get your first surf­board?
I got my first surf­board in 2004. A prime eight foot red BZ soft top—probably the sick­est board ever. I learned how to do intense cof­fin rides and really get a good trim going. That board took the beat­ing of a life­time and even­tu­ally faded to pink, and made its way to the trash.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
Freedom.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
When I was a grom, I really looked up to my Dad. He took me every­where and really taught me a lot of life skills. I mean, he is my Dad.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
Of all the places I have ever trav­eled to, I would say that the Mentawai Islands are by far the most insane places to ever travel. The hous­ing, cul­ture, soci­ety, peo­ple, trans­porta­tion and just about every­thing is extremely dif­fer­ent then to how we live. The waves are sub­stan­tially bet­ter there as well. If you’re going to travel any­where for some solid surf, Mentawais is the place to go.

Tell us about the fish­ing pole while surf­ing thing.
I love fish­ing. Period. I fish all styles, from deep sea mar­lin fish­ing to fresh­wa­ter fly fish­ing. I grew up fish­ing all the time and I guess I can’t seem to get enough it! So, one place I love to fish at is San O—shhhhhh, don’t tell any­one. I start out with my 11′ McCal­lum surf­board designed for fish­ing, a bait caster set-up in between my teeth and my lucky fish­ing hat. Pad­dle out past the surf, pop a squat and just start cast­ing. This one par­tic­u­lar day, Dave Allee from Almond Surf­boards was surf­ing at San O and sees me catch­ing a bomb set with my fish­ing pole in one hand and a sand bass in the other! Par­al­lel stance is the only way to surf with a fish.

Who/what inspires you?
These are two really good ques­tions. Inspi­ra­tion is a big thing to me. I like to look up to peo­ple that really strive for the best in life. I have many friends and fam­ily mem­bers that I really look up to. One of my best friends, Chris­t­ian Wach, really inspires me a lot. He has accom­plished amaz­ing things in his life and is still only 19 years old. I think he really believes in me and that really helps drive me to do my best in every­thing that comes my way.

And what inspires me? Life inspires me. We were given this amaz­ing life to live on this earth to share love and really just be happy. Live life with no regrets and rise to the top.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
There are many great things I have learned in my life­time so far, but noth­ing really par­tic­u­larly stands out above the rest. I feel that every lit­tle thing some­one learns is another step to the top.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
I would say yes to this because of some harsh things in the past. But, really, I think what I did in my past taught me many good lessons and has really put me in an amaz­ing posi­tion to where I am now. I have an amaz­ing life and I think grow­ing up is all part of the process.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I did not grow up surf­ing; nor did my fam­ily. I faintly remem­ber my Dad surf­ing once in awhile, but really no one in my fam­ily surfs. When I first started surf­ing, I start­ing see­ing changes in my day-to-day life and even my friends were start­ing to change. I think that with surf­ing comes a surf­ing lifestyle. These changes got me out of trou­ble and really got me on track for a good life ahead.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Per­son­ally, if I had to choose just one shaper, it would have to be Rob­bie Kegal of Gato Heroi Surf­boards. This guy has put so much time, effort and study­ing into what he has become today—a mas­ter shaper and surfer. He has been pro­duc­ing the sick­est surf­boards ever since I got into surf­ing. I feel his shapes are the shapes of the future and I highly sug­gest every­one to try one. He looks out­side the bub­ble and really puts his knowl­edge to the test by cre­at­ing new and improved surf­boards that have never been made before.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is your favorite board?
11′ Jeff McCal­lum ~ Glider
10′ 6″ Gordie ~ Crusier
9’10″ Rob­bie Kegal ~ Creme Noserider
9’10″ Bing ~ Kameron Brown model
9’9″ Jeff McCal­lum ~ Nugget Chaser
9’7″ Gato Heroi ~ Psy­che­delic Noserider
9’6″ Tom Wegener ~ Hol­low Wood Log
7’2″ Wayne Lynch ~ Gun
6’6″ Alaia ~ Tom Wegener
6’2″ Alaia ~ Jon Wegener
6’2″ 80’s thruster
5’6″ Chris Chris­ten­son ~ Twin
5’6″ Bing ~ Twin

My favorite log would have to be the Nugget Chaser and, for a shorter board, it would have to be the Wayne Lynch gun because I got tubed in the Mentawais on it!

Your favorite surf spot?
I live in Dana Point, so my favorite local spot would have to be either Low­ers, San Onofre/Middles or Mal­ibu. My favorite spot besides home would have to be either Scor­pion Bay, Mex­ico or Noosa Heads, Australia.

What’s your favorite meal?
Acai Bowl.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
The Kooks’ “Seaside”.

What are you most grate­ful for?
Healthy life, happy fam­ily, and surfing!

What’s next for Kameron Brown?
I tend to take my days day-by-day, but I hope to travel to many places in 2010 like I did this year. I hope to take many more road trips in my van to North­ern Cal­i­for­nia and Mex­ico. Aus­tralia will be my first trip of the new year. I will be trav­el­ing between Noosa Heads and Syd­ney, surf­ing as much as pos­si­ble and just get­ting in a real nice, relax­ing vaca­tion to paradise!

More info about Kameron Brown can be found here. Pho­tog­ra­phy by Cameron Oden.