Mary Osborne

Mary Osborne is a gifted Cal­i­for­nia surfer and model who is super-stoked on life and adven­ture. Her rela­tion­ship with Patag­o­nia allows her to travel and be an ambas­sador for the envi­ron­ment. We caught up with Mary to ask her about her busy life.

What was your child­hood like?I had an amaz­ing child­hood. I was raised at Soli­mar Beach with my mother and father (who are still mar­ried), my three older broth­ers, my grand­par­ents who lived down the street and an entire neigh­bor­hood that was like family.

When did you get your first surf­board?
When I was 15, I saved up babysit­ting money and bought my first surf­board at Wave­line Surf Shop in Ven­tura. I was so excited and I wish I still had that board today.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
It was a big rush of fun! I was so excited that I was actu­ally stand­ing and rid­ing a wave. I was so proud of myself and at that moment I fell in love with surf­ing. I wanted more waves!

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young girl?
My three older broth­ers were my inspi­ra­tion. I wanted to as good as them in and out of the water. I also loved Jes­sica Lit­tle (who was our local pro surfer girl here in Ven­tura) and Matty Slater because she ripped in the water as well.

What is your rela­tion­ship with Patag­o­nia like?
I am very for­tu­nate to be with a com­pany like Patag­o­nia. I am what they call an “ambas­sador” for the com­pany on and off for the last 8 years. I help with prod­uct design, test­ing and surf mar­ket­ing. Patag­o­nia has taught me so much in so many lev­els. As I have got­ten a bit older, or shall I say “more wise,” I have come to real­ize what com­pa­nies I really want to be involved in and work with. It’s not about hav­ing as many spon­sors as pos­si­ble or the biggest pay­checks any­more. Now, it’s about want­ing to be a part of a com­pany that is carv­ing new paths for the future, using inno­v­a­tive core prod­ucts and giv­ing back to our environment.

Patagonia’s core phi­los­o­phy and envi­ron­men­tal aspects have blended into my every day life. I am learn­ing how to be more eco-friendly and how to make ben­e­fi­cial choices for not only myself but our future gen­er­a­tions. Patag­o­nia has taught me to open my eyes to the world, live sim­ply, play hard, work hard and be thank­ful for every­thing I have. I am very for­tu­nate to be work­ing with such a suc­cess­ful com­pany and have them sup­port me in my surf­ing world. I hope to con­tinue to work with Patag­o­nia for future years to come.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
Every place I have been to has some­thing spe­cial about it. I was just in Fiji two weeks ago and it was def­i­nitely amaz­ing. The surf had great poten­tial in the remote islands we char­tered around, but the lack of swell equaled small waves. We were aboard the boat Tui Tai doing a surf-humanitarian trip with four other pro surfer girls. We ended up vis­it­ing a tiny vil­lage that had never had vis­i­tors the entire time they lived on the island. We shared a mem­o­rable day together danc­ing, talk­ing, shar­ing sto­ries, eat­ing coconuts and fruit. We brought them gifts each girl donated and the Tui Tai boat wrote the head of the vil­lage a check right there on the spot. It was pretty amazing!

Who/what inspires you?
Any­one who takes risks, chances and lives a pos­i­tive lifestyle.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Every­one is dif­fer­ent in so many ways, so I try not to judge and get to know them. You never know what you might learn from another per­son or when you will cross paths with them again.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
There are only a few regrets I have, but they are not even worth talk­ing about The only things are sim­ple things and, hon­estly, they are things that I can still do in life. For exam­ple, I was asked to work on a boat char­ter in Mex­ico and I said “no”. I really wish I would have said “yes” so I could have surfed amaz­ing surf and learned more about boats, how they work, char­ter­ing, etc. I love boats and this would have been a real treat.

What are you most proud of?
Being able to travel the world surf­ing. It was once just a dream as a young girl. I am very proud of the hard work I have put into my surf­ing career and all the great things I have learned along the way.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing is my entire life now. I live every day in and around the ocean. Surf­ing has shaped me in so many ways. I have learned so much about life and other cul­tures through surf­ing and trav­el­ing. Every adven­ture opens my eyes to new things. I am extremely grate­ful for what I have and don’t have. The chal­lenges and risks I take have only made me a stronger, more edu­cated and all-around a bet­ter person.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My fam­ily and friends. Also, warm, mind­less, per­fect waves—but fam­ily always first.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
There are so many young male and female young surfers who are tak­ing surf­ing to an entirely new level. The tal­ented abil­i­ties, new inno­v­a­tive tricks, rid­ing big­ger waves, and all of the new shapes of surfboards.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is cur­rently your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
Favorite surf spot is in Ven­tura. My quiver con­sists of clas­sic sin­gle fin long­boards, high per­for­mance long­boards, quads, fun shapes—and they are all in cute col­ors. (Laughs)

Right now, I have two favorite Patag­o­nia boards that Fletcher Chouinard shaped me. One is what we call a “Fark” (quad fun shape short­board) and the other I call “Pinky” and it is my tri fin all-around long­board. I ride Pinky all the time; it’s not only cute, but works amaz­ing in all sizes of surf!

What’s your favorite meal?
A healthy salad or I like to indulge in Mex­i­can food.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Ray Lam­on­tagne, Steel Pulse, Paulo Nutini, Natalie Mer­chant, Todd Han­ni­gan I lis­ten to every­thing and anything.

What are you most grate­ful for?
Health, fam­ily and the ocean.

What causes/organizations do you sup­port?
I am involved in sev­eral non-profits. I believe it is extremely impor­tant to give back. I love peo­ple, chil­dren and help­ing those in need. I am apart of Free Wheel­chair Mis­sion, Board­ing for Breast Can­cer, Women’s Sports Foun­da­tion and sev­eral oth­ers. Every year I help host a “surf­ing cruise ship”; all the pro­ceeds go to var­i­ous organizations.

What’s next for Mary Osborne?
It’s non­stop right now, which is excit­ing, and a lot of new things are on the hori­zon. Besides work­ing closely with my spon­sors (Patag­o­nia, Bet­ty­belts, Go211.com), I have started a new side busi­ness Soly­mar Tan. I am set­ting up surf camps and yoga retreats (www.mosurfcamp.com). Hope­fully still trav­el­ing this upcom­ing year, writ­ing for var­i­ous projects, maybe film­ing a new TV documentary/reality surf show and, as of this morn­ing, maybe work­ing with Panama Jack (www.panamajack.com) on a few dif­fer­ent lev­els. This next year is going to be an excit­ing one and I am really look­ing for­ward to it! New adven­tures, learn­ing more, surf­ing, and being healthy!

More infor­ma­tion about Mary Osborne can be found here. Pho­tog­ra­phy  by Tim Burgess.