Chris Rule

Chris Rule is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer who is the owner and oper­a­tor of Surfind­ian in Pacific Beach. This unique gallery fea­tures art-driven prod­ucts cre­ated for the shop as well as serv­ing as a cre­ative hub for the surf­ing com­mu­nity. Chris talks to us about what inspires him and the hap­pi­ness that surf­ing brings.

What was it like grow­ing up?
I grew up in a small town in Okla­homa, a long, long way from the ocean. But I always remem­ber lov­ing the water, whether it was in creeks, lakes or even in swim­ming pools. To say that there was an absence of surf cul­ture would be an understatement.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I got my first surf­board in the sum­mer of 2001. It was a 9’2” Robert August “What I Ride” model. I remem­ber walk­ing with it down the board­walk and it seemed too big to even carry. Now it would almost seem like a short­board to me. I was so stoked to be tak­ing part in surf­ing scene; I had been watch­ing surfers for about a year at that time and thought surf­ing was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I just remem­ber grin­ning ear-to-ear. You know, that big, open kind of grin where you can almost feel it under your ears. I was so happy.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
Well, I can’t say that I really had any surf heroes, but I always admired my uncle who lived in Las Vegas. He always had a strong “go for it” spirit in every­thing he did. I have always tried to main­tain that same kind of zeal, that same kind of zest. It was that spirit that led me to try surf­ing, and ulti­mately to open Surfindian.

What did you have in mind when you opened Surfind­ian?
I wanted to cre­ate a place to show­case all the tremen­dous artis­tic energy that is pour­ing out of the surf­ing scene. When I look at the surf­ing scene, I see all these great peo­ple and all their great projects. It doesn’t mat­ter what the prod­uct of their effort is. It could be a surf­board or a t-shirt or a paint­ing or a film. But what does mat­ter is that surf­ing is the spark that ignites this mas­sive ball of cre­ative energy. I wanted to try to cap­ture that.

How do you go about select­ing the prod­ucts and art that you show­case?
Ini­tially, they have to be of the high­est qual­ity, and they have to be at the top of the game. That doesn’t mean that I won’t take a chance on a prod­uct or art that is new or unknown. In fact, I like to show­case prod­ucts and art that haven’t been seen before or rep­re­sent a fresh look at things. But first and fore­most, the prod­uct or art must be really great. I always say that there are lots of good prod­ucts and lots of good art, but there are very few great prod­ucts and very lit­tle great art. I’m after the great prod­ucts and great art.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
I really love Hawaii. It just has a spe­cial feel to me. And I really love the native peo­ple of Hawaii; they rep­re­sent this great indige­nous cul­ture that can teach us so much. I know that Hawaii has great waves, and that’s impor­tant, but the Hawai­ian cul­ture (par­tic­u­larly the indige­nous cul­ture and the way it man­i­fests itself in mod­ern life) is some­thing that is really special.

Who/what inspires you?
I’m inspired by good peo­ple, no mat­ter who they are or what they do. I’m inspired by peo­ple who are kind to oth­ers. I’m inspired by acts of gen­eros­ity. I’m very inspired by peo­ple who have a fun­da­men­tal respect for others.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
That hap­pi­ness is only found inside you, and that the best life is a sim­ple life.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
No. I always tell peo­ple that I’m the luck­i­est guy alive. Don’t get me wrong—I have had some tough times and some things to work through, but no regrets.

What are you most proud of?
No doubt about it … my two daugh­ters, Eliz­a­beth and Katy. They are by far the great­est things that I have ever been a part of. Every­thing else pales in comparison.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
For me per­son­ally, surf­ing has a spir­i­tual and mys­ti­cal con­nec­tion that I haven’t found in any­thing else. When I’m out in the water, there are times when I feel so close to God—or the Cre­ator or Karma or what­ever label you want to use. You can just feel your inter­con­nect­ed­ness to the world and the forces that move and shape the world. You become aware that you really are shar­ing this expe­ri­ence with the dol­phins, the fish, the birds, the trees and all these other forms of life around you. And some­times, I just sit there astounded at the mys­ti­cal nature of it all. It’s really an amaz­ing thing—you’re rid­ing this nat­ural band of energy across the water, and it makes you feel really, really good. It’s really amazing.

Surf­ing has changed my life in that it has helped me to real­ize that the sim­plest things, the pure things, are the most impor­tant. If you have good health, close fam­ily and friends, and the abil­ity to splash around in the glory of nature, you are win­ning the game of life.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
I’m not sure about “the most hap­pi­ness in the world” because a lot of things make me really happy. But, on a per­sonal level, mak­ing other peo­ple happy brings me real hap­pi­ness. My mom always says that I used to invite the other kids over to play in my sand­box, and then just sit there and enjoy watch­ing them hav­ing a good time. I think I’m still doing the same thing except that now I invite every­one over to Surfindian.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Skip Frye is still shap­ing the path for surf­ing, and he’s been doing it for awhile now. Skip affects things on so many levels—his boards con­tinue to evolve, he’s been exper­i­ment­ing around with fins and, most impor­tantly for me, he’s a shin­ing exam­ple of how a per­son should con­duct him­self or her­self both in and out of the water. I mean, the guy has so much stoke that it is con­ta­gious. I tell every­one that I want to be like Skip Frye when I grow up.

Don­ald Takayama is another per­son that I believe is still shap­ing the path for surf­ing today. Like Skip, Donald’s boards are magic, and he con­tin­ues to exper­i­ment with new board shapes and fin con­fig­u­ra­tions. And, in my opin­ion, Don­ald is the very embod­i­ment of the “aloha spirit”. He is such a car­ing and warm indi­vid­ual. I want to be like Don­ald when I grow up as well.

And then, of course, there are so many great, younger, tal­ented folks out there. In the women’s arena, I think that Julie Cox, Kas­sia Meador and Jen Smith are all lead­ing the front for women’s surf­ing. In the guys’ arena, I think that Chris Del Moro, Mitch Abshere, CJ Nel­son and Tyler War­ren are all doing great stuff. And even though I don’t know him, I really respect how Alex Knost really pushes the edges cre­atively. It’s good to shake things up once in a while.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
My cur­rent quiver is dom­i­nated by long­boards. Most of my boards are from Skip or Don­ald, but I also have a Simmons-inspired board from Steve Mast that I really love, and I have a cou­ple of Eaton bonz­ers that are a blast to ride. I have two favorite boards: my 10’ Skip Frye Braden Noserider and my 10’ Don­ald Takayama Dou­ble Ender. I’ve rid­den a lots of boards and, trust me, those two boards are magic.

My favorite surf spot is good old Tour­ma­line canyon, right on the bor­der of Pacific Beach and La Jolla. The waves, park­ing lot scene, crowds, sounds and smells—I love it all.

What’s your favorite meal?
Sushi, sushi and sushi.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
I don’t have an iPod; I’m a stick­ler for liner notes and pic­tures. But I’m a huge music fan. I’ve been lis­ten­ing a lot to the Matt­son 2, the Growlers, Cal Tjader, Dengue Fever, Thiev­ery Cor­po­ra­tion and, of course, the Stones.

What are you most grate­ful for?
I’m most grate­ful for the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence life and all that it entails, espe­cially the events and rela­tion­ships that have come my way. I’m really blessed and I love life.

What’s next for Chris Rule?
I’m open­ing a new board shop in March-two doors down from the cur­rent Surfind­ian loca­tion. It will still be under the Surfind­ian name, and will hope­fully have the same “feel” that I have tried to fos­ter in the cur­rent loca­tion. Ulti­mately, it’s going to fea­ture the same kind of high qual­ity, unique surf prod­ucts that I cur­rently show­case except that the empha­sis will be more squarely on boards, clothes, and other surf-related prod­ucts. I hope that it will be a place where peo­ple like to hang out and have fun. As for me per­son­ally, I’ll just try to keep up my sim­ple life and get in the water as much as I can. And keep hav­ing good times and laughs with my fam­ily and friends.

Find out more about Chris Rule and Surfind­ian here. Por­trait of Chris Rule and of him surf­ing are by pho­tog­ra­pher Gavin Joule.