Liz Clark

Liz Clark is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer who trav­els the Pacific on a boat named Swell. Choos­ing a life on the ocean allows Liz to dis­cover new cul­tures and to be able to find and ride that per­fect wave. After cor­re­spond­ing for months, we finally caught up with her.

What was it like grow­ing up in Cal­i­for­nia?
I was lucky to grow up in some nice areas of San Diego, usu­ally near the beach or open space. My favorite spot was in Del Mar, where we lived dur­ing most of my high school years. My par­ents rented a place one house back from the beach on 24th St and I had a pack of super fun friends and neigh­bors. That house became our ‘hub’ because my par­ents were so relaxed and easy-going. I remem­ber lots of beach break beat­ings learn­ing to surf, hot sand, rid­ing bikes, sum­mer high tide body surfs, sneak­ing into local jacuzzis, harass­ing the poor life­guards, food in the fridge, lots of freedom…not too much to com­plain about.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I was 14 at the time. I’d saved up money in a lit­tle green box in my bed­room at our house in Point Loma where we lived then. One day, I got my big brother, James, to drive me to South Coast Surf­boards in Ocean Beach. I went in and told the guy I wanted to learn to surf. He pointed me to a yel­low 8’4” Encini­tas Surf­boards egg, and I handed him a wad of assorted cash from the green box. I don’t remem­ber exactly why I felt so strongly about becom­ing a surfer, as no one in my fam­ily or close friend group surfed at the time. It all of a sud­den just grabbed me after meet­ing this girl, Renee, at school, who surfed. I was a com­pet­i­tive gym­nast for many years, but by that time, I was get­ting bored with it and ready for some­thing new.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I took a taxi to the beach from our house in Point Loma to the jet­ties in Ocean Beach shortly after buy­ing that board. I had no idea what I was doing, I just walked out into the waves, look­ing at all the surfers out on the out­side, and tried to catch the white­wash. I remem­ber feel­ing elated after finally get­ting to my feet and going ‘straight’ in until the fin hit the sand.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young girl?
My father was always my biggest hero. I also really looked up to my gym­nas­tics coach, Dar­ryl Davis, and many of my school­teach­ers, Mrs. Gibbs, Mr. Freeze, Mrs. Arn, Mrs. Cas­tru­ita… and after read­ing Dove and Maiden Voy­age, both books about sail­ing around the world when I was 12 or 13, I was in love with Robin Lee Gra­ham, and totally admired Tania Aebi. I was never one of those girls that had posters of the Back­street Boys on their walls.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
I’ve loved them all, but Kiri­bati prob­a­bly, the most. It was like going back in time, true sub­sis­tence liv­ing and cul­tur­ally very much in tact, homes built all out of palm and pan­danus, hardly any con­tact to the out­side world, amaz­ingly resource­ful and friendly peo­ple, healthy reef ecosys­tems, and some incred­i­ble waves too.

Who/what inspires you?
The nat­ural world is prob­a­bly my most con­stant source of inspi­ra­tion. As far as peo­ple who inspire me, there’s way too many to name…but to start: my Mom, Audrey Suther­land, St. Mother Teresa, Pema Chodron, Amma, Ghandi, Mar­tin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Helen Keller, H.D. Thoreau, Mark Twain, Her­man Melville, Walt Whit­man, Bernard Motes­seir, Joshua Slocum, Yvon Chouinard, Tom Cur­ren, Keoni Cuc­cia, Tay­lor Knox, Greg Long, Bethany Hamil­ton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thor Hey­er­dahl, Jesus, Bud­dha, Allah, and Jah, and any per­son who fol­lows their heart with good inten­tions for the world…
What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Our lives are a reflec­tion of our thoughts–focus on love, grat­i­tude, and the pos­i­tive side…

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
There was this one wave at Jalama last year that I pulled back on…no, kid­ding, I made a heck of a lot of mis­takes, but no, I don’t have any big regrets, all of them were just part of the learn­ing process.

What are you most proud of?
My cut biceps… no, kid­ding… my love for my fam­ily and friends, and the planet.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing is a sacred space for me. It has brought me unfath­omable joy, self-confidence, inde­pen­dence, and a fan­tas­tic rea­son to sail around the world. My pas­sion for it almost gets unbear­able at times, but I feel so lucky to love some­thing so strongly. And even luck­ier to be liv­ing my dream of surf­ing around the world on my own boat!

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Being with my fam­ily when everyone’s in a good mood and per­fectly bar­rel­ing rights with­out a crowd.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
The surf­ing ‘path’ that I like most is being shaped by Dane Reynolds, Dan Mal­loy, Greg Long, Bethany Hamil­ton, Carissa Moore, Julian Wil­son, Brian Con­ley, Dave Ras­tovich, Belinda Baggs…

Tell us about your rela­tion­ship with Patag­o­nia.
Patag­o­nia has helped sup­port my voy­age since 2005. I feel great know­ing that my biggest spon­sor is one of the most envi­ron­men­tally active and aware com­pa­nies on the planet. I only see our rela­tion­ship get­ting stronger as my own voice as an adven­turer, envi­ron­men­tal activist, and nature con­ser­va­tion­ist gets louder. It’s run by a col­lec­tion of amaz­ing peo­ple and Yvon Chouinard, him­self, is a true liv­ing leg­end – a pio­neer in thought, busi­ness, and con­ser­va­tion (not to men­tion how he changed the world of climb­ing). A rad­i­cal guy with a great sense of humor. I’m proud to be part of the Patag­o­nia family.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is your favorite board? Your favorite surfspot?
Being in the South Pacific for the last few years– mostly steep, heavy waves. It seems I’m always on my thrusters. Jason Feist, of J7 Surf­boards, in Santa Bar­bara has been my main shaper since 2001. I’ve got my essen­tial J7 thrusters—a 5’9”, 5’11’, 6’4”, 6’8”, and 6’10”. Then I’ve got two quads, a 5’4” fish and a 5’9” heav­ier glass pin­tail quad both shaped by my friend in Nexpa, Paul Lyle. And a fat twin­nie that another long-time friend and shaper, Sean Tully made. Fletcher at FC Designs recently made me a mag­i­cal 5’9” epoxy round tail and a beau­ti­ful 9’6” long­board, too. I’d love to get an alaia after hav­ing a go on Crys­tal Thornburg’s alaia in Hawaii last year. Lately I’ve been into body­surf­ing a lot, too.

Soooooo many waves great waves out there, but my favorite’s a secret…

What’s your favorite meal?
I love spinach, blue­ber­ries, wal­nuts, curry, broc­coli, car­rots, toma­toes, coconut milk, honey, gin­ger, and tea. Top any meal off with choco­late lava cake and it’s my favorite.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Althea and Donna, Gen­tle­men, M.I.A., Herb Alpert, Hoover­phonic, Alpha Blondy, Arcade Fire, Hank Williams, Paul Simon, Bon­nie Tyler, Beethoven, Beirut, Blue King Brown, Mar­cia Grif­fiths, Brigitte Bar­dot, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Jack­son Browne, Deep For­est, Dezarie, Diana Ross, Dr, Ali­men­tado, Lutan Fyah, Horace Andy, Jimmy Buf­fett, Joan Jett, Le Tigre, Todd Han­ni­gan, Michael Franti, Mid­nite, Quan­tic, Scis­sor Sis­ters, Sean Hayes, Sigur Ros, Ste­vie Won­der just to start… music is my life­line out here.

What are you most grate­ful for?
The love of my fam­ily and friends, and the peo­ple who believed in me.

What’s next for Liz Clark?
Now that I finally fixed the leak in Swell’s hull, I’ll be con­tin­u­ing west on my voy­age, through the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Kiri­bati, New Zealand…?? Wher­ever the wind blows me, I guess, and keep shar­ing my love for the planet with the world. I’m work­ing on a book that will be pub­lished next year, so that’s been quite a learn­ing process and helped greatly to improve my writ­ing skills. I feel very inspired to con­tinue my yoga and med­i­ta­tion prac­tice, keep encour­ag­ing peo­ple to live out their pas­sions, and look beyond the hype to seek peace, truth, and more sus­tain­able ways of living.

Fol­low Liz Clark and the Voy­age of Swell here. Pho­tog­ra­phy by Pete Hodg­son.