Ryan Burch

Ryan Burch is a young surfer/shaper from San Diego, Cal­i­for­nia. His recent exploits on a closed-cell foam board based on Lind­say Lord’s plan­ing hulls has brought him a lot of atten­tion. His shap­ing has also been rec­og­nized too, hav­ing won the Young Guns of Shap­ing con­test at Sacred Craft. We chat­ted with Ryan to learn more.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I grew up in Encini­tas, and was your typ­i­cal South­ern Cal­i­for­nia grom. I did well in school, so when the school­work was done, I got to go surf or skate­board or do what­ever it was that I was into at the time.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I got my first surf­board when I was eight years old. It was a 7’0″ mini long­board with some nose rocker so I didn’t pearl every wave. It was made cus­tom for me by my dad’s friend, Chris Slick.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood up on a surf­board?
I don’t remem­ber the first time I caught a white­wa­ter wave, but the first time I stood up on the face of a wave was in Mex­ico when I was about nine. I remem­ber how fast I was going and how the water was clear under­neath me, but more than that I remem­ber think­ing to myself, “Tonight when we go to din­ner and my dad and his friends are telling surf sto­ries around the table, I will have some­thing to say.” I felt really manly after that wave.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
When I was just start­ing to surf, I looked up to my dad and my brother because they were always the best surfers in the water, as far as I could see. As a kid, I sort of just agreed with what my dad thought was good. We had Five Sum­mer Sto­ries and I watched that a lot. Those guys were the surf stars in my eyes. Then I remem­ber I was in a surf shop try­ing on wet­suits and I saw Loose Change on the screen and it shocked me. It was Bruce Irons’s part and I remem­ber being blown away by every­thing that he was doing. Imag­ine only see­ing the 70’s (surf films), and then all of a sud­den you see some guy doing six foot air reverses.

Where did your inter­est in DIY (do-it-yourself) boards come from?
I first got into mak­ing my own boards when I wanted to long­board. I bor­rowed a board from a friend, but wanted to get my own and fig­ured the most cost effec­tive way to get one would be to make it myself. A good friend of mine, Chris Cravey, made all his own boards and he showed me what was up. See­ing him killing it on the boards inspired me to try to make a long­board that I could have fun on at Cardiff in the summer.

Who or what inspires you?
I’m so eas­ily inspired. I think as far as surf­ing goes, this is one of the most inspir­ing times to be a surfer. There are a lot of open-minded surfers in the water doing some insane stuff; the new gen­er­a­tion of surfers are push­ing the lim­its. Style inspires me. The peo­ple I surf with on a reg­u­lar basis inspire me, and the his­tory is also inspir­ing. Crafts­man­ship is extremely inspir­ing to me as well—to see some­thing that’s hand­made that has years of ded­i­ca­tion and hard work behind it is moti­vat­ing. and ded­i­ca­tion in gen­eral is really inspir­ing to me.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Thus far, the great­est thing I have learned in life is that I have a lot to learn. The most impor­tant piece of advice I was ever given was to lis­ten more than I speak.

What are you most proud of?
A good glass job.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
Home—because as much as I am excited to go some­where, I’m ten times more excited to come home.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing is every­thing for me. It has totally taken con­trol of the way I live my life, and it’s what I want to devote my time to.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Success.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Film­mak­ers, blog­gers and inter­net site folks—and your local rip­pers who inspire the next generation.

What is your cur­rent favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
My favorite board is this piece of foam that is the mid­dle por­tion of an INT soft­board core. No glass. No fins. No stringer. It is always fun. It is one of the rad­dest feel­ing boards to ride because it is so dif­fer­ent, and has so many dif­fer­ent vari­ables and things you have to do to ride the board. I can’t take myself too seri­ously on it, so I always have a good time. My favorite surf spot is Cardiff Reef.

What’s your favorite meal?
Three slices of spicy chicken pizza and a Moun­tain Dew from East Coast Pizza in Cardiff.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
My iPod just broke, but the last song I lis­tened to on it was Steve Nicks’ “Landslide”.

What are you most grate­ful for?
How much time I have to do what I love.

What’s next for Ryan Burch?
I can’t wait to find out.

Pho­tog­ra­phy of Ryan Burch by Kevin Roche.