Bird Huffman

Bird Huff­man is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer who is the owner/operator of The Shed in San Diego. After accu­mu­lat­ing an envi­ous col­lec­tion of boards and mem­o­ra­bilia, Bird’s Shed evolved to become a true gath­er­ing place for the local surf­ing com­mu­nity. We spoke with Bird to learn more.

What was it like grow­ing up?
I was blessed and still have both my par­ents, three broth­ers and five sis­ters. It was crazy around the house, but there was always much love and mutual appre­ci­a­tion between our­selves. My dad held down two jobs for the longest time to raise us and my mom was a full-time mother… times two. Always were brought up to appre­ci­ate what­ever we had and we learned to live a lot on very little.

My folks came here from Min­nesota in the early 50’s and never looked back. My mom would pack us all up in the fam­ily VW van and we’d spend all day long at La Jolla Cove div­ing and learn­ing about the ocean from real life­guards. My older broth­ers, Mark and Rex, got into knee­board­ing very early and I fol­lowed suit. Started hang­ing out and work­ing at Select Surf Shop in 1970, and have been doing basi­cally the same thing for over 40 years now. I’m still lov­ing it every­day. I’m 25 years mar­ried to Amy, and have two daugh­ters and two sons.

When did you get your first board?
My older brother Mark handed down his New­port House of Paipo to me when I was eight or nine.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood up on a board?
I was a knee­boarder, but, to me, rid­ing any type of wave on any­thing is a very hard thing to put into words. I couldn’t have been able to describe it then, and I still can’t find the words now.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a child?
Bill Caster was the biggest influ­ence in my surf­ing life then and even now though he’s been in heaven for many years. Peo­ple of that kind of integrity and love stick with you through­out your life.

Explain how the idea for The SHED came about.
I have always been totally absorbed in all things surf, but espe­cially more so about any­thing that con­cerns San Diego. Hav­ing grown up here for my entire life with some of the great­est surfers, shapers and design­ers all around me, I just took down men­tal notes and phys­i­cally started to col­lect per­ti­nent things that related to surf­ing. Noth­ing was orga­nized or planned—a board here and a few more there, an old wet­suit, trunks, mags, films tro­phies and so on just kept get­ting squir­reled away here and there with­out me ever really pay­ing that much atten­tion to it all. Years kept rolling by, as they do, and about four years ago, I found myself sit­ting out in the water at Cloud­break with a trou­bled mind. I was burn­ing out on retail and the gen­eral direc­tion in which surf­ing was being jammed down people’s throats. I found myself want­ing to just bail on it all— sell all my stuff, grab Amy and the kids and go under­ground in Aus­tralia or some such place and just surf! I fig­ured to come home and liq­ui­date EVERYTHING.

That same night, after the Kava cer­e­mony, a more peace­ful idea slowly started to form in my mind. I decided that I, as an indi­vid­ual who had been given so much through surf­ing, needed to give some­thing back. From that point on, I started to for­mu­late a plan where all that I had acquired could be shared with ANYBODY who wanted more of a true surf expe­ri­ence. Upon return­ing home, I found a large Quon­set hut build­ing, and slowly started to unearth and gather all the many things that I had col­lected through the years. Once I had most of the stuff in one big build­ing, I sort of freaked out at the shear amount of items I had amassed. I real­ized then that it was com­ing to a time in my life where deci­sions had to be made. So with the sup­port of my fam­ily and a very close group of friends, The SHED con­cept started to develop to where it has wound up today.

How did you get the name Bird when you are so into fish designs?
The name Bird really belongs to my older brother, Rex. It mor­phed over to me over the past 30 some years and as the great Greg Noll says, “It’s bet­ter then being called Shit Head!” My asso­ci­a­tion with the fish was nat­ural because of my love of the design and my chance to have been able to work closely with Steve Lis and Skip Frye in small ways over the years. I am just as involved with bonz­ers, quads and newer types of boards, like Firewires, as I am with the fish. Peo­ple tend to grav­i­tate towards this design or that depend­ing upon what­ever the trend may be. I pre­fer to stay on top of it all as it’s the sum of the whole that makes surf­ing what it is.

Who or what inspires you?
God above all other things… always. Being able to work with peo­ple, both young and old, who have a pas­sion and will not turn away from that no mat­ter what the pop­u­lar con­sen­sus may be.

What is the great­est thing that you have learned in your life?
That there is one true God who walks with you through all the tri­als and tribu­la­tions that you must endure in a lifetime.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done things dif­fer­ently?
You bet, and I dis­cover more every day. But as long as you learn from your mis­takes and try and do bet­ter the next time, I’m okay with that.

What are you most proud of?
Thirty-one years of being with the same won­der­ful woman.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing has been a part of my life for so long that this is a hard ques­tion to answer. I guess that surf­ing has taken some of the rough edges off of me over the years.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Peace and quiet.

Who are some of the indi­vid­u­als you feel are shap­ing the path of surf­ing today?
In shap­ing, I would have to say my num­ber one guy would be Jeff McCal­lum. He has that some­thing that I have only seen a few times over the many years. Ryland Rubens, who is my friend Pete’s son—who, at age 12, surfs with a pas­sion and style that all can appre­ci­ate. And a mil­lion other peo­ple of all ages who decide to pick up what­ever they choose to ride and go surfing!

What is your favorite board? Your favorite spot?
Right now, my 5’4″ Firewire Sweet Potato is my con­stant com­pan­ion. You can’t beat J Bay for the Rights or Restau­rants for the Lefts!

What is your favorite meal?
Amy’s meat­loaf, but using turkey meat only.

What are you cur­rently list­ing to on your iPod?
“Is Your Love Strong Enough?” by Bryan Ferry, with David Gilmour on gui­tar, from the “Leg­end” soundtrack.

What causes/projects/organizations do you sup­port?
Mainly grade level school auc­tions or pri­vate injured surfers causes right now.

What’s next for Bird Huff­man?
I’m going surfin!

Pho­tog­ra­phy cred­its: Cher Pen­darvis (1, 4, 8),  Kirk Aeder (2), Peggy Ketchum (3),
San­gi­olo Images (5, 6, 7).