Interview with Greg Hulsizer: 40 Year Surfer/Avid Board Collector

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Srinivas Rao

I was really fortunate to connect with Greg Hulsizer 40 year surfer and board collector.  From my conversation I came away with some great insights about life and surfing.  I hope you guys enjoy it.

Let’s talk about the addictive aspects of surfing. You mentioned that your daughter and her husband (both avid surfers) are trying to find their way back to a place where they can surf all the time or back to Southern California. I meet alot of people who surf and it seems like many of them really set their life up around being able to surf.  Why is it people will chose where to live, jobs, etc?

It’s not like that for everybody. But for the people who stick with it, and it really catches on with it’s like that. It’s a central part of my life and has been since my early teenage years when I started.  We’ve talked about before whether we’d move to the east coast. If it was two years and we knew would come back maybe, but other than that no way it’s gonna happen. I have to be able to surf for who I am and for my sanity. Everything I do I’ve always built around being able to surf as much as I can. I can’t surf as much as my friends do, some who are contractors who surf every day. I have had a pretty normal work schedule, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take extraordinary measures to be able to surf. For example, yesterday morning, was I gonna drive up the coast or make the drive from San Clemente up to Swamis. I asked myself “what are you a gym rat” or a surfer.

When I was a teenager I lived in hacienda heights, 30 minutes from Huntington beach. I had a job working for the newspaper on Saturday nights folding newspapers. I would get in my car without telling my parents, drive to Huntington, surf under the lights and then get back into bed in order to go to church in the morning.  We all go through extraordinary measures to go surfing. There’s not a day that goes by when I’m not surfing that I’m not thinking about it.

You brought up one thing that was really interesting. You hear it all the time. You said it maintains your sanity. Why do you think it is that it keeps you sane?

It’s such a physical release to be in the water. Sometimes it’s just nice to be in the water. When you are out there you are not thinking about anything else. You are just focused on surfing. It’s one of the few things in life that has no real social value. It doesn’t necessarily contribute to society in and of itself, except that it makes people that do it happier. After surfing, and clearing my head, I’m a much better husband, I’m a much better father, I’m a better business person. I’m more relaxed, I’m more in tune with what’s going on. My whole awareness level of who I am and how I’m functioning is increased. I don’t get the same thing from going to the gym. It’s a different type of energy. Surfing centers you alot.

You’ve been doing this for such a long time. Anytime I meet the people who’ve done this for a long time I wonder how much it’s changed?

I know people who sometimes go away and come back after 20 years. For me so much of my lifestyle and how I view myself has been built around surfing. I’ve been surfing since I was 14 and I’m 55 now. I spent 10 years as an ocean lifeguard. That time was all about surfing, paddle boarding, body surfing, just being in around the ocean.

I shape my own boards and have been shaping my own boards since the 70’s. That’s my hobby. Then I got married and my wife surfs a bit when the conditions are perfect. Then I got the joy of teaching two daughters how to surf.  Watching them grow and get into the sport was amazing. So much of what I do, pretty much everything I do outside of my work environment is around church, family, and surfing.

I think that my parents, my sister, and alot of people around me kind of get it. But, they think it’s become obsessive almost.  What are your thoughts on it?

When you are with surfers with the same attitude and mind set you can click with them no matter where you are in the world. When you talk to somebody who surfs no matter where they live or surf, all of a sudden you’ve got that common bond.

When I was growing up doing my early surfing days it was definitely like a brotherhood. Because I’ve surfed so long and so many places in California, it’s rare for me to go out anywhere and not see somebody I know.

When I was out at Swamis the other day guy came up to me and said “You’ve been surfing here for 30 years.”  He said “you remember me?” It turned out he actually was in high school and would come into a surf shop I was working at in Encinitas and immediately we were taken back to 1974.

It sounds really cliche, but surfing really is an attitude. You can take everything you learn in surfing and apply it to everything in your life.  It’s really about the feeling you get flowing on the wave.

Thins you learn in surfing apply in the business world, family life, and apply to driving on the freeway, they apply to intense business negotiation, they apply to dealing with your kids or communicating with your wife. For example when you pull into a big section and it’s starting to jack up and it’s going to throw, your body wants to tense up, but you have to tell yourself relax. The same thing applies in your daily life.

I’ve heard you have a collection of boards that’s pretty insane.  You’ve got two warehouses full of boards.

I like to collect boards between 1967-1977. There was alot happening in surfboard design during that time. That’s not to diminish in 1980 when Simon Andersen put the third fin on and the thruster the way we ride them today.  Beginning around 67 to the next 10 years surfing went through alot of changes. It also coincided with my formative years. I have a really affinity for boards particularly for boards during the 1967-1970 period when there was a transition from longer to shorter boards.  There was alot of experimentation going on. I have a collection of 60 boards or so. I have also have a board from each of the major manufacturers during that time.

Do you actually use all of them?

I usually try and ride them once. But usually I don’t ride them after that. I mostly ride the boards that I shape on a daily basis.

As far as surfers and getting a real job goes, what’s your advice on how to find that balance?

All I can do is speak for myself. My family does come first. I always need to make sure that if I chose to have a family, wife, and children that I could support them. Once I left life-guarding for a living, I knew that I would be surfing less. I“m still able to plan and be out there when it’s really good. I get people to look out at their goals longer term. When you think about surfing for life, it’s not necessarily about quantity every day but quality.  It’s taking the experience with you. Even if I lived in Kansas I’d still be a surfer mentality.

You know I’ve noticed sometimes all it takes is one good ride to make my day.

Absolutely. The thing is that it’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual that it gets deeply embedded in your memory bank. I’ve been really fortunate to be able to go surfing in Tahiti at a place called Tavarua island and the wave there is so unbelievable. It’s such a strong drop that a day doesn’t go by that I don’t flash back and on being there. I’ve surfed a zillion waves since April, I can go back in my mind and recreate the feeling of being on that wave. A few weeks back we were going to go to Rincon and I was telling my friends that I remember the day after thanksgiving in 1972 at Rincon pulling into a barrel and seeing all the other surfers paddling out flashing the peace sign. I’ll be sitting in a court hearing or boring meeting, and I take a 10 second break and remember that and I’ll be grounded again.

Do you remember your first wave?

I remember the first time I ever went parallel. For the rest of the weekend I drove my parents crazy because I told them ”I“m a real surfer now since I went parallel.” That was the day I defined myself as really surfing.

For me it’s been such a spiritual thing. Every time I catch a wave I come away with an insight. I realized wave selection is like the choices you make in life.

There’s different philosophies too. We surf lower Trestles alot. We sit on the outside and catch the larger waves while some guys catch the ones on the inside. My buddy says “you can get just as full on a bunch of french fries as you can on one big mac.” I think the key though is that you are having fun. The best surfer is the one that is the one having most of the fun. So in that regards, I have a goal when I go surfing, so to measure by that I aim to be the best surfer in the water.

The thing that I enjoy so much about surfing is paddling back out, smiling at people, and telling them that was such a great wave. Try to make somebody else’s day by giving them a wave, when you are both in position for it. They paddle back out and they say “wow that was great”, I love that.

What is that make surfers agro? I’ve heard there are people that are like that. It seems so counter to the spirit of the sport.

Some people bring that into the water with them. You can almost see it as soon as they paddle out. It has do with what you’re bringing with you. Man is selfish by nature. Surfing is a selfish sport. Let’s face it, it doesn’t contribute to society. I have friends who are kind of malevolent. The minute something doesn’t go there way they get sour.  The nature of it has changed. In the 60’s and 70’s it was more of a bohemian thing. It’s still a reflection of society. In 80s and 90’s there’s such a focus on performance. Earlier it was just more about riding the waves. There’s a natural tendency for people to want to get into it for the wrong reasons. With the competitive structure and society as a whole, there’s a zero sum game. So it breeds that. You bring out into the water that which you are on land.

One last quick story. Last year I had been working alot. My wife and I had been married 31 years. We wanted to go to Waikiki because she loves surfing there.  I said “I”m gonna leave my boards at home. I want to just rent two big bomber rental boards and I just want to catch one wave together and hold hands while riding the wave.“ It’s not really about pulling into the biggest barrel. It’s just about doing something you love. It’s how it heals you, and revives you.