Surfboards California

Christian Beamish is a world renowned surfboard shaper, writer, boat builder, and artist hailing from Ventura, California. He runs his label, Surfboards California, at 500 Maple in Carpinteria alongside a host of other talented craftsmen. This spring, Christian came to Rhode Island to shape some boards for his New England customers and check out our coastline.

During our daily half-hour commute through the woods to the shop, our chats ranged further away from board design and manufacturing towards what it meant to live a real surfing life within our industry. We caught up with Christian over the phone a few weeks after he headed home in hopes of touching on the essence of those conversations. 

All photos copyright Christopher Gauthier (@merman50)

Christian, all smiles in the Space Rock shaping bay.

Christian, what brought you out to Rhode Island?

CB: I had never been to your zone, but last September I was up in Maine and had a great trip coinciding with Hurricane Lee and got into some good waves up there. I’d met you guys at the Boardroom Show the previous year, and we talked about me coming East to check out the factory and shape some boards. After seeing I’d been up North, we re-connected and decided to plan a trip for this spring.

We were lucky that we found a fun wave on your last day…

Yeah that evening was so mysto, just way down on the beach there. For me, being from out here, it felt like a relaxed East Coast moment with the dunes and the tree line off to the west. I remember how it all lit up when the sun went down just under the storm clouds. The orange and red over the tree line… My eyes were just soaking everything up, even the way the forest is out by  factory and the grays and the different hues of the water. I love the set up and want to come back and explore more with you guys. 

Final screen pass to finish the rails. All handshaped.

You seem to have garnered an underground but serious surf fandom in New England, do you see any correlation to our zone and waves with what inspires you back home?

I think so, we had a few conversations in the factory looking at that old British Admiralty chart (of Narragansett Bay) and we were pointing out the reefs and then kind of correlating that with some footage from some bigger swells that you had in the last year or so. Definitely some of those off-lying reefs connect and resonate with Central California.

The coast there seems all broken up and that's what makes it so dynamic with all the inlets, it seems like we haven't even scratched the surface. It's funny but it very much looks like Ireland, right? The way the fields are cleared with the hand-made rock walls… The zone there resonates you know, it's got nature magic all over.

You wake up at home with time for a quick surf with a solid swell in the water, where are you going (respectfully non-specific) and what are you bringing?

A lot of our places are affected by the tides so sometimes you can sneak into a place that would want a little lower tide than you typically get in the morning in the winter. But if it's pumping, let's say ten- to twelve-foot, a lot of times if you get up before first light and get down there in your suit ready to paddle out with the very first inkling of light, you can get out to some reefs that the tide will be low enough for. With the pushing tide you can have an hour, hour and a half of some “small” big waves. I mean it’s not like Mavericks, but you definitely don't want the damn things to land on you! I did this full on experiment and it's interesting… I don't know that this would be a model that I would do, but I've got a nine-one round tail that’s really narrow, a spear—just 19” wide. 

In the afternoon towards dark at Rincon, pumping six to eight foot polished green glass would be the dream. For that session I might drop down in size to my MLBB (Mid-Length for Black Belts), an 8’3” eight-channel single fin. Just full line-drive old school powerflow surfing.

Roughing in the 6-channel bottom.

 Surfboards California is admittedly influenced by single and twin-fin designs from the 70s and 80s. Who are the key figures from that time period that most influence and inspire your boards today?

I fully embraced that late-70s/early-80s style but I wouldn't say I'm stuck in that era. The thing that appeals to me about it… (I always joke, I don't know if I made it up but I think of this term  “powerflow surfing”). Like our patron saints Michael Peterson, Rabbit Bartholomew, Dane Kealoha, and eventually guys like Tom Curren and Cheyne Horan in that sort of evolution of the style. I think people are realizing (and it’s not a new thing) that a touch-more more thickness flow, foil, and a little more volume plays a huge role.

Rhode Island has a rich cultural and economic seafaring history that seems to correlate with your past and the story of Surfboards California. What is your current relationship with the sea outside surfing? 

My little boy just turned nine years old and we've been loving this slow roller kind of Waikiki type wave we have. We were just surfing on Sunday together and he was lit up getting some nice rides and as much fun as it was for him, it was a reminder for me. We came in and we put our surfboards to the side and went back to the shore pound and let the waves knock us over and break on us. We were just playing, you know? I'm also really looking forward to getting my boat in the water this summer. I've still got my eighteen-foot Shetland beach boat and there's some places we can mission to from our harbor. Or, the beauty of that boat is if you want to time it right you can launch right off the beach dory style. 

Christian eyeing his work on this 6-channel swallow tail.

Given your propensity for travel and adventure, I assume you’re cooking something up. Where do you have your eye on next? 

I'm still thinking of missions I might do in my boat, the Cormorant. It's a very capable sailor and rower. It's kind of like taking a cross country trip on a bicycle or just backpacking. You can carry more gear on the boat than you could on a bicycle, or backpacking, but you are still powered by the elements and have to surrender to the conditions at hand.

I envision putting the boat in a container and shipping it somewhere. Maybe South Pacific, maybe the Caribbean and Central America. Making crossings to island groups and surfing and camping. Being ground level, you know? When you travel like that, in my experience, it brings you into contact with other people who are traveling in that mode, the people who live in the region, the fisherman, and the other sailors and surfers operating in the zone. 

To the average person living in New England, spring is a celebratory time. To the surfer, it represents the possibility of three-months without a wave over knee high. Your home zone shares a similar early summer problem. What are you looking forward to in the coming months other than riding waves? 

That's a really good question, I'm looking forward to seeing my children continue to develop and grow deep in their interests and skills. I’ve got a big stack of books that I'm interested in  reading. I am looking forward to whoever I'm going to cross paths with. There's so many great people in the world and you just never know how or when you're going to meet them. They've continued to pop up in my life and I hope it continues to be true... I suspect it will be. I'm looking to cultivate a positive outlook, and not in a “hey bro, everything's cool” sort of pollyanna way. I think that you get what you give, and so I am looking forward to having the courage to give and you know, give of myself.

We are looking forward to continuing to build surfboards alongside Christian and watching him hone his craft for East Coast surf. Keep an eye on our store for stock shapes from Surfboards California and/or reach out to info@spacerockglassing to secure a custom spot during a residency.