15 Jul SUP Magazine Interview with Drew Brophy for Summer Issue 2013
Talk about your Grand Canyon trip: “That was pretty much like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna learn to surf so I’ll paddle out at Pipeline.’ I was real naive.”
I was stoked to be interviewed by Will Taylor for SUP Magazine.
My friend, photographer Jason Kenworthy, took the shot in my studio.
(Note about the painting on the Standup Paddleboard in the photo: it was commissioned by KEEN FOOTWEAR, and was inspired by my Standup journey across country last year – you can read about that here: Adventures in America’s Back Country. )
In the interview I talk about how New Zealanders were friendly when they saw me SUP Surfing Raglan, my 225 mile SUP journey down the Colorado River, and how SUPPING saved me from small waves.
Here’s a short taste of the interview (to read the entire thing, check out the magazine):
HOW DID SUP FIND YOU? I was in my late thirties and I couldn’t get motivated to surf all the time if the conditions were bad or there were no waves. When the waves are small, I’m moody, and Ron House was like, “Why don’t you come standup?” Immediately it was tremendous. It gave me something to do when I couldn’t surf.
SO YOU WERE THERE AT THE START. …Imagine in those early days, there’s nobody around, just Ron and I and a couple other guys. You’re just riding these waves forever and you’re not even getting wet. It just expanded my repertoire of surfing.
WHAT OTHER OPPORTUNITIES HAVE GROWN OUT OF IT? It has allowed me to get into other bodies of water, whether it be rivers or lakes. I’m a water person…..
TALK ABOUT YOUR GRAND CANYON TRIP. That was pretty much like, “Yeah, I’m gonna learn to surf so I’ll paddle out at Pipeline.” I was real naive.
At that point we’d only heard of a few guys that had been on the Colorado with standup boards but they all only did pieces of it. Nobody had done it all the way.
We did 225 miles, every bit of it. It was super-humbling experience for me. I saw some of the gnarliest, scariest things I’ve ever seen. But we surfed the river, man. Big laterals coming off and you bank off of them and come down and hit these pits and come up out of it and into the next one.
Art is my job but surfing is my passion. It’s a great magazine, please check it out online here: http://www.supthemag.com/
Life is Good,
Drew
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