Gerry Lopez, Keith Malloy, Steph Koehne, Colin Herlihy on staying wet when surfing's not possible | SURFLINE.COM

GERRY LOPEZ
BEND, OREGON
SURFER/ STAND-UP PADDLEBOARDER

Surfline: We assume you got into stand-up paddleboarding long before the craze?

Gerry: Since I've been here in Oregon, I had to get creative with diversionary and alternative endeavors because I'm four hours from the ocean. I'd have a surf trip coming up and all I'd been doing was snowboarding, so I began paddling in the river, kinda boring. Then hitting the pool, really boring. I started doing cross-country stuff, especially skate-skiing, using the same muscles I would for paddling a surfboard. Then stand-up paddling came along, and I figured out right away that was a better way to stay in shape for regular surfing.

So if it began as a fitness solution, when did it become about the ride itself?

I went to Indo with Dave Kalama, who rode the shit out of these huge boards in really good waves. I was impressed, thought it might be a good thing to learn how to do, and it evolved from there. The boards have gotten a lot smaller and the whole process has gotten a lot more fun. You get older and your standards for what you will surf start to take on a whole new perspective. Obviously, I think about G-Land and the waves in Indo all the time, but I can have a pretty good time in anything. I think that's really the whole foundation of what makes surfing so appealing and effective. When you put aside all your expectations, prejudices and whatever else you've built up over the years, you can go out in any kind of surf and have just as much enjoyment as being out in the best waves in the world. More; Gerry Lopez, Keith Malloy, Steph Koehne, Colin Herlihy on staying wet when surfing's not possible | SURFLINE.COM