Purveyor of RAD | Pat Towersey

Pat Towersey is a true waterman, surfer, and doer of all rad things in and around the ocean. We thought it would be neat to catch up with him and hear about his recent adventures, especially at home being a new dad! 

Punker. How is life treating you? Life is good! I’ve just been focusing on being a new Dad and learning how to balance everything else around that.

Tell us about your recent trip to Hawaii. Can you describe the feeling being in the channel during the Pe'ahi contest? I was out in Hawaii for a Hurley Women’s shoot for Spring 18, when all of a sudden the mega swell popped up. It was my first time being out at Peahi and to be on a ski in the channel was insane. Clark Little was on the back of my ski shooting for the first day and then Derek Dunfee for the second day.

Sounds insane. So, I have to ask. Where did the nickname punker pat come from? It’s funny, people are always disappointed when they find out I’m not a “punker”. The nickname came from me being a young little punk. The guys at Volcom named me, I think it was just a marketing ploy, but it stuck.

Congrats on the newest member to the family baby Beau! Tell us about how rad is it being a dad? Thank you, being a Dad is the best thing ever, it truly is. I’ve heard women say it was their calling to be a mother and I feel the same way about being a father.

What advice do you have for new dads that like to surf and want to best manage the balance of family / passion for still getting waves!?  I think my best advice for surf junky Dads is that it may be time to hang up the spurs. Just take advantage of your local waters, go on craigslist and get a wide range of long boards and surf every day no matter what. Gone are the days of driving over 30 minutes to surf better waves, that are usually crowded and kinda lame.

That is gold. Are you excited to take him surfing and teach him about all about the ocean?  Absolutely, I’m so fired up to get him on a board and riding his first wave. I don’t think I’ll push it too hard and take him before he can at least understand what’s going on, we’ve done a lot of swimming and he’s loving it. That’s the most important thing, to learn to love and appreciate the ocean, even if he doesn’t get into surfing.

Looks like you got really barreled at home in Newport recently. Tell us about that last swell!? That was just before the last run of swell, we had a little South jump up. The peninsula gets fun late season, so there was a good little crew picking off some thumping beach break. I had some good rides, lots of closeouts.

You and Kai make foiling look easy and we imagine it is far from it. Would you recommend us giving it a go?  I’m still a novice, I’ve got to get a little more dedicated. Ryan Hurley has become a full pro and fast. I think the main thing with foiling is the time spent doing it, if you are athletic and a good surfer, it’ll take you a few weeks being consistent and you’ll click in.

Fast forward 10 years. You can go for a beach day anywhere in the world. Where are you going for a surf/hang with the family. Tell us about the dream day?  I’m not sure, Hawaii does sound nice – eventually I want to be able to spend half the year there and half back here in Central CA. Hawaii is great because surfing and the ocean is a seamless part of the lifestyle, there are little barriers of entry and whole families will be going for a surf in the evening time.

That is RAD. Are you working on any fun projects at the moment? Yes, there are some really fun projects in the works. I’m full-time at Hurley, definitely the dream job, planning a trip to Hawaii with a bunch of people to go support JJF at the Pipe Masters, going for his second world title. Also, we just opened a store in HB at Pacific City, which is insane, working on some cool activations for that.

You're always riding different shapes and sizes of surfboards. Do you have a particular piece of equipment that feels great under your feet when the surf is good at home?  I just got a Firewire CHUM LEE by Dan Mann, it’s really fun – the new Helium technology feels lively. Dan is also shaping me a custom board, which is going to be wicked, 7’10 fun board…

What are you most looking forward to in 2018?  Just watching my boy grow up and do new tricks, every day he does something cool.

Make sure to follow Pat - @punkepat