Episode 10: Shedding Grace on Surf Etiquette with Rylee Owens

In this week’s episode with Riley Owens, we talk about surfing with women, her top rules for surf etiquette, how a lifetime of sports led her to pick up surfing as an adult, living in a trailer and living frugally to gain 5 months of freedom every year, and her love of mentoring the next generation of women surfers. Riley sheds grace on all of these subjects.

Highlights:
00:00] Surfing with women
[03:53] Her top rules of surf etiquette
[20:00] A diverse sports skill set
[20:41] Learning to surf as an adult
[25:48] Living in a trailer frugally for 5 months of freedom
[29:24] Mentoring the next generation of women surfers

Quotes by Rylee:
“I see these young girls in the water and I think they're so cool and love that they're charging and kind of sticking it to the man, because surfing is such a male dominated sport. I love when all the girls paddle out. I see them in that world surfing. And then I'm like oh my gosh, they send it on all these crazy waves and they love surfing hard. What would they be if we went backpacking or rock climbing or snowboarding? Giving them those first experiences has been so fun for me.”

“I would just take my board and sit in the car and watch people for 30 minutes; how they put their wetsuits on, where they're paddling out, how they're standing up on a wave. I got humbled a lot and surfing still humbles me. It's definitely the hardest thing I've ever learned how to do, and it's constantly changing, which I think is what I'm drawn to. It's kind of addicting to be in such a fast shifting sport. You're trying to catch a moving wave in the ocean. It's really difficult. It's thrilling. It's awesome, but also very frustrating. I've been doing this every day for eight years. You'd think I'd be a pro by now. There's days you feel I've got it, and there's days where you're like, have I even surfed?”

Christine Foerster