Your stoked author of SurfingStoke is me, Emlyn Stokes, 27 years old, of Santa Cruz, California.

I grew up surfing in New Hampshire and New England, but moved to California eight years ago to chase bigger waves.

I’m a a geologist by trade but my real passion lies in the surfing world with (unrealistic) dreams of industry involvement. My other interests include photography, filming, video editing, web design, and programming.

At last count, there were 19 boards in my garage. A couple fish (5′2, 5′6), lots of thrusters (5′10 to 6′2), some big wave boards (6′4, 6′6, 7′6), and a few longboards. A mavericks gun is being considered. 5 boards were broken in 2008 (I like to surf sketchy hollow slabs).

Guest contributor – Santa Barbara ripper, Andy: