From his surfing, to the way he views the world, Tosh Tudor is a welcome throwback. Photo: Tubefession
To watch the graceful Tosh Tudor slide through a barrel on a board brings back memories of the great Gerry Lopez. Tosh, son of Joel, is a welcome throwback in a surfing world stuffed with an overabundance of, well, everything.
Tosh is a well-studied young man who surfs with homage to the greats he watched growing up, father Joel and Gerry included. He’s a classic surfer — humble, stoked, and always on the search for a big, open barrel. I sat down with Tosh to get his take on the surfing life, which he naturally makes look really easy.
How did growing up in San Diego shape you as a surfer? What would you consider your home break?
I mean, growing up in San Diego was pretty special to me. You’ve got so many iconic surfers that came from here, like Joe Roper, Ryan Burch, Rob Machado, Taylor Knox, and my pops. So, it’s a really sick place to grow up surfing because you’ve got all kinds of waves when they show up. It helped me develop that diversity, from super epic long waves to barrels at Blacks and Bird Rock.
I grew up surfing Cardiff the most. My dad’s spot is in Del Mar, where I was born, so I was kind of in that middle ground between Encinitas and La Jolla. I got to experience both a lot, but Cardiff is my home break for sure.
How did your father influence you as a surfer?
A lot. Surfing was just the most normal thing for me growing up. My whole family surfs — my grandpa, my uncle, my mom, my cousin – it’s just a huge surf family. So for me, it was natural to get into surfing. My dad is very successful in it, so he definitely made sure I wasn’t a kook. He helped me understand the fundamentals, like positioning, and that really helped me at the beginning. Other than that, he kind of just let me do my thing.
Talk to us about your board choice. In a world of high-performance shortboards, you ride retro and alt shapes. Reminds me of Gerry Lopez’s original design.
My dad put me on so many different types of boards. I started out riding single fins and eggs, which are way more boaty. I swear that really helped me find my own style because it made me take things slower. I had to position myself better and be a little less aggressive because you don’t want to slide out and stuff. As time went on, I started riding smaller and smaller boards. Then when I really got into getting barreled, I realized I couldn’t be riding single fins all the time and had to modernize it a little bit. As the years have gone on, I’ve gotten a bit more modern, but I still try to keep that old-school style because that’s what I grew up riding and what my dad taught me. You want to keep that style from the older generations while still trying to get the craziest waves you can.
How many magic boards do you have? Is there a difference between a magic board in terms of a longboard vs. a shortboard?
I have a couple magic boards that I have so much trust in. You can definitely feel the difference. If you’re riding a log compared to a shortboard, it’s such a different feeling. My magic board is this model from Thomas Surfboards. He shapes out in Noosa, and we have this model called the Therapist. I started riding that board a lot, and it still has that feel of coming from a single-fin outline, but it’s a lot more modern. It’s kind of a high-performance shortboard that’s trying to blend those things together and take from both those feelings. That’s kind of my magic board. It’s still got that older feeling to it. The setup is a thruster. Sometimes you can only do so much, and you kind of need it, especially if you’re going backside.
You have an incredibly unique style; bold and striking in the tube. Did you get some of that from long boarding? How about the knock-knee style?
I think it’s so ingrained in my head, such muscle memory from watching my dad and watching some of the old surf films growing up. Watching all of-the OG Pipe guys. I would watch those old films over and over again. So when I’d take off on a wave, I just had that in mind, and it became super natural. That’s kind of what I thought was normal because I didn’t start watching the newer films, like Momentum, or guys like Andy, Bruce, and Kelly until I got older. Then I was like, “Whoa, what the heck? This is crazy.” As I got older, I started taking influence from that too, but I think it’s mostly just muscle memory and having that calm approach, if that’s what it looks like. It comes from watching a lot of the older generations, especially because I grew up longboarding. You don’t want to look like a spaz longboarding — it’s not a good look. You want that slower, more composed approach, and I kind of applied that when I started trying to get barreled. I don’t want to be all over the place. I’d rather be composed and make little adjustments. I’m just more concentrated instead of being all over the place.
How does riding alternative craft in barreling surf affect performance? How does it make you a better surfer?
There are so many different feelings you can get from different surfboards. To ride one type of equipment all the time, I feel like you’re missing out on so much of what surfing can offer, especially surfboard design and all that stuff. Sure, you might blow it on a wave sometimes, but when it does work, it’s the sick feeling of, “Whoa, that was cool.”
For me, it doesn’t affect performance too much. Obviously, it depends on the wave. If I’m surfing some beautiful, draining point-break left or point-break right, I want to ride something a little more flowy so I can just cruise down the line and feel nice and smooth through turns. But if I’m surfing some fucked-up slab or Pipe, then I’m like, “Okay, I need a little more control.”
Even then, I still want that wide-point-forward feeling because it helps me feel in control. Just like the boards those guys rode back in the day — Gerry and those guys. With Gerry’s style and approach, he always looked in control. If I can keep that feeling going no matter what waves I’m catching, then that’s what I’m looking for. I still think it’s sick watching guys like John (Florence) and all the guys at the top level. They’re riding pretty modern equipment and surfing at such a high level. That’s just not really my approach.
Tell us about your movie Tubefession. How did that idea come around? What challenges did you face? Highs and lows from the trips?
Yeah, I made a film called Tube Therapy with my friend Cameron two or three years ago. That was just a really fun, cool experience because growing up watching surf films, I always wanted to make one myself. Last year, I got pretty lucky with trips, staying on a run and scoring good waves. I wasn’t posting it immediately, so I just kept saving the clips. Then last September came around, and I talked to Kalani, who runs this YouTube channel we created together called Foamballed. We decided to sit down and put it all together and make the film.
Where was your favorite spot to film?
Tahiti. That was my first real time seeing Chopes in all its glory. It was such a big trip. We had already made the edit, and then that swell popped up. We were in California, and I was like, “Hey, I think I’m gonna go and see how it goes, and if I get enough clips, let’s make it the last section of the film.”
When I went, it ended up being the hardest I scored the whole round of filming. Then I came back, and the premiere was that Saturday. I got back on Monday, we put it together, and it ended up being like, if I didn’t do that trip, I don’t think it would’ve made as much of an impact.
So, I think that was probably the most impactful trip. But Ireland was pretty sick, man. That place is so cool. It’s cold and gnarly, but it’s such a cool place and culture, and just insane waves. You’re surfing these nuts waves, then you have a little hot whiskey and a Guinness, gets you warm inside and you’re just like, “Life is good.” Then you wake up the next day and feel like absolute death.
Gnarliest wipeout ever?
I don’t even know. I’m not sure. I’ve had one at Pipe. It was not a very big day. Sometimes when it’s not huge, it’s not washing through, it’s just super heavy on the reef. I was kind of on a good one that day and thought I had this thing no problem. I paddled into it all nonchalant and got so smoked. I remember going over head first and thinking, “Oh my God, I’m gonna die. Like 400 percent, I’m gonna die. Let’s just go and tomahawk into the reef.”
I got super blasted, but I was okay. I think that wipeout was the worst feeling I’ve ever had — just thinking, “Oh, I’m gonna die.”
But other than that, I’ve been pretty lucky. I haven’t had any serious wipeouts or injuries. Just long hold-downs. I just take the biggest hits on my head wherever I find myself.
After all that, give me your favorite surfing memory.
Favorite surfing memory, damn. I’ve been so lucky to have a lot of good memories, but I had this trip with some really good friends in Indo one time. We got to stay at Deserts for about 10 or 12 days, almost two weeks. It was just this insane run. We kept surfing firing Deserts with a really minimal crowd. Looking back on it now, it was crazy because you get so desensitized to getting these long barrels that it just becomes normal by the end of it. Then I look back and I’m like, “Damn, I can’t believe we scored that hard.” It was so insane. It was just a really good time.
