Editor’s Note: This Hometown Hype film tour is presented by White Claw.
Encinitas is a surf town in the land of surf towns. But the San Diego County beach city manages to set itself apart. Its surf scene is at once mellow and fiercely competitive, supported by a dedicated cadre of locals that includes both hometown heroes and a few of the most legendary names in the history of surfing. But you won’t find many people pounding their chests about how great they are, or how great their town is. The surf scene in Encinitas is a mix of shredability, and humility. And that’s the way it’s always been.
“The biggest thing [I got] from everybody’s interview is that there’s a humble mentality about Encinitas and we’re kind of proud of that,” says filmmaker Jeremy Searle. “Then the fact that surfing is still meant to be fun. You can paddle out and half the lineup can be all on different boards. A lot of them still rip, but it’s not like when you paddle out at Trestles and it’s 99 percent high-performance shortboards. But we’re also on fire, competitively, like Jake [Marshall on the Championship Tour] and Levi [Slawson] winning the US Open, and the Boardriders winning the national title. There’s a duality. And we always support each other, win or lose. The community is really strong.”
And not to mention, influential. Local ripper and former ASP star Rob Machado essentially created the freesurfer – which is to say a surf influencer before there was such a thing. And from shapers like Ryan Burch, who’s helped change our view of surfboard design, to Chris Cote, one of the most recognizable voices in the sport, Encinitas has always been home to people who’ve helped change the game.
So enjoy Searle’s take. This is Encinitas.
Directed, Shot and Edited by
Additional Footage by
Music
Chicken Leg
Executive Producers
Luke House
Joe Carberry
