Thiermann brings a wealth of media experience to his first stab as an author. Photo: Ryan Craig
Kyle Thiermann has tamed Maverick’s and collected checks to surf. But according to him, surfing was never his greatest talent. That honor, he bestows on his writing, a craft he showcases in his debut book, One Last Question Before You Go: Why You Should Interview Your Parents (available for presale, releasing November 18).
“I felt like I was a more naturally gifted writer than a surfer,” said Thiermann, a 35-year-old pro surfer, podcast host, and now author, over a chai at a Santa Cruz cafe. “(When I started writing) it felt a bit like I was finally doing what I was supposed to be doing.”
Thiermann calls surfing his passion, but not his natural gift. In One Last Question Before You Go, he weaves both worlds together. Drawing from his 400 podcast interviews and the grit earned growing up in Santa Cruz’s rough surf scene, he challenges readers to truly get to know their parents through the sometimes awkward, emotional process of interviewing them.
He ties that idea to his own upbringing: a dysfunctional, divorced, two-household Santa Cruz hippie family steeped in conspiracy theories and parental tension, set against the backdrop of a surf scene rife with drug addiction.
While the book’s central theme of interviewing your parents is universal, Thiermann believes surfers will find particular value in it. Santa Cruz’s late-’90s and early-2000s surf community was a defining era for the sport – when aerial innovation, big-wave charging, big paychecks, and hard drugs meshed in a way that left its mark on global surf culture.
“I was the generation right below (those surfers), and I burn a good chunk of calories in the book on what it was like to be there and how my mom helped me navigate that scene without getting sucked up into it,” said Thiermann.
His mom, in fact, promised him a free surf trip to Indonesia if he stayed off drugs until 18 – a deal he kept. But while his parents and stepfather all cared deeply for him, their relationships were strained. At 16, he left public school to be homeschooled by his mom, who was deep into conspiracy theories that he adopted – much to his father’s frustration. Eventually, Thiermann rebelled, rejecting that world and resenting his mother for pulling him into it.
The spark for the book came years later, after inviting his dad onto his podcast. At the time, Thiermann was toying with a book idea about the 1960s – how baby boomers were dying along with their psychedelic stories and how modern culture wasn’t valuing elders’ wisdom. But when he interviewed his dad, he realized he could tell that story in a far more personal way – through his own family. He brought his recording setup to his parents’ homes and, over several sessions, interviewed his mother, father, and stepfather. The book was born.
Now based in Los Angeles, Thiermann has traded Santa Cruz’s wave quality for the creative energy of the global entertainment capital. Another thread in his book explores life after surfing – finding your identity beyond a surf career. Gone are the days when his brother worried he’d be surfing Steamer Lane and flipping burgers forever. These days, Thiermann’s just as happy running or spearfishing as he is catching waves, though when Malibu’s firing, you can count on seeing him in the lineup.
One thing we should have asked him? Is writing easier than dodging cleanup sets? Photo: Ryan Craig
Through his creative agency, Thiermann now builds brand campaigns and helps others tell their stories. He’s a prime example of how surfers can transition successfully beyond the sport.
“The FOMO (fear of missing out – on waves in this case) keeps you from learning a new skill,” said Thiermann. “It keeps you distracted, worried about what other people are doing.”
His advice for surfers moving into new careers: Get comfortable being at the bottom of the totem pole.
“The thing that keeps pro surfers from advancing in other careers is not a lack of intelligence. It is the ego of being high status in a very small world,” said Thiermann. “You’re going to have to be low status for a little while, deal with people telling you what to do, and feel stupid. But the thing to keep in mind when you’re going through that transition is that growth feels like failure. If it feels frustrating, it means you are on the right track.”
While he hopes the book finds commercial success, that’s not its main purpose.
“The thing I’m keeping my eye on is if it’s well-received by writers that I respect, and that it helps people interview their parents,” Thiermann concluded. “I would love to see people take the book, interview their parents, and then tell me about it.”
