Not having a wood-burning stove in your van is so last year. Photo: Van Life
A trucker hat and a thruster does not a hip surfer make. Not like it used to. But here are a few gift ideas to boost the style quotient of any surfer. The items here range from totally imperative to possibly necessary to utterly excessive to patently ridiculous. You may covet them all anyway.
1. Wood Stove For a Camper Van
#VanLife was so 2016. That’s why no style-conscious van denizen would proceed into 2017 without taking the lifestyle to the next level. It’s not enough to live in a van merely equipped with basic comforts like a sink and bed. Next year, van life must include the rustic warmth of a wood-burning stove. In 2018, hot tubs and wood-fired pizza ovens might be mandatory, but the wood stove will probably get you through next year. And you might as well be warm before those winter dawn patrols on the road.
2. Super Hip Starter Set
At the moment, no sled is hotter than a fishy performance twin fin. Just ask the likes of Rusty, Channel Islands, Felipe Toledo, Torren Martyn, Noa Deane and many other hep cats. If you’re aiming for full blown style-icon status, throw on a front traction pad and, at the risk of gilding the lily, a multi-channel bottom.
3. Hipster Holiday Sweater
A sweater that draws this much attention will spare you from having to talk politics this holiday season. Photo: Swell
Think you can get through the holiday season without a Santa-on-a-unicorn-in-space-themed sweater? Think again, brah. This not-ugly ugly sweater will make a great conversation starter during awkward evenings with distant family members and that random person at your significant other’s parents’ friends’ neighbors’ holiday party. You don’t want to end up talking politics, do you?
4. Very Tasteful Traction
Let the whole lineup know how with it you are. Photo: Gorilla Surf
No tragically hip surfer should be caught dead with a crude pad stuck to her stick. There’s no excuse for failing to demonstrate via your tailpad just how cultured, tasteful and worldly you are. To that end, check out this Gorilla pad designed by Aussie surfer, artist, and fashion designer Otis Carey.
5. Anything Made From Recycled Skateboards
Whether it’s a ring, iPhone case, pocketknife, shelving unit, light fixture, coaster set, wine rack, or guitar, things made of recycled skateboards are de rigueur. And if you’re looking for something more meta, how about a surfboard made of recycled skateboards? Since re-purposing discarded decks became an it thing a couple years ago, tons of companies are on their grind, flipping these gorgeous goods. Land some for yourself or your buddies. Also, anything made from waxed canvas. Like these Huf sneakers, or this Billabong board sock.
6. Surfboard Grooming Kit
Why shouldn’t your wax job be as well maintained as your beard? Photo: The Make Co.
In recent years, fashionable men have learned to groom their beard like it’s a goddamn show dog. Now that most beards are brushed, oiled, scented and styled to perfection, those skills can be applied to surfboards. Plastic $2 wax scrapers are crass tools. Sophisticated surfers will want to pamper their boards with a waxcomb made of bronze and lapacho hardwood from Brazil and an elegant black cotton cloth. Does the scraper have a built-in bottle opener? Why would you even ask. Of course it does. You’ve got an extra $130 laying around, right?
7. Bicycle Banana Holder
Is that a banana on your fixie or are you just happy to see me?
