Getting Hooked
It was just past dawn on Christmas day and the two people alone in the water had never surfed before. The two friends and coworkers figured that when in Waikiki, it’s a good as time as ever to start surfing. One of those poor souls in the waves was Stuart Gill, bobbing up and down, hapless and hopeful.
“It was nuts, man,” he says. “We watched the sun rise over the Diamond Head mountains, and I’ve always been an ocean guy and right then and there, even though I sucked, I just loved it.”
Gill has always been into sports. He’s tall and muscular and carries himself with that hint of assuredness inherent in all athletes. He was in Hawaii on Christmas as a manager for the San Francisco State basketball team, the school he attended at the time.
Growing up, he was in and out of different team sports, but says the only experience he has with solo sports were some stints in tennis. Currently, he coaches lacrosse and works for Yogi Roth’s media company, which has brought him closer to action sports like surfing.
He says the commitment necessary for going and learning to surf is one of the things that attracts him.
“Surfing, to me, is less a sport and more of a practice to me. I could go play pick up basketball or even flag football, or something, but I’d much rather go surf because it’s more practice and not just that competition,” he says.
He admits that he wishes the community was more welcoming to people who want to invest the time and money to learn. Recently, he recalls falling off a wave at Topanga while working on standing up, then being yelled at afterward.
“I probably was in the wrong, to be honest, and I get that people can get hurt,” he says. “At the same time, just a little bit of ‘Hey, I’ve been there before too,’ when you’re learning would be nice. Just frame it in a way that helps people out.”
He says his experience coaching means that when he sees someone struggling to learn something, he wants to help out. He’s found that team-based mentality to be a rare breed out on the water, and the beaches here in LA are crowded—very unlike that pristine morning in Waikiki where he says he fell in love with the sport.
“When people grow up on the water they’re frustrated that you’re out there clogging the water,” he says. “I understand that.”
“But,” he adds, “I need to learn, I’ve stood up three times and I’m hooked, so I wanna get out there.”
