Bouncing, With Curren Caples

Coastal-dwelling humans, once evolved to a lucid state, didn’t take long to make their way into the world of waveriding. And eventually, from surfing, skateboarding was born. The two are innately connected; when the surf was flat, you picked up your skate. It was that simple… until it wasn’t. Somewhere during the era of JNCO Jeans, pooka shells and hammer pants, the relationship was sadly bastardised. “It’s funny, as a kid I grew up surfing and skating,” says Curren Caples. “Kids that skated would always be like, why do you surf? That’s so stupid. But now it seems a lot of people are doing both.”

Mr Caples, on a skateboard, is silk. Perhaps, because: “People say I kind of a have surf style when I skate,” he says. “But I don’t really try to skate a certain way, it’s just how I do it.” On foam, the kid absolutely tears. “I have more fun surfing,” he tells Stab. “Skating’s rad, but it feels like more of my job. I just surf for fun, I’d prefer to surf than skate. It’s cool though, surfing you just go with it and have to make use of whatever the wave presents to you. Skating, you end up battling tricks. You don’t get that as much in surfing. I guess you kind of have to battle the wave, or you can have a bad session. But there’s so much more pressure on skating. Surfing’s a good way to get away from it and have fun.” Curren’s found himself a happy balance; skate for money, surf for fun.

Curren’s a full-on frother, and it’s refreshing. He shapes crafts and pays deep attention to how different boards go. He’s calculated, his shaping bay’s covered in foam and he’s constantly designing new templates. He’s also one of the most polite cats you’ll ever meet. The kid’s doing wonders for surf-skate relations. Here, we ride with Curren and tap his thoughts on the modern day crossover.