Sam Myles

General

I enjoy anything that has to do with surfing. Walking on the beach, longboarding, swimming, chilling on the beach, watching the breaks, looking at new boards, etc... Outside of surfing, I like to play the ukulele and learn more about my community, specifically the area in which my friends and I are from. For me, recognizing where we come from is important. I know the oceans are one of my homes, but I want to learn more about Socal itself. I also like hanging out with my friends in general, comradery is important to me ("Perception," Surf Culture, https://socalsurfing.weebly.com/perception.html.)

Music

After a long surfing session, some reggae can never go wrong. Whether it be Bob Marley, Jah Shaka, or Collie Buddz, it doesn't matter if it's reggae ( Michael Z. Gordon, prod., "Sufers Stomp."). If it's not the reggae vibe, I would definitely be requesting some of The Marketts or some of The Essex, both great groups. Here's some songs I'm into now: Surfers Stomp - The Marketts Pray for Surf - The Essex

Movies

My favorite movie of all time would have to be Point Break. The plot and the sick surfing scenes in the movie make it an incredible piece of art. My favorite part of the movie is the last scene where Utah tracks Bodhi down to find him in front of the mystical 50-year wave (Kathryn Bigelow, dir., Point Break, 1991.) More recently, a new movie called Blue Crush has caught my attention as a possible favorite (John Stockwell, dir., Blue Crush, 2002.).

Television

Besides watching surf tapes, you can always find me glued to either the older episodes from Surf Girls or Beyond the Break, a new show that just came out. Honestly, I love watching actors trying to mimic what it's like to truly live as a surfer, most of the time its completely wrong. The actors always try to convey us as uneducated, lazy, and just dirty people in general. While I do hate how TV portrays us, I can't help myself from watching more ("Perception," Surf Culture.)

Books

Unlike the common belief that we don't read and spend all of our time either in the water, eating, or talking to girls on the beach, I find myself reading every night. I would say my favorite book that I've read recently would be "Maverick's: The Story of Big-Wave Surfing Matt Warshaw" (Matt Warshaw, Maverick's: The Story of Big-wave Surfing (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000). It's an absolute thriller that describes what surfing big waves is like. My goal one day is to surf mavericks which is why I like this book so much.

Heroes

Similarly to the people that I hope to one day meet, my heroes are Bethany Hamilton, Kelly Slater, and Andy Irons (all big-name surfers). I hope to meet and talk to all of these very accomplished surfers and hopefully learn some of their wisdom that they've gained through so much experience.