CURREN CAPLES<\/b>
INTERVIEW by JAY ADAMS<\/b>
PHOTO BY ARTO SAARI<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The future is now and Curren is an all around skater who rides with nail-biting speed and endless style all while bringing modern day tricks to new levels on every terrain. This is a conversation between a legend and a rising star. We are proud to present Curren Caples by Jay Adams.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curren, what\u2019s up, dude? Let me ask you something. How old are you now? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whoa. Do you ever feel old? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] No. All my friends are older than me, so I always feel super young. Everybody is taller than me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s how it was for me. I was always the young guy in the group too. When you\u2019re young, you want to be older. When you get older, you want to be younger, but don\u2019t worry, you\u2019re not missing out on anything being 17. Where do you live? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I moved to Ventura when I was four, and I\u2019ve lived here ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where did you move from? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
My parents had me in Ohio and then they moved out to Oxnard and then we came up to Ventura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do you like doing better, surfing or skating? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know. Surfing is just super easy because you don\u2019t really get hurt, but it just goes back and forth. When the surf is good, I love surfing, but I love to skate too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s what I always say. I like surfing when the waves are good and skating when the waves aren\u2019t good. With surfing, it\u2019s more rare when all the elements come together and it\u2019s perfect, so you appreciate a good day of surfing. I appreciate a good day of skating too, but it\u2019s all fun. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not as rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember when I was 16, with skateboarding, if you were 22, you were old. I was thinking, \u201cI wonder what it feels like to be that old guy.\u201d [Laughs] Do you ever trip out on how old some of the guys are now like Cab and Hosoi? Do you ever wonder what it feels like to be old? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It must be crazy. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s so gnarly to just think about the Pro-Tec contests. I remember when Lance took the gnarliest slam and just got up and walked away like nothing happened. I was tripping out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That let\u2019s you know that you still have a bunch of years left in you, right? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your dad surfs. Did he skate too? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think he skated when he was younger. He skated until he was about 12 and then he just started surfing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You guys surf together all the time still? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, I mean he\u2019s always so picky about going surfing though. He won\u2019t even get out of bed. He says, \u201cCall me if it\u2019s good.\u201d It\u2019s weird. He will only surf when it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where\u2019s your favorite place to surf? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the waves are good, I like surfing Rincon a lot. That\u2019s probably my favorite wave, but a wave I surf every day is that wave at C Street. It\u2019s not that great, but it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C Street can be pretty fun. It\u2019s a little bit mushy but, how long is C Street when it\u2019s big and connecting all the way? It\u2019s pretty crazy. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whenever the waves get big, I end up going to Rincon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about those jetties in Pierpont? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t really surf down there that much. I don\u2019t know why, but I don\u2019t. There\u2019s always a weird vibe down there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re from Ventura, so you can be the guy giving the vibes, right? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] It\u2019s like the guys that live there. It\u2019s just kind of weird because the guy can barely surf, but he\u2019s all stink-eyeing you and you\u2019re like, \u201cI\u2019m not even doing anything to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you think sometimes you\u2019re affected by the localism in surfing? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s different. Surfing is so much more intimidating. In skateboarding, you can go up and just approach a pro skater. With surfing, no one talks in the water, unless they know each other. It\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah. Surfing is one of the only sports I know where people are the greediest idiots in the world. With skateboarding, when we were kids, it was kind of like that when we had secret pools. We wouldn\u2019t want a bunch of goons to invade them and blow them all out. On the whole, skateboarding was really cool because I made friends everywhere and it\u2019s still like that today. Sometimes surfers are lame. There was a long time when I wouldn\u2019t even call myself a surfer. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m a skateboarder and I surf, but I\u2019m not a surfer.\u201d [Laughs] What about Hollywood by the Sea? You ever surf down there? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve surfed there a couple times, but I don\u2019t know. My dad likes to go surf all those waves like\u00a0Shores and stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like going fast. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t really skate ledges or street that much because I don\u2019t like going slow and just getting tech. I just try and go as fast as\u00a0I can.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
What about Super Tubes? Have you surfed there? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, I\u2019ve never surfed there. Those waves scare me. They\u2019re so gnarly looking. It\u2019s just two feet away from rocks. My biggest fear is just paddling in because when I was in Australia, there was this wave called Lennox Head and it was super high tide and there were these gnarly boulders. I just hate paddling in when there are consistent waves behind me and I\u2019m just going to get blown up on rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uluwatu is gnarly on a high tide. Have you ever been to Bali? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did you surf Ulu\u2019s? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yep. You have to make it right through the cave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it\u2019s a really big swell and it\u2019s high tide, you really have to make it or you\u2019ll get pounded. What\u2019s your favorite type of skateboarding? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love skating Arto\u2019s pool. I love just skating. I like going fast. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t really skate ledges or street that much because I don\u2019t like going slow and just getting tech. I just try and go as fast as I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I saw you skate that Converse bowl at the U.S. Open one time and you were going really fast. You skated it really well. Did you like that place? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks. Yeah. It was fun. It\u2019s really hard to skate because they paint it blue. It tricks your eyes out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s a pretty amped out session. Guys are just dropping in on each other, but you were flying hard.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, there were a lot of guys from San Pedro. Those guys are gnarly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love San Pedro. There\u2019s really good surf and really good downhill skateboarding there. Have you ever done downhilling? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
No. I\u2019ve just bombed hills. That\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was in a downhill contest recently and we were only going about 40mph. Do you think you would try that? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t think I want to go that fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m trying to get Pat O\u2019Connell to sponsor a few downhilling events. That means you\u2019re going to have to skate in them. I\u2019m going to make you go 40 mph, but it\u2019ll be fine. I know you\u2019ll love it. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] I\u2019ll try. I like watching guys do powerslides down the hill with the gloves on. It looks really fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you ever longboard surf? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the summertime, I\u2019ll mess around on a soft top. I know how to walk the nose and that\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you think it\u2019s lame or cool? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s cool at First Point Malibu, but not when it\u2019s barreling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel the same way. I got a new longboard, and sometimes, in California, it\u2019s knee high and it\u2019s hard to have fun on a little short board when it\u2019s knee high. On a longboard, I can go out and have fun. Who is your favorite surfer? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dane Reynolds. He is everyone\u2019s favorite surfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about Gabriel Medina or John John? Who do you think is better? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think John John is gnarly and he\u2019s just so well rounded. It\u2019s crazy. He\u2019s growing up at Pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s a good skater too. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s really good. I saw him at the Banzai Pipeline Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about Kalani David? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s good. I met Kalani in Hawaii when I was 11. He was cool. The first time I met him he gave me a Santa Cruz board and I was tripping out. I went to his house and he was like, \u201cOh, you want a board?\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah, sure.\u201d I thought I was going to get one of his old boards and he opens up a box and it\u2019s a brand new board he hasn\u2019t even ridden yet. I was like, \u201cReally? Cool!\u201d I went off to Log Cabins and it was way too big for me at the time and I just got worked. I just wanted to get out because I had a new board, but I got destroyed. [Laughs] It was funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Log Cabins is gnarly. That\u2019s one of the few reefs in Hawaii that I tend to worry about because there are big gnarly pinnacles under there. I think Kalani David is like the next John John. It\u2019s like how John John was to Jamie O\u2019Brien. I would say you, Kalani David, Greyson Fletcher and Shane Borland are my favorite young skater guys that I see. I think you guys would do good to hang around with each other and push each other a lot skating. John John is super cool too. What about Shane? What do you think about him? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s cool. I saw him surfing up by my house. He rips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He surfs for Volcom. You surf for Hurley and Kalani is on RVCA. John John is on Hurley. You should have a contest and see who can take it. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] I think John John will win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In surfing, he would. I don\u2019t know about skating nowadays. [Laughs] He\u2019s pretty rad. What kind of moves do you like to do skating? What\u2019s the best gnarliest feeling you get besides speed? What maneuver is it? I\u2019m not going to call it a trick. I\u2019m going to call it a maneuver. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kind of trick that scares me a lot is going fast and doing a smith grind. It scares me for some reason. I feel like my board is not going to get on the coping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you think that Pedro Barros is the gnarliest skater out there right now? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s definitely one of the gnarliest bowl skaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who is the gnarliest all around skater? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
For pools and street, it\u2019s Grant Taylor. Every time you watch him skate, he\u2019s just out of control and out of nowhere. Every time he\u2019s in a contest, his board will end up going 30 feet in the air because he whipped out. It is so sick watching him skate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s gnarly. What do you think of the combi bowl at Vans? It\u2019s pretty deep. It\u2019s gnarly. People don\u2019t realize how vert and gnarly it is. Do you like it or is it challenging for you? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a lot easier to skate now. They changed it up and poured new concrete and new coping. It\u2019s easer to skate now than it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about the MegaRamp? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve rolled in on the quarter pipe and that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay, let me talk to your dad because I want to tell him he has to make you go do the gap. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] I think I could clear the gap and do an air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think you just have to do the gap to a knee slide and then do it and make it. Do a big old air and you\u2019d be so stoked. You\u2019d be like, \u201cThis thing was made for me.\u201d Guys like Bob Burnquist and Danny Way are on that thing. How about that kid that did the 1080? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom Schaar is so crazy. He\u2019s out of his mind. He goes to this place in Madera where they teach you how to spin. It\u2019s so crazy how he doesn\u2019t get dizzy. He can just spin and spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do you mean? Do they put him in an office chair and spin him around a hundred times and he gets up and doesn\u2019t get dizzy? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] No. It\u2019s on a trampoline. It\u2019s gnarly. You work with this board and you do a couple bounces and then you try a grab and spin with the board. I think Tom\u2019s working on the 1260.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019ll do it. Somebody will do it. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, it\u2019s so crazy thinking about it. How do you spin that many times?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just want to be going on some sick surf trips and some cool skate trips and maybe become pro and basically live the surf\/skate lifestyle.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Have you invented any tricks yourself? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
No. [Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe you can do that 1260. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs] You would just call that a tornado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That would definitely be a tornado. That\u2019s funny. They\u2019ve already got hurricanes, so a tornado would be perfect. What else do you like to do? Do you go to school? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m home-schooled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you like it? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s cool. I get really far behind in it. It\u2019s easy to get behind because you\u2019re not in school. I\u2019m behind right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can catch up in one weekend if you just do it all day and all night, right? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know. My mom and I do it because I\u2019m dyslexic. When I read a lot of stuff, I don\u2019t really get everything that I read, so my mom helps me out with a lot of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to go over to John John\u2019s house and they would be doing their home school. Are you any good at math? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m decent at math. I\u2019m not great, but I can do math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does anything in school interest you? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like doing science. That\u2019s pretty much it. The cool thing about my school is that I can pick my classes, so I don\u2019t have to do full algebra and all that stuff. My school is set up so I\u2019m just going to graduate. Nothing counts as college credits. It\u2019s a lot easier. I take consumer math and it just basically teaches you how to budget a trip. It\u2019s real life stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re at home, can\u2019t you use a calculator where you couldn\u2019t in school? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, everything is online, but some of the questions are hard to find. They make it so it\u2019s hard, but you can just have another computer next to you and Google it. I have books, and everything is an open book test, so it\u2019s kind of easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you like reading them? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
No. I hate reading them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we were on a plane to Bali, you wouldn\u2019t have a book? You would have your computer and be watching videos instead? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, or I\u2019d be sleeping. [Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you ever watch TV? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to watch a lot of TV, but not too much now. I have an iPad and I watch a lot of stuff on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TV is okay, but you\u2019re better off without it. When I went to Bali, I wouldn\u2019t have TV for months and I wouldn\u2019t miss it at all. What do you want to do five years from now? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know, I just want to be going on some sick surf trips and some cool skate trips and maybe become pro and basically live the surf\/skate lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you consider yourself a surfer or a skater? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m more of a skater. I got all of my sponsors because of skating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I started skateboarding, we copied surfing. Now surfers copy skating. If you love surfing and you skate good enough, you can pay your bills and go on skate trips and surf along the way. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been going on some. When I went to Australia, I would go over for skate contests, but I would bring three surfboards and go on a surf trip after. It\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first time I ever went to Bali, the only thing I knew about was Uluwatu and Kuta Beach. I went for a month and it was so cool. They have the best waves. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah. My mom and sister went on a trip with us to Bali and they loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you think skateboarding is political where you have to kiss ass to make it? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think it\u2019s like that in those bowl contests. It\u2019s weird because if you\u2019re not one of their friends, you\u2019re not making the finals. Unless you just absolutely killed it, then it\u2019s guaranteed. It\u2019s weird. It\u2019s almost not fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bowl riding is like surfing. How do you determine if Rune is better than Pedro if they don\u2019t fall on their runs and have amazing runs? You have to favor one or say, \u201cThis guy\u2019s style sucks.\u201d If I skated against Chris Miller, you\u2019d have a winner. He would win. [Laughs] When it\u2019s the ten top guys, it\u2019s hard to determine who wins. That\u2019s one thing that I don\u2019t like about surfing contests. I think it would be rad if they made wave pools with killer waves and each guy could surf the same wave. That would be more fair, don\u2019t you think? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah. You know how Disneyland has wave pools? One day, it\u2019s probably going to be like that. You\u2019ll get three perfect waves. You\u2019ll get a perfect right, and a perfect left and then you\u2019ll get one wave that\u2019s hard to surf. It would show who is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about Kelly Slater\u2019s wave pool design? It\u2019s like a perfect circle and goes around. That would be fun. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was talking to Pat O\u2019Connell about it and he was saying it would be really crazy because say somebody would push whitewash into it, so you can get air on it. If it were perfect the whole time, it would get weird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It might get boring because it\u2019s too perfect. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be funny if they did obstacles and stuff. The whole time you\u2019re waiting for an obstacle you\u2019re in the barrel and right when you come out of the barrel, there could be like a rail or something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do you think is going to happen in surfing? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think surfing is in a weird place right now because the judges don\u2019t know how to score airs and stuff. I think it\u2019s going to go back to who surfs with more power. It\u2019s so weird because guys can win contests that are all tricky and stuff, but somebody that\u2019s really making a wave perfect and staying on their rail won\u2019t make a heat because somebody did an air. It just doesn\u2019t make sense. It\u2019s so funny. I can do airs surfing, but it\u2019s harder to do a full turn. It\u2019s harder to do a really gnarly cutback rebound than it is to do an air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe it\u2019s going back to a combination of the two. It will be guys that can power surf like John John. He\u2019s really good. How about Kolohe? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s really gnarly. I\u2019ve hung out with him a little bit. He\u2019s cool. I think his surfing is gnarly because he has a lot of power when he surfs, but he can also throw an air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s so built to compete that some guys are jealous, but he\u2019s super good. Have people ever gotten jealous of your skating? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know. Maybe. I don\u2019t really get jealous of anybody. That\u2019s them and what they\u2019re doing. I\u2019m just going to worry about what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jealousy and ego are really bad, so don\u2019t ever be an egotistical lame. Know that you can surf and skate good, but you\u2019re no better than anybody else. Who are your sponsors? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flip Skateboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who owns Flip? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s Jeremy Fox that owns Ricta and a guy named Ian Deacon that owns Mob Grip Tape. Geoff Rowley owns part of it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geoff Rowley is rad. Who else? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flip, Hurley, Vans, Ricta Wheels, Independent Trucks, Bones Swiss Bearings, Oakley Sunglasses and Sol Republic Headphones. I\u2019m trying to get on Stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have Stance socks on. I don\u2019t like the weird colored ones, but I like the ones with the stripes and the white ones. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m wearing the camouflage ones with orange on them. They\u2019re sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those are kook socks. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay, I\u2019ll talk to you later. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay, bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n