It’s a Grom’s Life With Patrick Cahill

I wasn’t surfing 20 years ago, but I know things were a lot different. Not only has the action evolved, but so have the equipment and breaks we surf. Not all change has been for the better, but it is still a great time and place to be a surfer. But what about 20 years down the line? What will surfing in San Diego be like in 2026? I asked Cal State San Marcos freshman Patrick Cahill this question and this is what he had to say.
    “Trying to think about what surfing will be like in 20 years from today in San Diego… I can’t even imagine what will be going on. It’s scary to think about, but in 20 years I will be 38 years old and probably trying to keep up with a new generation of groms. That’s what first comes to my mind. I think about what kinds of crazy tricks will be commonplace. When I’m out surfing nowadays, if someone tries a “passion pop” or “kerrupt flip” and gets close to sticking it, everyone is pretty stoked to see that progression of surfing right in front of their eyes. In 20 years there will be kids pulling them off regularly and trying their own flips and tricks.
“I also think that the progression of the next generation will be fueled by the progression of surfing technology. With the technology that we are seeing today with surfboards and fins it is hard to imagine how much farther they will go to improve the modern surfboard but I just know that there will be big breakthroughs within the next 20 years. For instance, you look at how within the last few years epoxy boards got more popular. Then came the Solomon boards that are pushing the envelope in surfboard technology and, more recently, the Firewire boards are taking even another step. It’s crazy how surfing just keeps progressing. I don’t think that it will stop doing so any time soon.
“As far as the competitive scene in San Diego in the future, I think that the contests will continue to get bigger and bigger with the more people that are starting to surf. I think kids will always be doing the NSSA Series’ as most of my friends and I did. However, I also feel that other contest series’ will begin to get more of a push. For instance, the local San Diego series that No Fear is putting on called the Koastal Kaos series, and their Airshow as well, will begin to grab more and more kids away from the NSSA and into another realm of competitive surfing. There will also be different types of contest formats, from the original, four or six-man heats to the “pods” of the Punk Pro/Am, or the “quarter” formats of the NSL Game format. Hopefully, competitive surfers will be able to try each of these formats. And hopefully, in the future, San Diego will have a few more guys on the WCT to back up Taylor Knox when he’s done with his competitive surfing career.
“So, 20 years from now, my dream is to still be surfing everyday here in San Diego and to be involved in this industry. I hope that when I go to surf D Street as an old, washed up surfer, I see kids doing things on waves that are barley imaginable today. I also hope that I can open a SurfShot Magazine and see that a San Diego surfer has just won a world title. But mainly, I just hope that people can get the same enjoyment out of surfing that I have as a grom.”