Ushering in the first official day of summer, during this season of sunshine we’re excited to share a new collaboration between SURFER, cannabis cultivator Humboldt Family Farms and California-based retailer embarc. A first-of-its-kind collab that celebrates the cross-pollination of surf and cannabis culture, the roots of this project are 65 years in the making.
“As a long-term surfer, farmer, and sun-grown activist, this collaboration is deeply meaningful,” explains Scott Vasterling, CEO and Founder of Humboldt Family Farms. “It’s a chance to unite two communities that have always shared a respect for nature, independence, and living life on your own terms—and to help normalize cannabis by showing how naturally it fits into that lifestyle.”
“We want to break the outdated stereotype of couch-locked stoners and celebrate all of the reasons to explore nature with cannabis—California surfers are some of the fittest and active athletes out there,” continues Courtney Zalewski, Chief Marketing Officer of embarc. “This collaboration is a love letter to California culture and a step in showing the world how cannabis fits into a vibrant, adventurous lifestyle.”
As a longtime student of surf history and culture, I feel pretty confident when I say that surfing wouldn’t be what it is today without its long, storied relationship with cannabis. The first logical place to start the story is at John Severson’s San Clemente home back in the summer of ’69 and John Severson.
Recounting how he introduced Severson, the founder of this publication, to cannabis, in a highly entertaining piece for The Surfer’s Journal, former SURFER editor Drew Kampion recounted how it all began.
“Knowing that I was prone to imbibe, and smelling it here and there around the office, John expressed cautious interest in learning more about ‘the evil weed.’ He was curious and he was my boss, so I invited him over to our house and proceeded to assist him in getting stoned, which, as it happened, he very much enjoyed,” wrote Kampion.
“From then on, consciousness in the Severson household and at Surfer magazine headquarters began to shift, possibly to expand,” Kampion added.
Predating the magic going down in San Clemente, another pair of iconic surf moments play and equally important role in changing the trajectory of the sport and culture of surfing. In ’63 there was Mike Hynson at Cape Saint Francis, a moment that would come to define Bruce Brown’s seminal film “The Endless Summer” (released the following year).
As the story goes, by the time Hynson, Brown and prodigal son Robert August got to South Africa rifts had formed between the trio. Camping at Cape Saint Francis and hoping for the best, one morning Hynson purportedly decided to walk down the beach to get away from his traveling companions and smoke a joint by himself. While imbibing he saw ruler-edged perfection running down the point. He ran back to camp, roused Brown and August, and the rest, as they say is history.
Then there’s Maui during the winter of ’66/’67. A flashpoint in the Shortboard Revolution, the board you’re riding today may be much different had it not been for a smoke session in the parking lot of a Lahina sugar mill.
Gerry Lopez and Reno Abellira had flown over to Maui to have Dick Brewer shape them a couple of boards. By happenstance, Nat Young, George Greenough, Russell Hughs, John and Paul Witzig, and Bob McTavish had shown up from Australia to surf Honolua Bay.
“Brewer and McTavish smoke a joint and start talking about design. They’re looking at all the boards and talking. After about an hour those other guys wanted to go surfing, so finally they pried McTavish away and off they went,” recounted Lopez.
“My blank was already sitting on the shaping room rack. So we talked over there, and I’m trying to tell RB that I want a board just like Reno’s. I want a 9’6”. I think the blank was a 10’6” and he cuts a foot off the nose. And I go, “Hey, RB, I want it 9’6”!”
“And he’s just in the zone,” Lopez continues. “Then cuts another foot off the tail. And I’m like, “RB! What are you doing! And he looks over at me and goes, ‘I got an idea, man, just flow with it.'”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the first “shortboard” was born. The Aussies may tell you different, but according to Lopez, neither Brewer or McTavish remembered the exchange, which is both funny and fitting.
Back to the SURFER/Humboldt/embarc collab, starting Friday, June 20 a primo strain of sun-grown Maui Waui by Humboldt Family Farms will be available at 16 embarc locations around California. There will also be “Surfer in the Tube” pre-rolls featuring three 0.5g Hawaiian Fanta pre-rolls in a tube made from reclaimed ocean plastic.
Happy summer. Happy surfing. We hope you enjoy this collaboration as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.