The SURFER Magazine Interview: Fred Patacchia

Whether he's flying or driving to his ultimate destination, Patacchia's hell bent on enjoying the journey

But those same guys who taught me how to surf at Haleiwa keep me grounded. They’re funny, because they have 9' 5"s, so all they care about are the waves that we got and how the chicks were.

You mentioned your father earlier, who’s also a surfer and a shaper. How pivotal of a role do your parents play in your surfing life?
They’re huge. We’re very close—always have been. My mom’s a social worker and my dad used to have a surf shop called Hawaiian Surf, but it went under after 9/11. Now he helps me with my rentals and does different projects with my sister. He was a contractor too, so he did my house, my sister’s house. He’s still shaping boards too, but his biggest focus right now is making sure his kids’ lives are going well—keeping us on the right track.

Well, anyone who’s seen a business come and go knows the value of money, and it sounds like your father has been pretty pivotal getting you to make smart decisions with your finances.
Yeah. All through my upbringing I feel like I’ve had the right information given to me. It was my dad’s idea to buy the house, but in the end it was my call, and every time I have to sign anything I’m really close with my attorney and CPA, and every time I go home I see them. My dad makes sure I know exactly how my taxes and mortgage work. And he puts me in touch with really good successful people so that I’ll be able to ask any questions. So he feels like I can fend for myself. I’ve read books about it and I try to educate myself because I know that surfing doesn’t last forever. Money makes money and if I do it right I won’t have to work a day in my life. I’ve grown pretty fond of real estate, especially in Hawaii where it’s grown so expensive that local people can’t buy it. I’m going to buy all these houses while I can because there’s going to be all these yuppies living around me. I’ve just been focusing on how to make sure I’m stable when I’m older.

What’s interesting to me is the guys who came before you had no one to guide them in that area. That first generation of surfers who made money had to fend for themselves and had no clue what to do.
It’s the schools. My teachers never taught me how to file taxes. If my dad hadn’t told me I’d be like, “Taxes, what’s that?” When I buy a burger it says $3.50, but it turns into $3.75. I thought that was paying taxes. When you’re 16 or 17, you are living with your parents and they’re paying for stuff so you’ve got all this extra cash, thinking, “What do I do with this?” If I didn’t have someone to show me, I’d be buying dirt bikes, expensive cars. I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 17.