The SURFER Interview: Chris Ward

SURFER: How would you describe the difference between the whole pier scene and the scene that existed at T-street at the time?

CHRIS WARD: The pier was a bit heavier of a place to hang out, especially back in the day. There were a bunch of grumpy locals around, drug addicts, derelicts, whereas T-Street was a full family beach with moms and kids-it still is. It's two different worlds in a way. There were some pier guys who never surfed T-Street and a lot of T-Street kids who never really surfed the pier. Only a handful of us would alternate between the two and we'd do it if one or the other was really good. Those of us who did alternate got along with everyone.

SURFER: How does San Clemente compare to the surrounding towns?

CHRIS WARD: In my opinion it's a sleepy little town, y'know, pretty blue collar. I like the slower pace around here. When you drive up the coast, even 10 minutes, you feel like everyone's running around on New York time.

SURFER: Was the pier scene sort of a dysfunctional extended family for you?

CHRIS WARD: Totally. You had your misfits and guys who were always in trouble, but they all had good hearts and everyone looked out for one another. When I was little the older guys took me under their wings pretty quickly. One of the heavier old locals, Fred Dishman, got me my first custom board from Brian Clarke without me even knowing. He just handed it to me one day.

SURFER: The rap on San Clemente is that it's a town that's produced a ton of talent, but many of its hopefuls never amounted to much. Is that something you were aware of growing up?

CHRIS WARD: Yeah, sort of. I was only 13 or 14 years old when Archy was having his big issues with alcohol and drugs. I'd see him and some of the other boys paddling out all hung-over, surfing like shit. Then you had the guys who smoked pot all day long who thought they were ripping...but even they were tripping. They weren't surfing nearly as good as they normally do. It's something I didn't want any part of when I was younger-something I didn't think I'd let ever touch me.

SURFER: But you haven't been immune to trouble either.

CHRIS WARD: No...I'm not. Nobody is really.

SURFER: Let's set the record straight about what happened a couple years ago on the way to Brazil when airline authorities detained you. When rumors first surfaced word was you tried to hijack the plane. What the hell really happened?