Vast Lives

Vast Lives
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Vast Lives : Beyond the Waves Vast: Lives is a podcast that delves into the lives of the diverse ambassadors representing the Vast surf lifestyle brand. This podcast goes beyond the waves, exploring the passions, challenges, and stories of these individuals, showcasing their lives outside of surfing and their deep connection to the ocean.  Each episode features a different ambassador, offering a unique perspective on their journey. Listeners will gain insights into their personal lives, their motivations for pursuing surfing, and their commitment to ocean conservation. The podcast aims to inspire and connect with audiences by highlighting the human stories behind the brand and fostering a sense of community among surf enthusiasts. Key Features: Intimate Interviews: The podcast features in-depth conversations with Vast ambassadors, allowing them to share their personal stories, experiences, and perspectives on life.Diverse Perspectives: The podcast showcases a range of ambassadors from different backgrounds, ages, and walks of life, providing a diverse and engaging listening experience.Beyond the Surf: The podcast goes beyond the typical surf content, exploring the ambassadors’ passions, hobbies, and interests outside of surfing.Ocean Conservation: The podcast highlights the ambassadors’ commitment to ocean conservation and their efforts to protect the environment.Inspiring Stories: The podcast shares inspiring stories of resilience, determination, and passion, motivating listeners to pursue their own dreams.Target Audience: Surf Enthusiasts: Individuals who are passionate about surfing and want to learn more about the lives of professional surfers.Ocean Lovers: People who care about the ocean and are interested in learning about conservation efforts.Lifestyle Brand Fans: Individuals who are interested in the Vast brand and want to connect with its ambassadors.Anyone Seeking Inspiration: People who are looking for stories of resilience, determination, and passion.Overall, Vast Lives is a podcast that offers a unique and engaging look into the lives of the people behind the Vast surf lifestyle brand. It’s a podcast that celebrates the human spirit, the love for the ocean, and the power of community.

  1. Oct 13

    The Photo That Made the Momentum Crew a Rock Band | Steve Sherman

    Steve met with Steve Sherman after surfing Cardiff earlier that morning. By the afternoon they were sitting in Steve Shermans hometown, glasses on, a very small espresso finished, talking about four decades behind a camera. Everyone calls him Sherms. He came west from Indiana in 1974, when his father took a job at Fairchild Semiconductor, and left a toy store with a clay-wheel skateboard on the first day. SkateBoarder magazine did the rest. His father, an electronics engineer, built the first electronic timers for the downhill races at La Costa, and later bought him the 16mm Nikkor lens that ended any chance of a normal job. This summer that whole story earned Sherm a Silver Skater Award. The career began in the TransWorld Skateboarding darkroom under Grant Brittain, thirty rolls of film a day. Stacy Peralta, an old G&S teammate, sat him down for three hours, taught him to load 16mm film and handed him his job at Powell Peralta. When TransWorld launched a surf magazine, Sherm talked his way into the photo editor's chair without ever having been a surf photographer. What he shot was everything around the surfing: the houses, the backstage, the good, the bad and the ugly. It made him friends. It also put him at a poker game in Brazil with Andy Irons in his face, convinced Sherm was there to photograph him losing to Kelly Slater, while Parko grabbed the camera and shot a roll as a joke. There is the portrait of Andy after his third world title, made in a hotel room during an LAX layover; the knock on the Red Bull house door that Andy believed for years was a setup; and the photograph that made the Momentum crew look like a rock band. He is candid about the low point: fired from TransWorld Surf, the magazine he called his baby, and the anger that lasted until he went back and forgave the people responsible. Then Larry "Flame" Moore chose him to take over at Surfing. Now he shoots weddings, portraits and surfboard makers, and sells prints at prices fans can afford — the blue-collar press, he calls it. And there is the music: thirty-five years of Latin percussion, touring with Lucas Nelson, and a friendship with Eddie Vedder that began the night Kelly Slater walked out for a Pearl Jam encore when he was due to surf J-Bay. CREDITS Director / Producer / Host: Stephen Schutte Location: Cardiff, California Guest: Steve Sherman  Subscribe for new episodes every Thursday. Website: https://www.vastlife.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vast.life_ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vastlifeofficial Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 00:00 A very small espresso in Cardiff 00:59 Surfing Malibu with the Marshall brothers 02:20 The Silver Skater Award 02:28 Indiana, 1974, and a clay-wheel skateboard 03:12 The TransWorld darkroom 04:10 Stacy Peralta hands over his job 05:38 Talking his way into TransWorld Surf 06:50 School, and a natural photojournalist 08:34 A father who always showed up 09:18 The first electronic timers in skateboarding 10:24 The lens that changed everything 11:08 The decisive moment 12:20 Shoot when you think you shouldn't 14:05 Mellow but persistent 14:43 Andy Irons, an LAX layover, and the three 17:28 Double agent between Kelly and Andy 17:58 A poker game in Brazil 19:33 Kelly knocks at the Red Bull house 21:27 Making the Momentum crew a rock band 22:53 Earning respect in the water 23:25 Fired from the magazine he built 24:30 Forgiveness, and Flame's call 25:26 Weddings, prints and the blue-collar press 27:21 A loose cannon and the WSL 29:07 Strangers at LAX, and the hat 30:53 Eddie Vedder 31:45 Kelly skips a J-Bay heat for Pearl Jam 33:13 Lucas Nelson and Latin percussion 34:14 From stage fright to slide shows 35:09 An open invitation to J-Bay 37:53 Driving cabs, and even Stevens

    The Photo That Made the Momentum Crew a Rock Band | Steve Sherman

  2. Oct 12

    I have never needed a Phone — ASA3000, Snowboarder & Artist | Masashi Nishina

    Outside the window of Masashi Nishina's studio, the peaks of the Northern Alps are white. He grew up here, in Omachi, Nagano, close enough to three-thousand-metre mountains to ride in the morning and be back at the easel by afternoon. As an artist he goes by ASA3000 — Asa to everyone in the room. That is where this conversation happens. His first discipline was karate. He started at six and kept going until he was teaching it — fight and art in one form, he says, and never a fight you start. It exists to protect the people you love. What stayed with him was the idea of expression reaching all the way to the fingertips, and it runs through both his snowboarding and his painting. At ten, his school bag held no textbooks. It held a knife, salt and matches. On the way home he would catch fish in the river, clean them, build a fire and feed his classmates. There were wild mushrooms and mountain greens stuffed in the bag too, and a lesson about the value of a fish's life that he still carries. He picked up a snowboard at thirteen and turned professional at twenty, painting his own first signature board — the moment the art began. For most of a career approaching thirty years he rode freestyle in the mountains rather than chasing contests, because for him snowboarding, like surfing, was always play: a way to connect with snow, water and the mountain. Now he rides as an artist, and fresh powder is a white canvas. Snow and water, he says, are the same thing in the end. Everything is a circle. His biggest challenge came in 2013: a first-ever exhibition, not in Japan but in Brazil, as far from home as the planet allows. There is a Japanese saying that the further you travel, the more luck finds you. He says it came true. Then there is the part people find hardest to believe. At forty-nine, Masashi owns no phone and no computer. He borrows his wife's router to post to Instagram, then puts the device away. He never decided to reject any of it — he simply never needed it, and he believes it leaves him more open to the energy he paints. His wife, a yoga teacher from Hakuba he met in Seattle twenty years ago, does worry when he is out of reach in the mountains. His answer to that is the best line in the episode. We also talk about painting murals in the poorest neighbourhoods of India, Africa and Brazil, where nobody can afford to buy art; about giving back to the town that raised him; and about a slogan Vast and ASA3000 turn out to share: nature always wins. Subscribe for new episodes every Thursday. Website: https://www.vastlife.com Instagram:   / vast.life_   YouTube:    / @vastlifeofficial   Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 00:00 Inside Asa's studio in the Japanese Alps 02:19 Karate from six, all the way to teacher 03:17 Expression to the fingertips 04:24 When the creativity started 04:37 A knife, salt and matches instead of textbooks 05:14 River fish for the whole class 06:08 Wild mushrooms and mountain greens 06:43 Feral kids and the freedom of nature 08:35 Pro at twenty, painting his own signature board 10:02 First snowboard at thirteen 10:15 Fresh powder as a white canvas 11:05 Flow, indigo, Mondrian and the humility of letting paint move 13:10 Snow is water, and everything is a circle 14:52 Ride the mountain, paint at the bottom 16:20 Freeriding over competition 16:59 Surfing and snowboarding are play 17:52 A first exhibition in Brazil, 2013 19:16 The further you go, the more luck comes 19:52 Why Brazil opened its arms 20:43 The elements, the earth and the universe 21:24 What he wants you to feel 22:05 Nature always wins 24:04 Psycho, or saikō? 24:21 Bringing mountain energy to Tokyo and Osaka 25:14 No phone, no computer 26:09 Never refused it, just never needed it 27:02 The spirit of freedom 28:39 A dream already achieved 30:27 A message for the people of Earth 31:06 Murals from the skate park to the ghettos of the world 31:51 Meeting his wife in Seattle 33:00 Thirty years pro: no alcohol, no cigarettes, no caffeine 34:11 The deeper the love, the less you need to check in 35:47 Arigatō Vast Lives is a conversation series about the lives people build around what they love. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. ───────────────────────────── Director / Producer  |  Stephen Schutte Host                 |  Stephen Schutte Co-producer & Translation  |  Dave Nurse Location          |  Omachi -Nagano Guest               |  Masashi Nishina @asa_3000_ ───────────────────────────── #VastLives #MasashiNishina #ASA3000 #Snowboarding #JapaneseArt #Omachi #Hakuba #Nagano #JapanAlps #NatureAlwaysWins

    I have never needed a Phone — ASA3000, Snowboarder & Artist | Masashi Nishina

  3. Oct 11

    I Left Cambodia at age Two and Lost My Whole Culture | Sophea Khem

    Three hours inland from the California coast, the road climbs out of the traffic and into pine. Idyllwild — not spelled the way you think it is — sits in the San Jacinto Mountains among woodpeckers, squirrels, bobcats and the occasional mountain lion. This is where Sophea Khem lives. Everyone calls him Soap. He came out of Cambodia in 1980, two years old, through refugee camps in Indonesia and Thailand and into Boston on a church sponsorship. His father, a soldier, was meant to follow and never did. His mother worked a plastics factory, cleaned houses and minded other people's children — Sophea wore the hand-me-down shirts with those children's names printed on them, which confused everybody about what his name actually was. When she saw where the neighbourhood was heading, she moved her sons to a white suburb. What that bought him was safety. What it cost him was the language, the history, and most of the names on his own family tree. He doesn't speak Khmer, and he learned only recently, at forty-seven, that he'd had a stepmother. He's considering a documentary just to find out who his grandparents were. So he built a culture instead. Michael Jackson at four — he learned Thriller before he could read. Then graffiti, breakdancing, hip hop, and comic books bought with a paper route he started at nine. A girl in first grade showed him how to outline a drawing in a darker shade of the same colour, and forty years later he says he is still chasing that moment. It took him to MassArt as a painting major, to the autobiography of Malcolm X, and to a rage he had no name for until he understood what had been happening to him all along. Then the working life: a hat kiosk, Starbucks, four years in a pizza shop, and ten years laying tile until his knees gave out at thirty. The 2008 recession took the job. Los Angeles took him in. A UCLA design course he never finished became an internship, which became running the design for a liquor brand less than a year out of school. Then Street Virus, where the Fairfax and La Brea streetwear scene drank coffee in the office every Friday morning, and where he met Sam — the start of fifteen years and counting with Vast. He is candid about what he walked away from: the BMWs he couldn't afford, the LA hustle where you have to look a certain way to be a certain thing, and the moment his first child made all of it irrelevant. Wyoming came next, and was a little too remote. Idyllwild is the balance — kids who can roam, neighbours who filled a twenty-foot trailer in ten minutes, and a town where everyone has a hustle. Sophea's is bread: twelve to eighteen loaves a week for a farm stand down the road, with no plans to make it a business. And there is the dancefloor. Boston, 1996, a house party called Life, in the scene DJ Bruno built and Armand Van Helden left behind. Asian, Latin, Black, white, gay, straight, trans — everybody in one room and nobody watching the door. Hip hop had never quite let him in. House did. He calls it the first place he could exist exactly as he was, and the place he finally put the anger down. We end on one question: if that eight-year-old refugee kid could see him now, what would he say? His answer is the reason to stay to the end. 00:00 Three hours inland, in the San Jacinto Mountains 01:25 Idyllwild, and why they left Wyoming 03:34 Giving up the grind, the cars and the LA hustle 06:56 Cambodia, and what the genocide did to a generation 07:51 Escaping in 1980, and a father who stayed behind 08:37 The white suburbs, and losing Khmer 09:26 Grandparents he can't name 10:21 Michael Jackson, graffiti, and why Cambodian kids found hip hop 10:55 Getting chased home in a white neighbourhood 12:16 Wreaking havoc, and the mother who saw it coming 13:45 Wyoming, MAGA neighbours, and a trailer filled in ten minutes 14:54 On the ground, everybody helps you 18:25 The burnt chicken that changed everything 19:46 The girl in first grade who blew his mind 20:40 A paper route at nine, and a comic book subscription 22:19 MassArt, Malcolm X, and understanding the rage 24:22 Why he quit the fine art world 25:45 Ten years of tile, and knees that gave out at thirty 26:30 Los Angeles, 2009, learning design from scratch 29:33 Street Virus, Supreme, Stussy and the Fairfax scene 30:14 Meeting Sam, and fifteen years with Vast 33:22 Sourdough, pizza, and the pandemic deep dive 37:00 Twelve to eighteen loaves for the farm stand 44:00 The older brother who raised him 47:43 DJ Bruno, Armand Van Helden and the Boston house scene 48:30 The first room he could exist in as himself 51:39 What's next: family, homeschooling, staying up here 52:22 What the eight-year-old refugee kid would say Subscribe for new episodes every Thursday. Website: https://www.vastlife.com Instagram:   / vast.life_   YouTube:    / @vastlifeofficial   Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. #VastLives #SopheaKim #Cambodia #CambodianAmerican #Idyllwild #HouseMusic #Sourdough #DesignCareer #Streetwear #SlowLiving

    I Left Cambodia at age Two and Lost My Whole Culture | Sophea Khem

  4. Sep 25

    The Editor Who Was There For All Of It | Kevin Kinnear

    Kevin Kinnear pulled up outside the shop in Oceanside in a car with a hail-shredded hood, on his way to collect a Stratocaster with a skull etched into the red paint. He had not planned to sit down for an interview. He sat down anyway, and what followed is a walking history of California surf, skate and snowboard culture told by a man who was in the room for most of it. Kinnear came up through Breakout, the Carlsbad magazine that set out to reclaim California at a moment when the state had gone invisible, when the draft had scattered a generation and the last pro the coast had produced was Chris O'Rourke. Breakout gave the underdogs somewhere to appear, and by the time Tom Curren and Joey Buran arrived the mission had largely worked. From there Kinnear became the first trained editor at the skate magazine that Larry Balma and Peggy Cozens started above the Tracker Trucks grinding room, and nine months after that he walked into snowboarding, took one beating in Breckenridge and understood it immediately. This, he decided, is surfing for the rest of the world. Around that spine sits everything else: Art Brewer and the shot of Gregg Weaver that is still a classic, a marching drum that was never going to be rock and roll, Billy Hamilton playing flamenco at a sixty-seventh birthday in Honolulu, Blacks in 1971 with nobody else out, a Navy childhood spent crossing a country that still had colored fountains, and a friend who handed him a thousand dollars, no strings, on the worst day. He helped start the California Surf Museum, and still measures a scene by whether anyone bothered to keep its record. Late in the conversation a third voice joins the table. He is the son of a Hawaiian waterman called Aku, and he explains why Woody Brown used to throw rocks at his father's window before first light, back when Waikiki had no lifeguards and no leashes, and the safest thing in the water was a world-class swimmer. CHAPTERS 00:00 A hail-shredded hood and a chance meeting 01:33 Outside the shop, in the California sun 02:22 Tara, the museum, and a duty to old friends 03:10 TransWorld around the corner, above the trucks 04:51 The skate magazine's first real editor 05:39 Art Brewer and the shot that became a classic 07:21 Skate Craft at the Mingei, and craft as culture 08:10 A Navy childhood, coast to coast 08:57 The marching drum that wasn't rock and roll 09:47 Punk rock, Michael, and a skull-etched Stratocaster 10:32 Billy Hamilton, flamenco, and a birthday in Honolulu 11:24 The good kid and the wild brother 12:59 Five dollars a day at Jacksonville Beach 14:38 Colored fountains, saddle shoes, and a southern accent 16:19 Blacks in 1971, and the bullet he dodged 17:59 Boards that felt right, and the peak of his surfing 18:48 From shy kid to interviewer 19:36 Breakout and the mission to reclaim California 20:25 The 1979 contest at Blacks 21:14 A magazine for the underdogs 22:50 Guitars, fine furniture, and the Del Mar show 23:39 Editing, shooting, and the TransWorld years 24:28 Snowboarding, or surfing for the rest of the world 26:53 Watching Shaun White grow up in Del Mar 28:32 A thousand dollars and who your friends are 30:09 Uncle Donald walks into the Breakout office 30:56 Woody Brown, Aku, and the rocks at the window 33:21 Uncle Mickey and Uncle Lance 34:10 Ping-pong balls, Mundaka, and the Dora haters 35:46 The last word: I don't talk about people CREDITS Director / Producer / Host: Stephen Schutte Location: Oceanside, California Guest: Kevin Kinnear Subscribe for new episodes every Thursday. Website: https://www.vastlife.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vast.life_ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vastlifeofficial Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. #VastLives #KevinKinnear #Breakout #TransWorld #Skateboarding #Snowboarding #SurfHistory #Oceanside #CaliforniaSurf #DonaldTakayama

    The Editor Who Was There For All Of It | Kevin Kinnear

  5. Sep 22

    Our Surf Shop Was Malibu's Old Jail | Chad Marshall

    Across the road from his own shop, Chad Marshall is sitting in a stranger's living room. There are no walls. The fire came through Malibu a year and a half ago and took the house with it, along with most of the street, and from the slab where a family once watched television you can now see the pier — a view nobody has had since the 1930s. That is where this conversation happens. Chad is the middle of three brothers. Trace is older, DJ younger, and together they are Brothers Marshall — a surf shop on Pacific Coast Highway that behaves more like a cultural centre than a shop. Their father policed Hollywood through the eighties and nineties. He would finish a night shift, collect his sons without sleeping, drive them to the beach, surf, nap on the sand, and go back and do it again. He was a surfer and a skater before he was a cop, and he raised the boys loose rather than tight — a spring you hold down, Chad's host suggests, only goes wild when you finally let go. What follows is a life built on refusing the obvious path. There is the tandem heat at Malibu that he and Trace paddled into as a joke and won outright. There is the trip to Noosa at thirteen — no parents, no money, no mobile phones — paid for by a fundraiser involving Pamela Anderson and George Foreman, and a Four Seasons penthouse that turned into a party with Joel Tudor and half the professional tour. Chad made the final. Trace came home with the stories. Then came the clothing. Gonz, started twenty years ago, was a high-end surf brand sold through Barney's and Fred Segal when those stores sold no surf anything — an idea the luxury houses spent two decades catching up to. Warriors of Radness followed at a price the surf shops could carry. Along the way the brothers ran one of the first surf blogs on the internet, posting twice a day to an audience that checked obsessively. He is candid about what modern surfing has lost. The bad boys and the good guys, the chain-smoking chargers, the fingerprints — flattened, he argues, into a mould the best surfers of this generation want no part of. And then there is the building. One of the first ever built in Malibu, it hid original Malibu Potteries tile under decades of linoleum, and iron bars under the floor: the shop was the town's jail in the forties and fifties. It survived a fire inside its own walls, then the fire that erased the neighbourhood around it, and it reopened. A few months ago Mike D of the Beastie Boys asked to launch a record in the parking lot. It was meant to be secret. It was not. At ten in the morning the City Council called about the permits nobody had, and what Chad did next is the best story in this episode. ───────────────────────────── Director / Producer  |  Stephen Schutte Host                 |  Stephen Schutte Location          |  Malibu : California, USA. Guest               |  Chad Marshall  - Instagram @jah_nightsnake ─────────────────────────────

    Our Surf Shop Was Malibu's Old Jail | Chad Marshall

  6. Sep 16

    How Surfing came to Japan | Shingo Nakamura

    At CHP, the surf shop his father opened in Chiba nearly fifty years ago, Shingo Nakamura talks through a life that was never really a choice—it just always was. His father, Kazumi Nakamura, quit his job in the early 1970s and shipped himself off to California to learn how to shape boards, apprenticing under Tak Kawahara, a second-generation Japanese shaper working in the same circles as Hobie Alter and the old California legends. By 1974 he was back in Chiba with a surfboard factory and a shop of his own, one of the first of its kind in the region. It's a lineage that, as Shingo points out, connects in strange and wonderful ways all the way to Cape Town—Hobie Alter's old friend John Whitmore, the original Endless Summer, a surf world that in the sixties and seventies was small enough that shapers on opposite sides of the planet somehow all knew each other. Greg Noll himself became close friends with Kazumi, flying in once a year to stay at the family home and take part in a "wrong board" contest nearby—Shingo remembers him visiting at least three times. Shingo picked up surfing at eight or nine years old, taught by no one in particular, in a household where it was less a hobby than the family business happening around him. His younger brother went on to become a professional surfer and now shapes boards himself. Shingo describes falling in love with surfing the way anyone does—slowly, through discomfort before joy, through the discipline of years before a single wave ever felt easy. Much of the conversation traces how Japanese surf culture has changed under his watch. He remembers a pre-internet era of driving from point to point to check conditions, waiting for the next issue of Surfer magazine to arrive in a Tokyo bookstore, and a scene once defined by athleticism and competitive performance boards. Over the last decade he's watched that shift toward freesurfing and midlengths, a change he traces partly to riders like Derek Hynd and Tom Curren opening up a more creative, less rigid approach to riding waves. He talks candidly about localism at his own break, the etiquette that holds Japanese line-ups together, and the quieter, more communal version of surf culture that used to see people linger at the shop all day rather than paddle out and go straight home. The conversation turns heavier when Shingo speaks about a cancer diagnosis this past summer—surgery, nearly two weeks in hospital, and a doctor's orders keeping him out of the water until the new year. He talks about it plainly, without self-pity, crediting his family and community for carrying him through it, and admits the hardest part isn't the recovery itself but watching the swell roll in from behind the counter he can't yet paddle out from. CHP itself comes up almost as a character in its own right—part surf shop, part informal museum, with boards from Greg Noll and Takayama lining the walls alongside decades of history most visitors never think to ask about. Shingo extends an open invitation to travelers passing through: stop in, say hello, ask questions, maybe borrow a board, and hear a little more about how surfing actually found its way to Japan in the first place. Equal parts surf history lesson and quiet reflection on resilience, this one is a reminder that the best stories are often standing behind the counter of the local shop. ───────────────────────────── Director / Producer  |  Stephen Schutte Host                 |  Stephen Schutte Location          |  Chiba - Japan Guest               | Shingo Nakamura  - Instagram @new5_chp ─────────────────────────────

    How Surfing came to Japan | Shingo Nakamura

  7. Sep 8

    The Question I Didn't Expect to Answer | Ryo Shimizu

    Ryo Shimizu meets us on a quiet football pitch in Chiba, fresh off an 8am flight from Bangkok, to talk about a life spent behind the lens. Ryo didn't set out to become a photographer. He picked up a camera in elementary school and never really put it down, carrying a disposable waterproof one into the surf as a teenager in Kyushu before eventually landing in Tokyo, then Chiba. Work came slowly, through friends and word of mouth, until one day the label just fit. His childhood was shaped by constant relocation — Takamatsu, then Kyushu, then Tokyo — as his family followed his father's job. Rather than mourning the friendships left behind, Ryo found himself drawn to the excitement of starting over, a pattern that would later define how he travels: no itinerary, no research, just conversations with locals that lead him to the forgotten histories tucked behind coffee shops and quiet backstreets. That same instinct shows up in his photography. Ryo has shot editorial work for Marie Claire and built a reputation for portraiture that favours the unscripted moment over the styled one — the shot a subject didn't know they wanted until they saw it. He talks candidly about the tension between a client's rigid brief and his own restlessness, and the times he's stepped outside the frame to shoot something no one asked for, because it mattered to him. The conversation turns personal when Ryo speaks about his girlfriend, a surfer chasing a world title, and the documentary he made following her journey — his first, screened to a room of a hundred people in Tokyo who paid to watch, and cried. For Ryo, the ocean is where his girlfriend competes and where he finds stillness watching her do it. For Steve, it's something rawer: a place to process the years after his own father left, where no one can see you cry because you're already wet. Find more of Ryo's work and his links below Website : https://ryoshimizucom.wixsite.com/mysite/about ───────────────────────────── Director / Producer  |  Stephen Schutte Host                 |  Stephen Schutte Co-producer & Translation  |  Dave Nurse Location          |  San Clemente - California  Guest               |  Ryo Shimizu - Instagram @ry0shimizu ───────────────────────────── Watch, listen, and subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping surf, art, and adventure around the world.

    The Question I Didn't Expect to Answer | Ryo Shimizu

  8. Sep 1

    Matt Archbold | Point Break, Gotcha's Wild Years and Staying in the Water

    Matt Archbold is California free-surfing royalty: one of the first riders to walk away from the tour on his own terms, a founding face of the MCD campaign, and — almost by accident — Patrick Swayze's surf double in Point Break. Vast Lives sat down with him at Archie's Garage, his San Clemente workshop, surrounded by half-finished cars and a 1959 Harley Panhead in pieces. Archbold grew up in a grittier, pre-gentrified San Clemente, sneaking into the old Greyhound bus station arcade as a kid while Marines from Camp Pendleton filled the town. He didn't start surfing until eleven, needled into it by his brother. At sixteen, missing a Gotcha meeting to go surfing accidentally doubled his contract — founder Michael Tomson assumed it was a power play. That same relationship later let Archbold quit competing (never surfing) to free surf and travel instead, a decision that helped set the template for the free-surf movement Rip Curl's team followed soon after. He tells the inside story of MCD's "If you don't surf, don't start" campaign — logo and editorial released before there was even product to sell, forcing a thrift-store scramble to catch up with demand. Career stops at Santa Cruz, O'Neill and Von Dutch follow, including a giant flying-eyeball bench Von Dutch built in Bali that Archbold now wants to replicate at home. Point Break gets the full retelling: a casting mix-up, a body-double gig for Swayze, months filming in Hawaii, teaching Anthony Kiedis to surf between takes, and flying first class at 22 with director Kathryn Bigelow while quietly wondering if he belonged there at all. Elsewhere: a spontaneous dash to fire Mundaka, Mickey Dora's infamous ping-pong-ball surfboard, boat trips through the Mentawais with Art Brewer and a young John John Florence, and why Archbold still drives a 1984 Mercedes with hand-crank windows so his sons know what gasoline smells like. He also speaks plainly about family — daughters Poppy and Ruby, son Ford's label Spun Spirit, and the loss of his son William just over a year ago. The episode closes in the present, with Archbold walking through samples for his traction pad brand, Archie's Garage, and introducing team riders Taj and Sawyer Lindblad. Asked what he'd tell his younger self: keep surfing, don't stop. Support Archie's Garage : www.archysgarage.com ───────────────────────────── Director / Producer  |  Stephen Schutte Host                 |  Stephen Schutte Location          |  San Clemente - California  Guest               |  Matt Archbold - Instagram @mattarchbold ─────────────────────────────

    Matt Archbold | Point Break, Gotcha's Wild Years and Staying in the Water
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About

Vast Lives : Beyond the Waves Vast: Lives is a podcast that delves into the lives of the diverse ambassadors representing the Vast surf lifestyle brand. This podcast goes beyond the waves, exploring the passions, challenges, and stories of these individuals, showcasing their lives outside of surfing and their deep connection to the ocean.  Each episode features a different ambassador, offering a unique perspective on their journey. Listeners will gain insights into their personal lives, their motivations for pursuing surfing, and their commitment to ocean conservation. The podcast aims to inspire and connect with audiences by highlighting the human stories behind the brand and fostering a sense of community among surf enthusiasts. Key Features: Intimate Interviews: The podcast features in-depth conversations with Vast ambassadors, allowing them to share their personal stories, experiences, and perspectives on life.Diverse Perspectives: The podcast showcases a range of ambassadors from different backgrounds, ages, and walks of life, providing a diverse and engaging listening experience.Beyond the Surf: The podcast goes beyond the typical surf content, exploring the ambassadors’ passions, hobbies, and interests outside of surfing.Ocean Conservation: The podcast highlights the ambassadors’ commitment to ocean conservation and their efforts to protect the environment.Inspiring Stories: The podcast shares inspiring stories of resilience, determination, and passion, motivating listeners to pursue their own dreams.Target Audience: Surf Enthusiasts: Individuals who are passionate about surfing and want to learn more about the lives of professional surfers.Ocean Lovers: People who care about the ocean and are interested in learning about conservation efforts.Lifestyle Brand Fans: Individuals who are interested in the Vast brand and want to connect with its ambassadors.Anyone Seeking Inspiration: People who are looking for stories of resilience, determination, and passion.Overall, Vast Lives is a podcast that offers a unique and engaging look into the lives of the people behind the Vast surf lifestyle brand. It’s a podcast that celebrates the human spirit, the love for the ocean, and the power of community.

Information

  • Creator
    Vast Lives
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    65
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Vast Lives
  • Show Website
    Vast Lives

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