Photo Credit: Todd Glaser/A-Frame

Editors' Notes

"This is at Black's Beach. Todd [Glaser] is a local photographer who works for Surfer Magazine, and we're good friends. We try and take advantage of good light and good waves."

Photo Credit: Rob Machado

Editors' Notes

"We visited the Malloys at Hollister Ranch, above Santa Barbara. This was our own private surf spot for the day."

Photo Credit: Rob Machado

Editors' Notes

"The weather was absolutely flawless, 80 degrees, no wind. We drove up to Hollister Ranch, passed through Santa Cruz to the Bay Area."

Photo Credit: Rob Machado

Editors' Notes

"The front yard of my friend Thomas Campbell's house in the mountains above Santa Cruz. A big sequoia had died probably 8 or 10 feet in diameter, so they built a deck over the trunk. Now you just lie in the middle and look up and you see these giant, beautiful trees."

Photo Credit: Rob Machado

Editors' Notes

"This was in that area a little north of Santa Cruz. We stopped and crossed the train tracks and then we got to the beach with its beautiful cliffs, big packs of birds flying around, fun waves and blue water."

Photo Credit: Rob Machado

Editors' Notes

"This was in that area a little north of Santa Cruz. We stopped and crossed the train tracks and then we got to the beach with its beautiful cliffs, big packs of birds flying around, fun waves and blue water."

Photo Credit: Rob Machado

Editors' Notes

"We cruised around the city, rolled up on the Golden Gate Bridge, and it was just amazing."

Photo Credit: Mark Choiniere

Editors' Notes

"Seaside Reefs is pretty much where I hang out every day. My morning ritual is to wake up, drive my van down there, park in the same spot, check the waves and figure out when I'm going to surf."

Photo Credit: Todd Glaser/A-Frame

Editors' Notes

Rob Machado

Photo Credit: Todd Glaser/A-Frame

Editors' Notes

Rob Machado

Photo Credit: Todd Glaser/A-Frame

Editors' Notes

"I am fortunate enough to be sponsored by Channel Islands Surfboards since I was 15 years old. Al Merrick, arguable one of the best shapers in the world, made all of my boards. I got to work with him closely and personally. I watched him shape and he inspired me. Now under the umbrella of Channel Islands, they have given me the opportunity to shape my own boards, experiment, try new and things and go in all these different directions."

One of the world’s greatest surfers, Rob Machado is admired for his laid-back style both in and out of the water. Growing up in Encinitas, he learned to ride at Swami’s, a local break he still lives near and surfs regularly. “It’s such a great wave and kind of a spiritual little place,” says the 12-time ASP World Championship Tour winner. The beach is so important that it inspired his newest T-shirt benefitting the Rob Machado Foundation, which funds water awareness programs.

“Surfing dominates [my life], and in between is when I fill in the blanks.” Not wasting a moment, the 39-year-old pro athlete is also an accomplished musician, filmmaker (Drifting Productions) and photographer. “I’ve been shooting for years and years. When I started going on tour at 17 or 18, I would take a different camera every year because I’d go to the same places. I’d take a film camera, then a Polaroid, then a Super 8; I just tried to mix up and be inspired.” Here, he hits the road to San Francisco from his hometown and shares images of some pit stops along the way.

By Jenny Murray

Pictured: Rob Machado
Photo by Mark Choiniere