In Celebration, A Life Lived Fully, Glen Kennedy

The surf world, and especially the San Fernando Valley surf world, lost a true legend this July, Glen Kennedy.

I got to know Glen like so many others. I was just a Valley kid bit by the surf bug early on and there happened to be a shop in my neighborhood, but little did I know how lucky I would be to have that shop in my neighborhood, Kennedy Surfboards. I don’t remember when I first walked into Glen's shop but I did know that I had stumbled onto something special when after visiting over the years I started to feel like I was part of the family, and I didn’t have to prove that I was anybody special. Glen and his son Lee let me into their world of surf, stoke, and extended family. Now as a grown man living far away from my hometown and the shop, I realize again just how lucky I was.

I was lucky again in 2007 when I had just finally eeked out a bachelors degree and when I decided that I would take up Glen on one of his offers to come stay with him in his second home of Margaret River West Australia. Back then I was young and hungry for adventure, and I thought Glen had to be joking when he said that I could come stay with him out there whenever I wanted. When I realized that this humble man, this legend in my eyes, was serious, I had to go. So I flew out there to meet Glen just as the southern hemisphere winter was beginning to rumble and when I showed up at the bus station in Margarets, Glen was there to pick me up. The first thing we did was go straight to the local reef for a late afternoon surf. I had heard of some recent shark activity so I was not about to just run out into this people-less lineup with the setting sun, but sure enough, Glen with his calmness and reassuring demeanor, thought it would be all good, and he said that we just had to get wet. From that point on throughout the next 4 weeks as I stayed there with him, I got to know GK; the man, the shaper, the surfer, the fisherman, and the kind and easy going human we all came to love.

GK charged open ocean swells out there while I was just trying to keep up, and keep down my nerves. The waves were big, but to Glen that’s just the way the waves are out there and he surfed them like he did most things in life; with grace and courage and style. Fortunately for me, he had a stash of big wave boards there under his house that I could sometimes borrow, seeing as the biggest board I brought was a 6’8”.

Needless to say that I had the trip of a lifetime, and when I came back to the Valley I was forever changed and forever awed by the presence of GK. I got to know the Kennedy's more over the years and as us young men all started to grow up and shift around the world, the shop and GK were still there. We went in for a new pair of booties or for the latest Surfers Journal, yes, but really we went in there to enter into a little world beside the pink building on Ventura Blvd. that seemed oblivious to the time outside.  Glen would often have smoked fish that he made at home after one of his off shore trips to catch big tuna. And he would offer it to just about anybody who came into the shop, along with a cold beer and a warm smile. And that’s why so many of us kept going back. To have a connection in this increasingly crazy world, and to hear stories from Glen and Lee, or whoever else was in there, sharing their latest journey. Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, some big Tuna off the coast of San Diego, the Lobsters, the local channel islands, the recent run of swell up the coast, the golf game, the grandkids… life, our little universe.

I miss you a lot already GK. Thanks for everything you did for so many of us, for always being kind and generous, for the beautiful 7’2” that you shaped for me after our trip to WA when I realized that I didn’t actually have a proper big wave board, a board that I will carry with me forever. And for all the smoked fish and cold beer. And most importantly for showing us all how to live like an honest man, for setting the example. I always thought that it was kind of ironic that one of the most hardcore surfer, shaper, and waterman that you could find was our own GK, from right there in the Valley.

Cheers mate!!

Anthony Bevilacqua
São Paulo Brazil

SRI October 2017

Santa Rosa Island October 2017

Central Coast Summer 2017

SAMO Spring 2017

Winter Hues

Windy. Cold. Low Tide. Harsh Sun. North Swells. Winter

Peru October 2016

From our trip up the northern coast of Peru in October 2016.

Starting out in Lima we walked around the city, ate well, and prepared for our trip north. We enjoyed walking the streets and admiring some of the cool casitas of hip Mira Flores and the modern restaurants including a profound meal at Virgilio Martínez Véliz's Central. After we left Lima we made our way up the north coast pf Peru via bus and taxis. Along the way we visited many fascinating cultural sites, almost all of which I had never heard of until right before I left for this trip. Among the many sites we toured was the largest mud-brick city in the world, Chan Chan. Impressive in its size and complexity the site of Chan Chan is a walk back to a different era. We also visited the royal tombs of Sipán, Túcume, and a few other Huacas, or temples. The Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán, which besides its interesting architecture from the outside, had amazing exhibits inside as well that displayed the many ornaments found in the tombs. Funerary items such as gold and silver chest plates, and face masks of turquoise and gold that resembled the items found in the Egyptian tombs. Also pictured are the temples of Túcume, and at Túcume I found the most interesting museum of them all. The museum was founded by the famous Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, who had successfully sailed an ancient ship across the Pacific from South America to the Polynesian islands proving that it could have been possible for ancient peoples to make long sea voyages. And at the museum the exhibits spoke of the ways the people of the north coast traveled along the ocean, and sometimes made it as far as the Galapagos Islands. Also, there we learned that the people of Túcume still practice some of the rituals of their past, and that they have since blended their ancient practices with those brought by the Spanish and the Catholics. This to me was what was so profound, because the other museums told of how these cultures were eventually conquered by the Inca and their beliefs and rituals re-imagined to fit within in the Inca belief system. And so we hadn't heard much about how these cultures of the North Coast, the Moche, the Chimu, and of the Sicán, also called the "Lambayeque Culture" have persisted to today. Therefore it was super interesting to hear how the people of Túcume have reinvented their identities to fit within our modern world.

We learned about cultures and people of which I had barely heard mention of before our trip. These peoples lived before the Inca realm and lived close to the coasts. These people may also have been the first surfers in the world. And you can still see the caballitos, or reed kayaks, that they use to fish and return to shore surfing the waves back to this day at the beach town of Huanchaco. Near Huanchaco we made the trek all the way out to Puerto Malabrigo where one of the waves I have dreamed of visiting for years is found. Known as Chicama, which has the reputation for being
one of the longest waves in the world. The waves were long, the current was strong, and my energy completely zapped after 2 full days of surfing there. Nevertheless I did probably ride the longest wave of my life.
We finished up the trip spending a nice leisurely week in the beach town of Máncora. That far north the water is warm and the climate more tropical, which suited us just fine. There we also visited the town of Tumbes near the Ecuadorian border where you can find Puerto Pizzaro and the mangrove islands offshore where hundreds of Magnificent Frigate Birds nest. On another island they have a sanctuary for American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus); a unique species in Peru, which is currently in danger of extinction.

Finally we took the 20-hour bus ride all the way back to Lima for one more night in Peru before heading our separate ways, Magdalena to Santiago, and me to Los Angeles. I want to thank my love and best friend now for showing me this beautiful country so rich in cultural history and desert coasts with peeling lefthanders, and great comida at every stop. Muchas gracias por todo amor!

Chile 2016

 Punta de Lobos

 Surf Shack, Punta de lobos.

 Whose watching who? Constitucion.

 Lazy summer day, Buchupureo.

 Caminata en Cascadas.

 Waves in the lake! Lago Llanquique.

Waves of Llanquique with Volcan Calbuco behind.