Joe Surf: More than just a surfer girl

At first glance, she looks like your typical, blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer girl.

But Christine August is much more than that.

Granted, she pulls off the surfer-girl look, but if her last name rings a bell, it should.

Christine is the daughter of legendary surfer and surfboard shaper Robert August and is going to Huntington Beach High School, just like her famous father did more than 50 years ago.

“The fact that he was student body president (in 1963) I see his name around (on campus), and it’s pretty cool, it’s kind of like following his footsteps,” said Christine, who is 15 and getting ready to begin her sophomore year. “I haven’t really grown up here my whole life, so it was all kind of new for me, but it made me more comfortable knowing my dad’s been there. It’s pretty cool everyone admires my dad.”

Robert August, 70, grew up surfing in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach before there was Hurley, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Billabong, et. al. There wasn’t a surf team at Huntington Beach High, and there certainly weren’t contests like the U.S. Open.

But Robert August became a big deal when he starred with Mike Hynson in Bruce Brown’s 1966 surf documentary “The Endless Summer,” and his life essentially has been an endless summer ever since.

Robert August Surfboards is one of the top surfboard-shaping companies in the world, and for years his main offices have been in Costa Rica, where I hear he’s got a pretty nice place on the beach. (The entire HBHS surf team recently stayed at his house during their summer surf trip.)

Christine spent the first seven years of her life in Costa Rica, then lived in Huntington Beach until the fifth grade, going back to Costa Rica through eighth grade.

At that point, Robert and Christine agreed that going to high school in Huntington was the right thing to do. Robert loves the idea that Christine has so many options at HBHS and can choose what she wants to do, whether it involves surfing or not.

“We moved back to Huntington because I wanted more choices for her, more activities,” Robert said. “I don’t know, maybe she’ll want to play guitar in the band. But she got onto the surf team here with a coach and competition. Surfing’s a real sport now; it’s really cool.”

Yes, Christine surfs. Not that she was forced or expected to as the daughter of a surf legend.

“When I was younger, I just thought my dad had a lot of friends,” Christine said, noting how many people would approach Robert on the beach. “There’s a lot of surfing there (Costa Rica) and there’s a lot of surfing here, and my brother (Sam) surfs. I never felt forced (to surf), my dad never told me, ‘C’mon, go out there, the waves are good.’ But when I was 12 was when I really got into it. I’ve always been around my dad shaping boards, and I love the ocean.”

Her brother Sam, 47, grew up surfing as one might expect, but he made his mark as a baseball player. He pitched at Fountain Valley High and Orange Coast College before being drafted by the Houston Astros in 1986.

He pitched in the minor leagues for eight seasons, reaching the Double-A level in both the Astros and Seattle Mariners organizations, before elbow injuries ended his career in 1994.

“What was important for my dad and grandfather (Blackie), they just wanted to make sure we knew how to surf, that was the end goal, that we knew how to surf and that we could enjoy waves when they come,” Sam said. “With Christine, she’s growing up in a competitive world where there’s surf coaches, it’s a totally different culture now. There’s a surf team, so she’ll have those inevitable times when she’s expected to do well because of the name August and being linked to that.”

Well, if Christine is feeling any pressure, she seems to be handling it well. Last year, as a freshman, she won the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. (NSSA) junior varsity national title surfing for HBHS and Coach Andy Verdone.

“She’s a straight-A student, and she wants to go to college,” Verdone said. “I’ve coached a lot of celebrity kids, like the kids of Peter Townend, Lisa Anderson and even Dennis Rodman. And they’re thinking, ‘The only reason you want to talk to me is because of my mom or dad.’ With Christine, she deserves the attention. She’s something special.”

Christine said she’d like to surf competitively, but it isn’t going to be her sole focus in life. For now, it’s enough that her biggest fan will be on the beach watching.

“The surfers here at Huntington are really good, which is really cool for me to see it happen,” Robert said. “They didn’t have surfing when I went to high school there. Coaches would yell at me for being sunburned because I played basketball and pole vaulted, and they didn’t want me to go to the beach. But I told them, it’s what I do.”

And, it seems, it’s what Christine does too.

JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at [email protected].