PARKER COFFIN
Hailing from Santa Barbara, California, Parker Coffin is a powerful goofyfooter who’s descended from a long and fruitful lineage of legendary professional surfers from his area that include Tom Curren, Dane Reynolds, Bobby Martinez, and, of course—his older brother Conner. A true renaissance man in the surf world, Parker is a certifiable jack-of-all-trades. He dabbles in art, music, skateboarding, home renovation, video production, and is now dead-set on becoming a future dog owner.
Where did you grow up and how did you find surfing?
I grew up in Santa Barbara, California. My dad and uncle got me into surfing when we were on a family trip to Hawaii. I was really young when I first got some waves, like two years old and my brother Conner was four. It’s cold where I live, so I really didn’t get into surfing until I was like seven. Since then, it’s pretty much my favorite thing to do.
Did you guys skateboard growing up?
When Conner was really diehard surf from day one, I was really diehard skate—and I skated every day all day. I still skated through the early days, as I got more into surfing. I still love skating, I just don’t do it as much anymore because of the injury factor, but we’ve always skated—we had a little mini ramp in our backyard. Before we got our driver’s licenses, we’d spend a lot of time on that mini ramp during the summer.
Who are some of your early influences in surfing?
It’s weird. Some of the best surfers of all time are from our town—guys like Tom Curren, Dane Reynolds, and Bobby Martinez. A lot of our local heroes ended up being some of the best surfers in the world, so obviously I’m inspired by local inspiration. I’ve always loved Andy and Bruce Irons. Even Cory and Shea Lopez and CJ and Damien Hobgood—all the brothers. Connor and I always thought it was fun to watch those guys, and kind of do the same thing. It’s always fun to have your brother next to you in whatever you’re doing. We’d always push each other—I guess it’s just natural progression of having an older brother. Sometimes you don’t even realize how much they push you.
What inspires you outside of surfing?
I really love art and music and I like skateboarding. I like basketball. I also like to read—I really enjoy reading a good book. I feel like there’re a lot of things that I get inspiration from. Right now, I’ve been super into music. I don’t play any instruments, but I just love listening to music, so I’ve been diving deep into it and watching a bunch of music documentaries. It’s so cool because musicians are so creative—to be able to come up with a sound that makes people feel things is amazing. I’ve really been into my music lately.
What kind of music are you into?
I’m kind of into everything, honestly—I listen to a super wide variety of music. For the last couple months, we were working on a movie called Snapt 4, and I was trying to figure out the music for my part. I’ve just been jamming Queens Of The Stoneage so much that I just ended up using one of their songs for it. I’ve been doing a bunch of construction demo work lately, so I’ve been listening to Metallica and breaking down walls [laughs]. I have this cool reggae radio thing—it’s like all these old 70s and 80s full roots playlist. It’s super cool and I’ve been jamming to that in the morning. I like rap, too, but it’s got to be older, like Jurassic 5 and stuff like that. And I really love Tupac, too. I’m literally all over the map—it’s funny. There’s no rhyme or reason to anything in my music library.
Are you into creating art, too?
Yeah, I really love making art. I’ve been doing it since I was a little kid. Right now, I just bought my first house, so I’m renovating it—that’s been my main project, but it kind of varies. Like sometimes, I’ll just sketch in my notebook. Other times, I’ll want to build stuff or paint or whatever. On surfboards, you’ve got a pretty good blank canvas to be able to dress up whenever you want. My last big project that I did was cutting this big cedar tree after it fell. We cut a big ol’ slab of it off the base, and I put this resin on it and made this rad table for my girlfriend’s birthday. That was my last big project that I was proud of. Other than that, just little doodles here and there.
What’s something about you that people might not know?
I’ve never had a dog, but I love them. I’m the biggest dog person who’s never had one, so it’s kind of weird. I want a dog so bad, but it’s so hard because we travel so much that I’d feel guilty leaving it behind all the time. I’ll be ready one day when I’m traveling less. If I’m going to be a dog dad, I’m going to be the best damn dog dad and be with my buddy all the time, you know?
What’s your favorite Marg flavor at the moment?
I really like the Passion Guava. That’s my favorite one. We just had this barbeque the other night and it was so cool—everybody loved them. Sometimes, I’ll pour half of it in over ice, and then I’ll float it with tequila. It’s super good!
Be sure to check out Parker Coffin’s video part in Snapt4.