Back in October, a young, blonde powerhouse began showing up in the Venice lineup. The adorable goofy-foot with a backhand smack began turning heads up and down the beach prompting people to ask “Who’s that?!?”

We chatted with 17 year-old Rubiana (Rubi) Brownell to find out.

By Nicole Lynch

Where are you from and what brings you to Venice?

I was born in Santa Monica, and then my family moved to Costa Rica when I was four. I basically grew up there, so I consider myself to be from Costa Rica. I moved to Venice in October of last year. My dad works here and I do a lot of competing in Southern California and I needed to get used to the waves, so I used this as an opportunity to come here and train.

Photo: Six12 Media

When did you start competing? How long have you been competing on the QS?

When I was like 13 years old, so about four years ago. I started doing the QS like 2 years ago. When I first started on the national circuit in Costa Rica I was doing well, so moving on the QS was the next step. I got into it pretty smoothly and easily.

Rubiana is 5x Costa Rican National Champion.

So you like competing?

Yeah, for sure! For me more than anything just being a good surfer is my main goal, I care about that more than results. But competing really motivates me. Getting to travel around, you make the closest friendships with people from completely different parts of the world you would never go to. So it’s really cool at such a young age to have that experience while trying to make a career out of it.

When did you learn to surf?

I learned when I was 12. I have a brother who is six years older than me (Indy Brownell), and when my dad had kids his goal was to make sure his kids surfed. But me and my brother, neither of us wanted to – hahah! So he had to get my brother into it first, and that took a while, and then it was my turn. I didn’t want to but after like two months of hardcore surfing I fell in love with it and now I’m more grateful for that than anything.

Haha, so dad had to drag you to the beach?

Yep! It was easier for me than my brother, there was a part of me that just wanted to please him and make him happy. But it was a struggle at first, a lot of frustrating sessions. I was scared of the ocean even on an one foot day! A perfect little beach break and I was terrified of it, so it took a while. But I’m so so grateful for that. I wouldn’t be the same person if I didn’t surf.

You didn’t start surfing until you were 12, at what point did you realize you’ve got talent?

My dad could tell right away. It really helped having him and my older brother around, just catching white water, they would tell me exactly what I needed to do differently and were able to shape my style. So it happened within the first few months for sure.

Your dad (Trey Brownell) rips too.

He grew up in Florida with no waves, and at 15 he moved here to LA. He didn’t start competing until he was an adult. He competed for a few years, won some national contests, some WSA events and was even on US Team for two years. Then he had to find a different career to support his family.


"There's only one way to leave the beach. Tired, hungry, one shade tanner, two shades blonder and with Champ." Rubi and her father, Trey in Costa Rica. Photo: Avellanas Surf Photos

Who are your mentors/ heroes?

My older brother is definitely one of my mentors. He taught me as much as my dad and still pushes me every day. My favorite pros are Sally Fitzgibbons, her attitude towards everything and how motivated she is just being an athlete is super inspirational. Mick Fanning is my other favorite surfer. The bottom turn to front-side top-turn combos, it’s incredible. Even though they’re both regular foots I study their surfing more than anybody else.


"An unforgettable two months spent on double sessions, turning the little blonde thing into a ripper" - Indigo Brownell

I overheard one of the old timers saying you have one of the best backhands he has ever seen surfed at the pier.

Aww ☺

Do you prefer going front or backside?

Backside for sure! I mean, it depends on what kind of waves I’m surfing. I really struggle with barrels backside, but when it’s just turns then backside for sure! Caroline Marks is insane.

What does your quiver look like?

I’m riding a combination of Losts and boards from my local shaper in Costa Rica called Global Surfboards. 5’6” thrusters

Photo: Six12 Media

What other kinds of training are you doing?

I have a personal trainer who sends me workouts online. I do that three or four times a week. Weight training and being overall more in shape is one of my goals.

What about an air game? Is that something you’ll be looking to incorporate into your regimen?

Yeah, it’s something I’ve had a hard time with. When I’m back home my brother really gives me a hard time about that. We argue about it, but we’ve decided that he’s better at airs and barrels and I’m better at everything else. We push each other. Now that I’ve got some time off from contests it’s definitely something I want to focus on.

Photo: Six12 Media

What has it been like navigating sponsors?

It’s hard, especially being from Costa Rica, it’s a place where it’s really hard to get sponsors from the US. I’m super grateful for O’Neill and Monster. I’ve also had a ton of support from local sponsors in Costa Rica. Pimienta Verde Organic Market and Mermaids and Sailors in Tamarindo, I’m very grateful.

You were due to compete in a QS 3000 in Barbados before Coronavirus hit. What’s the plan now?

All the contests got cancelled through the end of May and potentially longer. The plan was to go home, but then the borders got closed so now we’re just chilling here. We’ll see.



Where are your favorite spots here in Cali?

That’s really tough. I honestly like the waves in Nor Cal, Pleasure Point and Morro Bay. In So Cal, I guess Lowers has to be my favorite wave. And the Venice Pier is definitely my favorite every day spot. Surfing here has helped me so much! Learning how to surf one peak with a crowd. I have to be more alert and position myself properly. Learning how to surf close-outs, surfing a wave where you have to make your own speed in a small section. It’s been a process, it’s been a frustrating five-months but feels really really good to finally be improving on it and I think it’s going to really help me when I travel. Yeah this place is special for sure!




Photos: Six12 Media

With beaches being closed, the Mighty Under Dogs are on a mission to provide surf therapy to those who need it most in these challenging times. We are a "can do" type of crew. Please stay tuned for a special treat coming to you live on Easter Sunday.

From Surf Academy:

Please meet some water safety Wednesday heroes: Gretta Johnson, Ethan Foley, and Miles Carlson . These three worked together this afternoon at practice to listen, spot, and assist a man in distress about 250 yards out from shore. Once Gretta and Ethan were paddling toward the swimmer, Miles came in and got help to call the lifeguards, who responded in mere minutes to perform a rescue.

The man was paddled to shore by guards. He was wearing street clothes—a cotton shirt and cargo shorts—and was unfamiliar with how rip currents operate. He was unfamiliar with beach indicators—he couldn’t tell where he had entered the water and how far he had drifted.

At the opening of practice this day, we had a talk about water emergencies and how to coordinate and respond to any mishap in the sea. The kids were listening.

Ocean safety and swim skills should be as familiar to us in Los Angeles as learning to walk, skate, love the Lakers, and cheer for the Dodgers. Unfortunately, there are major gaps in access and education to water and these gaps fall along racial lines.

There is programming out there designed to bridge these gaps in access and we recommend investing your time and energy in the following organizations to help broaden the horizons of Angelinos unfamiliar with their birthright: the sea.

Malibu Sharks Surf Team member Saxon Rhodes surfed her way to a first-place finish as two groups of Sharks surfers grabbed wins in the team’s last event of the season.

Rhodes, a senior and seasoned youth surfer, won the women’s shortboard bracket in the Scholastic Surf Series meet at the Tarpits in Carpinteria on Feb. 1. She outlasted five other surfers at the top of the division, including a teammate, to lead the Malibu Black squad (surfers at the top skill level) to a 60-27 victory over Palisades. The Malibu White group also won, downing Oak Park, 43-41.

Contending in the exhibition were surf squads also from Loyola, Oaks Christian, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Westlake high schools. The teenage wave riders vied in shortboard, longboard and bodyboard surfing brackets on waves that were around five or six feet in height.

The event was the fifth competition since October for the teams, which are all in the surf series’ LA to Santa Barbara High School division.

Vanessa Clark, also a Malibu Black member, placed one spot behind Rhodes in the women’s shortboard, while Malibu White surfer Whitney Shanahan placed fourth and her teammate Chole Rapf finished fifth. In the coed bodyboard, Malibu Black member Gavin Cross finished second and Malibu White surfer Kai Owens finished third. Malibu Black members Evan Kassoy and Sebastian Bluhm placed fourth and fifth in the men’s shortboard, respectively, and Cross finished third in the men’s longboard. Maxine Kelly, a Malibu Black surfer, finished fifth in women’s longboard, and Nicky Chittendon, a Malibu White member, finished sixth. Malibu Surf Team members pictured, from left: Evan Kassoy, Sebastian Bluhm, Kai Owens, Max Gourson, Gavin Cross, Vanessa Clark, Whitney Shanahan, Saxon Rhodes, Chloe Rapf, Nicky Chittendon, Maxine Kelly; front row: Coach John Cross and Coach Dale Rhodes; back row: Coach Jorge Lopez-Vida. Photo courtesy: Shelley Myers

Malibu Sharks Surf Team member Saxon Rhodes surfed her way to a first-place finish as two groups of Sharks surfers grabbed wins in the team’s last event of the season.

Rhodes, a senior and seasoned youth surfer, won the women’s shortboard bracket in the Scholastic Surf Series meet at the Tarpits in Carpinteria on Feb. 1. She outlasted five other surfers at the top of the division, including a teammate, to lead the Malibu Black squad (surfers at the top skill level) to a 60-27 victory over Palisades. The Malibu White group also won, downing Oak Park, 43-41.

Contending in the exhibition were surf squads also from Loyola, Oaks Christian, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Westlake high schools. The teenage wave riders vied in shortboard, longboard and bodyboard surfing brackets on waves that were around five or six feet in height.

The event was the fifth competition since October for the teams, which are all in the surf series’ LA to Santa Barbara High School division.

Vanessa Clark, also a Malibu Black member, placed one spot behind Rhodes in the women’s shortboard, while Malibu White surfer Whitney Shanahan placed fourth and her teammate Chole Rapf finished fifth. In the coed bodyboard, Malibu Black member Gavin Cross finished second and Malibu White surfer Kai Owens finished third. Malibu Black members Evan Kassoy and Sebastian Bluhm placed fourth and fifth in the men’s shortboard, respectively, and Cross finished third in the men’s longboard. Maxine Kelly, a Malibu Black surfer, finished fifth in women’s longboard, and Nicky Chittendon, a Malibu White member, finished sixth.

Malibu, coached by John Cross, Dale Rhodes and Jorge Lopez-Vida, will have a few surfers competing in the state championships from April 25-27 in Oceanside.

This story was written by McKenzie Jackson and was originally publish in The Malibu Times

The LA84 Foundation announced Friday that it has awarded $1 million in grants to Southern California school-based and community youth sports organizations.

The grants are intended to serve nearly 30,000 children involved in 16 sports across seven counties, and benefit various organizations and programs.

The LA84 Foundation’s grants will help with field refurbishment for improved playing conditions and increased safety for participants, as well as coaching education and supporting the expansion of sports opportunities for young people with physical disabilities, the foundation said.

“We are inspired by program leaders, parents and coaches from throughout Southern California who are continuing to push to close the ‘play equity gap,’” said Renata Simril, the LA84 Foundation president and CEO. “Working with these organizations to ensure that structured sports are available to all kids, regardless of where they live, their ability level or their family’s income, is a critical part of growing the movement for play equity.”

The grants include:

— For A Walk on Water , which serves four counties including Los Angeles, a $15,000 grant to provide surf therapy to children who have a disability

— A $25,000 grant for Pools of Hope of Los Angeles will fund their adaptive swim program for lessons and one-on-one therapeutic swim lessons

It's Friday the 13th, so here we have Jason Voorhees aka @beau_werger slashing it up on some waves in Ocean Park. These photos were shot by Six12 Media.

Malibu's Brooke Carlson takes 2nd Place at this years 1st Annual Women’s Pro Invitational ran by the Oceanside Longboard Surfing Club.

Avalon Gall took 1st place, and Makāla Harmony Smith of Dana Point got 3rd.

Taro Watanabe of the Malibu advanced to the Junior Mens QS Semifinal's of the 2019 VANS US Open of Surfing after placing second in Quarterfinal Heat 4 earlier this week at Huntington Beach Pier. On Saturday, he will compete in the Heat 2 of the Semifinals, and if he advances, he will be in the finals later that afternoon.

Kid 2 Kid & Pro SUP Shop Present SUP 4 SMILES
Saturday June 15, 2019

Volunteer with us for our 5th Annual SUP 4 SMILES, an exclusive opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children with Autism.

Children in the Kid 2 Kid Program

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Rip Curl Malibu Shop Team Rider Talia Swindal representing Malibu to the fullest this weekend at the National Scholastic Surfing Association Western Surf Championships! 2nd Place in Super Girls and 3rd Place in Girls!

A short video from Beck Adler's recent trip south of the border.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Beck Adler (@beckadlerr) on Mar 18, 2019 at 12:34pm PDT

At Santa Monica High we enjoy the privilege of the beach being a short four blocks away. With this luxury comes amazing opportunities where students can easily get the incredible ocean experience that others cannot. One of these opportunities is our Samo surf team.
By Sophia Falk
Samo surf shreds into season

At Santa Monica High we enjoy the privilege of the beach being a short four blocks away. With this luxury comes amazing opportunities where students can easily get the incredible ocean experience that others cannot. One of these opportunities is our Samo surf team.

While most students can be found sleeping in on late start Wednesdays, Samo surfers are up bright and early, ready to jump into the freezing cold water to get in their extra morning practices. They also have additional competitions on the weekends.

The team is completely inclusive, and zero prior experience is required to join. Many come to surf competitively, learn a new skill or simply explore their love of the ocean. The Samo surf community even extends beyond high school, with a lot of past team members coming back to coach the next line of Samo surfers. Either way, all are welcome.

Along with competitions the team is also involved with community service, and they plan to host five “Urban Luau’s” for Los Angeles Parks and Recreation (who are affiliated with The Surf Bus, a non profit organization in Santa Monica). They are also hosting five Santa Monica “Surf Days”.

In order to expand the program, the team added a junior varsity division in the South Bay Scholastic Surf Association (SBSSA), and they continue to grow every year. Coach Marion Clark said that the team’s goal is to win their division in the SBSSA, where they have previously done very well, winning four out of five events last year.

“We want to show the Westside surf community the meaning of Aloha by how we take care of the ocean and of each other,” Clark said.

Surf team captains Tess Goddard (’19) and Gabriel Ramirez (’19), seniors who have been part of the surf team since middle school, are very familiar with that incredible community. Both feel that the surf team has been a very significant part of their high school experience.

“I met one of my absolute best friends on the team in ninth grade, so I would say it’s had a pretty big impact on my high school experience,” Goddard said.

Ramirez also loves the surf team, and says that even the struggle of waking up at 5 a.m. is bettered by getting to watch the sun rise and jump into the ocean.

“I’m on surf team because I love spending time in the ocean and surfing with friends. It brings me to a place where I can truly relax doing something I love,” Ramirez said.

The latest Bodega Boarder Crew Podcast features some local flavor by politicking with Venice Beach local West Adler about growing up in Venice, the changing lineups, contest surfing, and much more.

West's part starts at about the 30 minute mark.

Surfing was already an addiction for Taro Watanabe. Now, after a recent introduction to the international surfing circuit, Watanabe’s passion for the sport has reached a new level. The 15-year-old Malibu resident recently returned from the 2017 Vissla International Surfing Association’s World Junior Surfing Championship in Hyuga, Japan. The competition was held over a period of nine days, from Sept. 23-Oct. 1, and each surfer competed in six different heats.

Watanabe won an individual silver medal in the boys U16 competition. As part of Team USA, he helped his team take home a gold medal after narrowly beating Team Hawaii “It was a really cool experience, because I usually just surf nationally,” said Watanabe, a sophomore at Viewpoint School in Calabasas. “I would go to [different] places, but it would pretty much be against the same people.”

Watanabe said he had to adjust which board he used, going to a lighter one, because the surfing conditions in Hyuga were vastly different than the waves he normally rides at Topanga Beach in Malibu. “It was pretty cool, it was tropical like Hawaii and I didn’t expect that,” Watanabe said. “It was a good experience going there and meeting new people.” Watanabe said the waves were slower and a little weaker than he expected. Still, the experience as a whole, and his venture into international competition, had a lasting impression.By Brittany Kapa
Surfing was already an addiction for Taro Watanabe. Now, after a recent introduction to the international surfing circuit, Watanabe’s passion for the sport has reached a new level. The 15-year-old Malibu resident recently returned from the 2017 Vissla International Surfing Association’s World Junior Surfing Championship in Hyuga, Japan. The competition was held over a period of nine days, from Sept. 23-Oct. 1, and each surfer competed in six different heats.

Watanabe won an individual silver medal in the boys U16 competition. As part of Team USA, he helped his team take home a gold medal after narrowly beating Team Hawaii “It was a really cool experience, because I usually just surf nationally,” said Watanabe, a sophomore at Viewpoint School in Calabasas. “I would go to [different] places, but it would pretty much be against the same people.”



Watanabe said he had to adjust which board he used, going to a lighter one, because the surfing conditions in Hyuga were vastly different than the waves he normally rides at Topanga Beach in Malibu. “It was pretty cool, it was tropical like Hawaii and I didn’t expect that,” Watanabe said. “It was a good experience going there and meeting new people.” Watanabe said the waves were slower and a little weaker than he expected. Still, the experience as a whole, and his venture into international competition, had a lasting impression.

“I learned that, because it was a team contest, you can never underestimate anyone because they’re from a certain country,” Watanabe said. “There are a lot of good surfers. For example, Israel, I didn’t even think there was going to be any good surfers.” Watanabe said there were some nerves going into the competition, but he tried to remain calm. “I was just surfing it heat by heat,” Watanabe said about the close competition. “I just tried to stay focused, and I just surfed my heart out.”

During his last heat Watanabe said he was not getting the waves he had hoped for. It was not until the end of his run when he finally got the breaks he was looking for. He rode two good waves back-to-back, putting him in first place. Then, Joh Azuchi, the Japanese surfer who competed after Watanabe, outscored him with an 8.6-point wave. It was enough to secure Azuchi the individual gold medal; Watanabe finished just 0.16 points behind Azuchi with a 16.44 final score and a silver medal. Team USA racked up 7,003 points to take home the gold, edging out second-place Team Hawaii’s 6,740 points. This was the second gold medal for Team USA, which also won in 2015.



The experience, for Watanabe, was humbling. He credits his practice in Kyokushin karate, in which he is a black belt, in helping him stay grounded. “It really helps me with respect and discipline,” he said. “It helps me respect everyone and it’s really humbling. They make sure you’re not a stuck-up kid.” The discipline Watanabe learned from karate has fueled his passion for surfing — a sport he picked up when he was 7 years old at the urging of his father, Masato.

Masato found professional surfing teacher and coach Brad Gerlach when Watanabe was 10. Gerlach has been working with Watanabe ever since. “In a nutshell, [Taro] has the drive to be the best, is humble, and has great guidance and support,” Gerlach said.

Watanabe practices between three and four hours during the week, often waking up at 5 a.m. to get in a couple of hours on the water before school. On the weekends, Watanabe said he is out in the water as much as he can be. “It’s an addicting feeling,” Watanabe said. “I feel like I have to go in the ocean every day and ride the waves and feel the breeze.”

Beck Adler is a 14 year-old surfer who grew up in Venice, CA and lives in Topanga Canyon. We put together some free surfing, contest footage and a trip to Central America in his latest edit Punching Dragons.Follow @beck.adler on Instagram.

Topanga's Jake Chandler

Surfing First Point, Malibu with Brooke Carlson Film/Edit by Beth O'Rourke

John Simon is not your average high school-aged, purist surfer bloke. An avid student of surfing history, style and board design, John connects us to an earlier time when perfect trim ruled the day and groms shaped regularly in their parents garage.