The world of waves was wide open in the 1970’s and Kevin Naughton was immersed in these slow abundant times. As a surfing explorer Kevin with his photographer buddy Craig Peterson spanned the globe in feral fashion. Subsidizing their hand to mouth existence writing articles for Surfer Magazine.
These articles ignited the imagination of a generation, influencing surfers to break out of their comfort zones and get out there. Kevin Currently lives out in the Laguna Canyon Shire and is proud owner of the Laguna Gardens Nursery. He recently finished a fictional surfing novel called TROUT RISING and his lust for surf travel has not changed a bit.
Name:
Kevin Naughton
Occupation:
Nursery Owner / Writer
What is your surfing equipment of choice?
- 6’8 Big Guy Fish Skip Frye
- 9’6 Harbour Log (I’ve got a soft spot for any Harbour board, that was my first sponsor)
- 7’4 3 Fin, high performance squash tail Doc Lausch that I ride from Thalia St. to Tavarua
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being with my family and friends…there is nothing better than surfing great waves with good friends. I also love to go SUP with my daughter and surfing with my son, though he does seem to catch all the waves I want.
What is your greatest fear?
Snakes- both in and out of the water…reptile or human snakes, take your pick, they both put me off.
What is your favorite journey?
It’s the next trip I’m going to take.
What living person do you admire?
A good friend of mine, William Finnegan. He writes for the New Yorker and has hit the top of his writing game and remains a devoted surfer. I have a hand full of really good friends who all have traits I admire as well.
Which words or phrases do you over use?
That’s a great question because I deal in words, I try to be careful of words I use. More than appearance or anything else, I think words reflect on who we are, It’s easy to fall into a rut when you start repeating words or phrases it’s reflective of a certain rut in life, words are a great insight into who someone is. But when I’m in Ireland I picked up a bad habit of using the F word too much, it’s such a commonly used word, an almost term of endearment, its just part of the culture.
What is your favorite thing about Laguna Beach?
Laguna is a little bit of paradise stuck right in the middle of the real world.
Words to live by?
Find out what you love to do and do it. Do what makes you grow!!
Your best known for your surf travel journalism, what inspired you to write your recently published, fictional novel, TROUT RISING?
For anyone who has worked as a journalist or writer at any capacity, writing a book is kind of like the Holy Grail. It’s been both the back and the fore font of my mind ever since I was 17 and I started writing. Since then I never stopped developing my craft. The seed of the idea of Trout rising came to me in a dream . I woke up in the morning and said, “this is a book”. I took notes before the dream evaporated. It took a year or so of tossing ideas around but once I sat down to write, the characters began to take shape and guide me on their journey. You’ve got to work hard to get into that groove, I hit some roadblocks,. I would find inspiration from going surfing, hiking and just clearing my mind. It’s amazing when the subconscious takes over and the book starts developing, I found so much joy in writing this book. It was some of the most fun I have ever had.
What talent would you most like to have?
Musical talent- I want to play all instruments.
What is your most treasured possession?
My surfboard…because my surfboard represents so many things to me. I can go surfing and traveling for wave–it seems to open the door to everything else.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
First, raising great kids. Second, influencing a generation of surfers to go travel.
What is your favorite thing about Laguna Beach?
Because of it’s geography it will never become homogenized with gated tract homes and strip malls, our hills save us! It’s not an impersonal place and has a sense of identity. It’s a true beachside community and a great place to raise kids.
Next project?
A book with photog Craig Peterson covering our world travels. Photos and essays about all our misadventures. It’ll be like a time capsule into the seventies decade, when surf travel was really starting to take off and the surf world was still pretty innocent.
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