There’s an old bromide about surfers being part of a tribe, and even more pointed, the surfers who dedicate themselves to the handful of breaks in and around Pt. Dume are part of an even more intimate, sort of private club. And myself, as someone not part of the “womb to the tomb” heavy local, nor a particularly interesting surfer, I looked up to Skylar Peak as a part of the elite in-crowd in the water, and whatever else might be said, he is (or at least was, in the earlier slimmed down version) a damn fine surfer and waterman.
So when I needed an intro to interview Reva Feldman after Woolsey, I asked Skylar and he obliged. You can read about what happened in this piece I wrote after we talked. But also in the piece you will see comments from an LA Fire Chief, who went on the record about how firefighting resources were sent to Pepperdine and Malibu was left to burn. Not my words, his.
A few weeks later I found myself at a local restaurant and Skylar was at a nearby table. Couldn’t miss the hostile glares, but didn’t pay it any mind. But then, by coincidence, we found ourself next to each other at the valet waiting for our vehicles. The chill was so obvious there was clearly no need to talk, but then he walked over. Now, he stands a good half-foot-plus taller than me, and while I’m by no means fragile, his lifetime-as-a-surfer bulk amplified his height, and he came within that zone when someone is clearly too close and looking to use the size looming over me as part of the conversation.
Then he laid it on me, punctuated by finger pointed pointedly down at me in my face, albeit not touching. And then he laid it on me, words that resonate to this day. Now, it’s been a few years, but some things stay with you, particularly when the look on the face and the demeanor was clearly meant to intimidate, and when the blood-pressure tells you it’s fight-or-flight, what’s real is real.
His words were, “People are pissed at what you wrote. The fire department is really upset. And let me tell you, those guys are my friends and I feel the same as they do and I’m going to make sure that if you ever call cause there’s a fire at your house, don’t expect anyone to come.”
Now, at this time he was a city councilperson. An elected official. And one with a history that included him running naked through a shopping center with a knife (if I remember the incident correctly), something disconcerting enough that the council took the unprecedented step of denying him his ceremonial Mayorship as part of the normal rotation.
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