A Primo Convo With Shane Borland
In this biz, we get a lot of emails, see loads of tags, and hear plenty of claims from people all around the world urging us to check out how good they are on both wood and fibreglass.
And I’m just going to be honest: they’re not all hits. But we have noticed the trend that, well, the ones that stand out? Their time’s really quite worth our fried attention spans.
One person that fits the latter, positive typecast is Shane Borland. This shouldn’t by any sort of surprise as Shane’s a regular name in most coastal-adjacent households. What’s surprising, however, is Shane’s still doing things on a skateboard, surfboard, and even longboard (fun fact: he’s just as handy on 10-feet of fiberglass as he is on a five-feet of the same stuff) that’ll make you go, “Oh, well. Wow.” While you and I are just focused on not starting another day by falling out of bed, kicking the bedpost, and spilling toothpaste on our work shirt, Shane’s either hovering above concrete on four wheels or pulling into some monstrous pit with an air of breezy, stylish confidence.
Shane’s latest video release is a reminder of all that. Primo’s been cooking over the past few years. Between Shane on various boards,Hunter Martinez ofChapter 11 TV fame on the editing tools, and a series of very talented filmers on the beach, there’s something of significance here. Its been worth the wait, as it’s a reminder that, sometimes, there are people who can just do it all, and the best we can do in return is sit back and enjoy the show. And since Shane’s a friend, we decided to shoot him a text to see what went into the clip and all the other fun details on what makes it exciting. What did each grey, ellipses-animation bubble turn into on iMessage? Well, you can read on below to find out.
Shane! What’s up dude.
You getting any waves?
Waves have been so shit hahah
I think text may be better here if you’re cool with that?
Yah text is sweet!
Too easy.
Tell me a bit about Primo, how’d all this come about?
Well, I got knee surgery about two years ago and the first trip I did after surgery was down to Ecuador to stay with my good friend Aurelio Prieto. When I met Aurelio in California everyone called him Primo which means cousin in Spanish so that quickly became my nickname for him. I ended up staying in Ecuador for a month and got to know the whole local crew and all the homies would call each other Primo. They were all such legends and so welcoming so when Hunter asked what I wanted to name the clip, that was the first thing that came to mind and it ended up sticking. So that’s how the name came about.
After Ecuador, I did a few trips to Mexico, a trip down to Central America, and winter in Hawaii. I was sitting on some clips so I hit up Hunter and he was hyped to whip up an edit. Hunter and I have been working with each other since I was like fifteen so I trust him a lot and always love everything he makes. I pretty much gave him my hard drive and said do whatever and this is what he came up with. We made a few minor tweaks and I changed the last song. I’m super hyped on how it came out and it was an honour to have Hunter make it for me.
That’s so rad. I remember when you were in Lost In Thought with Hunter and that was such a good flick. It’s still one of my favs. Wait so I’m curious since you mentioned it but what was the Ecuador scene like? Usually not a go-to shred spot
Yeah Ecuador was pretty random. I probably would have never gone but my friends Carlos Goncalves and Aurelio are from there and were always sending me photos of sick uncrowded waves so I was like fuck it I’m down. I liked the idea of it being low-key, kinda under the radar, and somewhere new. I fell in love with the place. It’s super uncrowded and the whole local crew is like a little family and they’re all a bunch of legends. Super fun waves, insane food, and everyone was so welcoming. There’s like a full Canggu setup with a bunch of bars and restaurants on the beach right in front of a sick right bowl. It’s definitely a hidden gem.
Well that sounds nothing short of spectacular. I love that whole South American scene, it just seems so low key and with great surf. You still surfing Panda’s?
Yeah, South America is sick! I want to explore more of it. And yeah still on the Pandas! Been loving them. Blake always nails it!
Blake kills it . I just snapped my rocket fish and let me tell you I’m like DEVASTATED over it. What are you mostly riding in Primo? Is it a mix of stuff or did you stick to one shape?
Ahhh shit the rocket fish is one of my favourites! I was actually riding a rocket fish throughout most of the trips while filming for Primo but ended up using all the twinny clips for that edit I put out a few months ago. I’m pretty much just riding one shortboard in this clip. It’s the Norts model. We’ve been working on it for the last couple of years and it’s become my favourite shortboard for pretty much any condition. Also riding a step-up tube shooter in the bigger barrel clips and there are a few tube clips on a 5’10” twinzer.
I remember that rocket fish clip! That whole thing is still so mental. Banger of a clip and like maybe 90% of the reason I ordered a rocket fish in the first place. And nice! Any sneaky longboard clips? Feel like people don’t really talk about how you can absolutely rip a log too.
Love to hear that thanks dude! No log clips in this one but definitely want to make something on a log soon. I’ve been having so much fun on them lately! I have a bunch of log clips from Malibu last summer I need to post but not sure how people feel about me on log but also I don’t really care. It’s so much better than grinding waves on a shortboard when it’s flat.
Yeah it may be a bit of a contrast to all the shortboard clips but I think it’d still be sick. Like, who cares if you’re ripping as long as you’re ripping? Maybe a full-on Log Rap clip or something in the future just for giggles? Any good stories from the road or filming?
Fuck definitely some classic ones. Kind of a funny story about the last two waves at Pipe and Backdoor from the first section. It was Nolan Rapoza’s birthday that day and we went down to the beach and posted up with some beers. It was one of those afternoons where it goes from two-foot in the morning to pumping eight-foot pits by the afternoon. Anyways I paddled out with Mitchard (Micky Clarke) and Nolan and we ended up all lucking into sick waves which doesn’t always happen out there. We were out there for like two hours I finally got a good one which was a right so I just took it in because I saw all the boys on the beach. I was greeted with a beer and the boys were all pretty stoked so Nolan and I shotgunned a couple for his birthday and planned on calling it a day. I was sitting on the beach then though and was like fuck it’s still pumping out there maybe I should try to get one more. So I paddled back out and on first wave lucked into a left and just came straight in. Sometimes going out for one more can be the best or worst decision. But stoked I went out for one more that time.
How good is it to get a few sick with some beers in you. Well you sticking around CA for a bit or dipping out anywhere soon?
The best!
Going to be around CA until the end of the month. I got another premiere in Oceanside and then I’m going to head over to Aus for a while and try to get some waves and do some skating. I’ll probably make my way over to Bali from there as well. I’m starting to work on a new surf/skate project so just trying to get that going.
Is the surf skate thing with RVCA or is it a more personal, secret under-wraps bit?
It’s just a personal project right now but RVCA’s helping out a bit so we’ll see what it turns into.
I’m sure it’ll all be rad regardless. Well I think I’m good here man! Appreciate it Shane.
For sure! Catch ya here soon.