Paly grad Ryan Seelbach looks to conquer the mighty waves of Maverick’s

When Ryan Seelbach moved to Palo Alto from Del Mar in Southern California in 1985, he thought his surfing days were over. “I was so mad at my mom for taking us away from the beach,” Ryan recalls. “I didn’t want to move because I thought I’d never surf again.” And indeed during his high school years at Paly, Ryan spent more time on the football and soccer fields than in the water, landing a spot in the Silicon Valley Youth Classic All-Star football game in 1987.

But fortunately for Ryan, enrollment at UC Santa Cruz in fall of 1988 gave him a chance to experience surfing in northern California, and he was soon back out on the water. While studying earth sciences as an undergrad, Ryan tested his skills on the big swells that come up each winter along the coast. When the Maverick’s Big Wave Surf Competition began in 2000, Ryan was among the first invitees.

Although by that point Ryan was already working as a geologist, he got ready for the competition by surfing the big, powerful waves at Ocean Beach near his home in San Francisco and he’s been a consistent competitor on the big wave surf circuit ever since. Considered a “Titan of Maverick’s,“ Ryan reached the semi-finals of the competition in 2007 and again in 2010, and is ready for another big showing in 2015. Maverick’s takes place between January 1 and March 31, depending on when the waves kick up; competitors have to travel rapidly to Northern California once the call goes out that the contest is starting.

Asked why he continues to risk life and limb in Maverick’s legendary 30+ foot tall waves, Ryan’s response was a bit different from one might expect (spoiler: it’s about football). “I loved playing football at Paly, but UC Santa Cruz didn’t have a team so I was looking for something that could replace the excitement and danger of a contact sport,” he explains. “Big wave surfing gives me the same amped up energy, thrill and challenge.”

While Ryan competes regularly and is sponsored by a few surf companies, he continues to work full-time as a geologist, most recently for Geosyntec, a global consulting firm with an office in San Francisco. Geosync allows him to carve out a 30 hour workweek during his peak competition times of November – March, which includes Maverick’s. He’s also a board member of Save the Waves, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and preserving the coastal environment, with an emphasis on the surf zone, and educating the public about its value.

“It’s almost impossible to make a living as a surf competitor,” Ryan says. “While the sport has grown in popularity and surf companies are making more money than ever, the prizes have remained really small. Even the top winners in the biggest contests only get about $20,000, so about half the surfers on the pro tour have other jobs to make ends meet.”

Staying in shape to ride the big waves is not easy with a demanding job, but Ryan gets out on the water at Ocean Beach as often as he can and augments his surf routine with weights, pilates and other kinds of cross training to prevent injury.

So does Ryan consider himself a professional surfer? This Paly grad is too modest to use this description. “I am paid to surf,” he said. “But mostly I do it because I love it.”

To see footage of Ryan in action at Maverick’s, check out this cool video and the one below from Redbull.com, or see more photos of Ryan on the waves.