Split Peak Soup Episode 10-- Shaun Burns

Santa Cruz, California is well-known throughout the world as a surfing mecca. From iconic waves such as Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point, to surfing royalty such as Peter Mel and Nat Young, our town lives and breathes surfing. With such a reputation, surfers come from far and wide to live in and visit this gem of a surfing destination, bringing in valuable funds that greatly benefit the local economy. While surfing's impact to the livelihood of Santa Cruz has been long been understood, it's never been precisely quantified. Until now.

Shaun Burns, along with Save the Waves Coalition, recently presented an economic study that determined that surfing brings in an annual $194.7 million dollars a year to the city of Santa Cruz. As Save the Waves reserve network coordinator, Burns has been tasked to present this groundbreaking study to the public. The study, which combined local expert knowledge, visitor data and economic modeling to come up with it's estimate, will be vital for the City of Santa Cruz moving forward, as it decides on measures needed to be taken to preserve this incredible natural resource.

In this episode, Shaun and I discuss the study, including some of the problems facing Santa Cruz's many surf breaks, such as erosion and sea-level rise. We also touch on growing up in Santa Cruz, the East Side/ West Side rivalry, professional surfing, his sponsorship and work as Event Planner with O'Neill, life as a father and husband, and much more.

Shaun is a class act, and someone I respect immensely. It was a pleasure to have him on the show and I can't wait to see what comes next for this well-spoken young man.

EAT YOUR SOUP!