Editor-at-large Ethan Stewart is no stranger to fans of this newspaper, having been a staff member and contributor for about 20 years now. He’s never stopped writing, but he has become a nomad in recent years with his daughter, Sawyer, and wife, Anna, who is due to have another kid any day now.
“We rented out our house in Santa Barbara starting in January of 2017 and began a pretty hefty seasonal migration routine, split time between the coast of New England, the mountains of Montana, and good old Santa Babylon,” said Stewart, who wrote this week’s cover story about Renny Yater, John Comer, and their surf-history-art exhibit at the Maritime Museum. “Currently, we are hanging in the Bridger Mountains in southwest Montana. Huckleberry season is coming.”
A lifelong surfer, Stewart was pretty fired up to interview Yater. “Look, Renny Yater is an absolute legend,” he said. “We use that word way too much these days but, in the case of Yater, ‘legend’ is a spot-on descriptor. His life arc very much connects the beginning of surfing in California to the modern-day madness that surrounds the sport. His perspective is paramount and so rich with hard-won wisdom. Getting to talk a little story with someone like that is an honor and a privilege.”