Best Sections of All-Time: Gavin Beschen in Creepy Fingers

“Maybe a flying fish…that’d be nice.”—Gavin Beschen on what animal he’d be if he could be any animal.

Gavin Beschen is a unique specimen. He’s gentle, kind, welcoming and warm. But there is something totally alien about him too. Like he might actually be from outer space. Astrodeck even commemorated his extraterrestrial-like demeanor with a grip shaped like an alien head sometime in the ‘90s I wish I could find one today (hit us up if you have one).

I’ve had the opportunity to visit with him over a few days on the North Shore and watched him operate day-to-day. It’s unlike anyone I’ve ever seen and confirms my alien suspicions. He subsists exclusively on the caloric intake provided by the star fruits in his yard and seems to get all the medicine he needs from a few puffs of weed here and there. He is a wonderful father, a hell-charger out at Pipe and a lanky, totally unique character that you have to see to believe.

Ryan Thomas of Volcom surf film fame (he is responsible for a few eras of their best films) does a fantastic job capturing the spirit of Gavin in the 2006 film Creepy Fingers. His surfing appears here and there throughout, but he narrates the film, philosophizing and riffing on RT’s questions. It’s the closest encounter with the true spirit of Gavin I’ve ever seen. Watch Creepy Fingers and may it kick off a serious deep dive on our Gavin Beschen. After that is the film we made when we got to look inside his alien spacecraft on the North Shore a few years back.—Travis Ferré