Two years ago Ryan Huckabee was a little-known 20-year-old from a sleepy beach town in Florida. Since then he’s released a full-length edit, qualified for the Challenger Series, paddled Jaws, and nailed a Wave of the Winter contender at flexing, first reef Pipeline. And he’s still just scratching the surface.
Most recently, Huckabee spent time with the crew at Erratic Nerve crew working on a short profile film for EN’s “Creatures” series. With his hometown of Flagler beach as the backdrop, Huck covers a variety of subjects, from how bad the waves really are in Florida, to the backstory behind his Pipe bomb. Since we hadn’t spoken with Huck in two years, we figured it was a good time for a quick catch up:
Tell us about Erratic Nerve. It’s rad to see another East Coast media house doing rad shit.
My buddy Micha Cantor started it. Before this profile, I hadn’t seen him in years. I used to compete against him, but then he started this platform, Erratic Nerve, and his vision for it is to create a space for East Coaster’s like what Chapter 11 does in the Ventura area, or what 2% was doing before Kolohe [Andino] turned it into Steko. Micha started it about two years ago, and he’s slowly been chipping away at making videos in between working. I think it’s really cool. We really haven’t had that since, like, Eastern Surf Magazine back in the day.
Yeah, and I like the raw perspective. Micha did a good job getting into your headspace. One thing I thought was really interesting is when you said: “My foundational surfing needs to get quite a bit better if I’m gonna qualify [for the Championship Tour], so that’s one of my big goals this year.” Can you expand on that? What specifically are you working on?
Well, right now I’m in Indo trying to do a bunch of big airs. So I’m not working on much here [laughs]. But after I get this movie done, I’ll be focusing on the basics. After two years on the Challenger and having very little success — but watching guys who have had a lot of success — it’s pretty clear that my foundational surfing…like my carves and snaps and everything else that’s on the simple side, need to get better and become way more consistent. Because the guys making heats aren’t always the most exciting, but they are the most consistent. Every time they catch a wave they’ll surf it to its potential. They don’t necessarily try to always surf it up.
Is it a challenge working on the simple stuff without watering down your surfing?
It’s just a mindset, really. I have a tendency to try to go big in heats. I just need to save that for the right moments.
What are you working on in Indo?
Another film project similar to Huck. I’ve done quite a few trips already, but I wanted a solid Indo section before I release it. So I’m in Indo until I get what I’m happy with, because I have no contests for the next three months. I’m just planning to post up here until I look at everything I have and I feel like it’s good enough. Right now, I’m on Sumbawa filming a full-on air part. I already have a nice turn part from a trip I did earlier in the year. I have another good air part from West OZ, and then I have a good mixture of it all in Hawaii. Before this I was with Dane Henry and we were surfing this wave near Lakey’s where we were pretty much trying to do the biggest air ever done, and f—k, we got close. I had this one air that if I would have landed it, it would have been crazy. I barely didn’t make it. And then Dane almost did one air that was just absolutely absurd. I might go back over there as well, because while I got some decent clips, it feels like I have a bit of unfinished business with that wave.
Aside from that, ideally a big swell will pop up soon — I have my eyes on Nias or somewhere barreling in South Sumatra. I want to premiere the film this fall and I want to make sure it’s the best thing I’ve ever put out.
The last time we spoke was right after you released Huck in 2024, and when I asked about your confidence in big waves, you told me that you didn’t think you had it yet. You said you wanted to keep pushing yourself and that one of your goals for that particular winter was to go surf really heavy waves. Talk a little about that journey from where you were two years ago, to riding a wave of the winter contender at Pipeline last winter.
I’ve always had the desire to push myself in bigger surf. Growing up on the East Coast, you don’t get the opportunity to do that very often. When I was younger, I was really scared of big waves. I would definitely find excuses not to surf them. But as I got a little bit older, something clicked in me where I really wanted to push myself over and beyond that fear.
Going to Hawaii this winter was cool, because over the last couple of years, I’ve slowly gotten more and more comfortable in bigger surf. But I just really wanted it in Hawaii this year. Every opportunity I got to surf big Pipe and maybe catch a wave, I was out there putting in the time.
It’s funny, that wave I caught was after going to Maui to paddle Jaws. It wasn’t huge Jaws, but it was still cool to get out there and paddle a couple waves, and then when I went back to Oahu after surfing Jaws, I felt a lot more comfortable at Pipe. Somehow the waves didn’t look so big and scary after that [laughs].
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That’s one way to do it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still scared shitless going for waves like that, but these days I kind of chase that feeling. It’s just really rewarding when you finally get one. It’s more of a mental thing. I watch other guys do it, and I know I’m as talented as them, so it’s just getting over the fear of swinging on a wave like that, and knowing the consequences of what could happen.
Well, it seems to be working.
I still have the desire to push myself way harder. I’d love to go paddle big Chopes and try to get a wave out there, and even this winter, after that Jaws session last year, I definitely want to go back and paddle it way bigger. The thing with Chopes is the level of surfing is just so high out there. So if I’m gonna go, I wanna be ready to be out there on the days where Eimeo [Czermak] and his crew are pushing the limits. That’s what it takes to film an impactful part at Chopes these days.
It’s cool that you have all of these tangible goals. You’re not just moving through your career hoping something happens. The CT is still the ultimate goal though, yeah?
Yeah, after I film this part and surf the rest of the QS season, I’m pretty confident that I’ll get back on the Challenger, and when I do get back there, I want to be someone who’s contending to qualify, not just someone who squeaks through heats every once in a while. I have a lot of confidence after my last time on the Challenger. I know what I need to do differently next time.
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