The Ember In The Ashes

A decade of hard living nearly killed one of the greatest noseriders of all time. Instead, CJ Nelson found a second chance in surfing

- Ashton Goggans

During the Log Renaissance of the late ’90s and early ’00s, CJ Nelson emerged as long boarding’s dark knight, a brash, heavily tattooed goofy foot with unparalleled nose riding talent. In 2002, Thomas Campbell’s film Sprout showed Nelson in top form, his highly technical yet fluid surfing perfectly matching the ruler-straight peelers of Scorpion Bay.

In the following decade, Nelson slid into a cycle of substance abuse, gaining a reputation among his peers as a bridge-burning drunk. Those hard-lived years started to affect his surfing and his health, and, like so many brilliant talents before him—from Dewey Weber to Butch Van Artsdalen—Nelson seemed destined for an early grave. But after losing his father to cancer in 2012, Nelson took a hard look at his life, put down the bottle, and recommitted to surfing. He’s reemerged a humbler, gentler man, interested in making amends and, as he told me one night in Mexico, “keeping the fire lit.” Today, Nelson’s more in love with surfing than ever before, living clean and consciously, doing what he can to inspire the next generation of log stylists.

AG Can you talk about those early days, making Sprout—where your head was at as far as your surfing life?

CN : I was so caught up with that punk-rock mentality. That whole trip to Scorpion Bay, I was just drunk. I remember the afternoon we filmed, I’d probably smoked two packs of cigarettes and was just pounding cases of beer in the middle of nowhere, for no f--king reason. It’s not like there was a party going on.