Behind professional surfer Alex Gray’s enthusiasm and incandescent smile is a meaningful narrative layered with emotion, struggle and redemption.
“I’m like a fish out of water when I’m not in the ocean,” says Alex Gray, professional surfer and Palos Verdes, Calif., native.
“I learned how to surf with my older brother Chris at Torrance Beach. Being the younger brother, I had to do everything he did and try to do it better.”
After surfing became a major part of his life, Alex says everything shifted at home. “Suddenly my parents in their 40s, who never picked up boards before, started surfing. It really took over my whole family.”
When “on the road,” Alex loves to explore the sights near his surfing destinations. “I get to go to all these amazing places I used to see in my history books at school,” he shares. “The cultures, the religions…it’s nice to have down days and take it all in.”
While he spends a lot of time in Hawaii and encountered some “perfect” waves in Indonesia and Tahiti, Alex says it really gets down to one thing with surf for him: “Any place in the world you’re going to get barreled. I get a grin from ear to ear.”
Constantly in pursuit of the best waves on the planet, Alex’s time in Southern California is limited these days. “I’m gone nine months out of the year,” he says, during one of his brief visits home. “But, you know what’s funny? When I come home I go straight to the beach and surf my brains out.” Last year, Alex and a few surf friends from the Body Glove team went in on a boat together, “a fun little toy” they take up north for small surfing missions or to go diving.
“For me, being home for seven days straight is like a vacation.”
