Eden Edwards graduated college three weeks before this interview. But you wouldn’t believe that judging by the stamps she has acquired in her passport over the last year. Fiji, Mexico, Australia, Hawaii, juggling online classes with surfing remote reef passes. Not everyone could pull this life off, but with her hard charging boyfriend Balaram Stack in tow, anything seems possible. I caught up with Eden on a sunny afternoon in Laguna Beach, on her way to Santa Cruz, followed by New York, and then Hawaii. She’s busy, but with a degree in her back pocket and life at her fingertips, she’s ready to take on bigger and better tube rides. Wearing amber colored lenses along the entire way.

It was the best; I owe everything to growing up in Santa Cruz. I had so much freedom and ability to use the ocean at any capacity at any age. My mom's house is right on West Cliff, down by Steamer Lane. It’s my favorite wave, which I know is an unpopular opinion for anyone who didn't grow up there, because it's kind of a wonky point break. But I love it. It's where I learned how to shortboard and it’s where I still feel the most confident.

 

I majored in Sociology and minored in Spanish. If you hear about my college experience, it's going to sound like it's cheating in the sense that I did the first two years in person, and then Covid hit, and I was able to do the last couple years online. I was in five different countries within one quarter of a class, still getting stuff done. I'm so individually motivated in the sense that if you give me a schedule, I'll have it done. I worked hard and ended up with straight A's. I love writing. And those two focuses really let me get down into it.

 

Yeah, definitely. I never thought that being successful in surfing was ever a possibility for me, because I wasn't doing the QS. And then within what Covid gave me and being able to travel, I started seeing that I could do this for a little while at least.  Maybe I’m not going to buy a house right now, but I can live, and I'm stoked. New opportunities seem to present themselves every day. Just getting yourself out there is important. And I’ve got my degree as my fall back, it's my cushion.

 

You met Balaram during school?

Balaram has been with me through a lot of school. He definitely gives me a lot of respect where he sees what I'm doing and is like, “Holy cow. I can't imagine doing that, let alone read a chapter of that book.” I have been doing trips with him for the last year while getting my college work done at the same time, which has been awesome. 

 

Where did you go the last 12 months while you were doing college?

Wow, let me think. Let's start in December. I was in Costa Rica for an O'Neill team trip. Then I went with the Santa Cruz Boardriders Club to Australia in January. Also, I was in Hawaii the whole time in between that. Then we went out to Fiji in February. And then Mexico, Tahiti, Mexico again, and Hawaii again. Hawaii is so consistent there and back that I’m kind of just there all the time.

 

Do you have family in Hawaii?

Yeah, my mom has a property on the North Shore right up from V-Land. It's a little farm, it's cool. I mean, this winter I stayed at the Volcom house a lot more. 

 

Do you have a home base right now?

For the first time all my stuff is in New York. I was living at my mom's house and she's renting it out for the summer and going to the Hawaii house. She was like, “Yep, go with Bal.” I have a room at my grandma's up in Santa Cruz just in case I ever need to stop by. But Bal and I are now moved into this apartment connected to his brothers.

You mentioned Mexico and I saw that you were doing step offs and the waves were solid. How was that experience for you dealing with the fear?

I was so scared I researched all the breathing exercises, said my prayers, the whole nine yards. The biggest thing I was worried about was freaking out instead of just letting the wave take me. Once I had a gnarly wipe out and I had thought about relaxing for the whole three days before, it was easier than I could have ever imagined.

 

You get any confidence from the wipeouts at all?

Yeah, it gave me a lot more confidence. Unfortunately, on the third wave of the first day, I pulled in and the lip hit my knee down into the board. I just got my MRI results back yesterday. I have a slightly torn MCL and bad bone bruise on top of my tibia, which caused me so much pain when it happened I had to come in. I researched all these random PT exercises for two days and then went back out three days later. I took some painkillers and told myself, “I'm not going to like wipe out like this and not get barreled,” I ended up getting around 20 waves and made it out of five or six. 

 

 

 

Have you been able to surf since with that injury?

Yeah. I took two or three weeks off. When I first got into it, I could feel it way more on my backhand than my forehand, and now I'm feeling a lot better. It just locks up sometimes. I have three doctor's appointments this week to tell me what PT I should be doing. 

 

Do you have motivation to do anymore of that sort of big wave surfing?

Oh, yeah. I don't want to be the chick that is famous for getting wiped out. But it's cool to have the ability to not have to do contests all the time. To go on these strike missions where you can depend on getting good waves. It would be sick to push some limits with that. Watching Bal, his barrel riding is so inspiring. I always wanted to do that but was never really given a playing field too. It's been awesome to be put in that position.

 

Yeah, if you end up in the right place at the right time you can test yourself.

I don't want to say anyone can do it. But that's a huge thing that holds back a lot of progression with girls. They just haven't had the proper intro to these things. But if it's there, it's on.

When you went down to Mexico, was doing stepoff’s the main goal?

Oh yeah, that's why I came. I was the one who made us go to Mexico. I did my first step off ever in Fiji on a pretty big day with nobody out. The third wave I got the most drained I have in my entire life, just hands on the head, full crazy moment. Balaram was chasing on the ski and couldn't believe I made it out. It was a solid five second barrel, just full on spit out, craziest wave of my life. I was all psyched and from there I knew I could do it. I knew it didn't feel as big when you step off, and the biggest thing for me was I wanted to learn how to get barreled. I wanted to know where to be on the wave. I wanted to know how to pump to get to the right spots, because it's a lot of wave reading. And it's cool to go backwards and be like, “Okay, this is where I need to be.” Making the critical drop is something I've done before, but then you're there and you need to figure out what to do next. Stepoff’s give you opportunities to learn at a faster rate. Because how else are you going to learn? That one mysto barrel that you find in Cali that you get once every month?

 

Has Balaram been coaching you on how to stay behind it and all that?

100%. I think I was so afraid of outrunning the barrel that I haven’t outrun a single wave. I've just gotten clobbered. He's like, “Just don't look like a kook.”

When you went down to Mexico, was doing stepoff’s the main goal?

Oh yeah, that's why I came. I was the one who made us go to Mexico. I did my first step off ever in Fiji on a pretty big day with nobody out. The third wave I got the most drained I have in my entire life, just hands on the head, full crazy moment. Balaram was chasing on the ski and couldn't believe I made it out. It was a solid five second barrel, just full on spit out, craziest wave of my life. I was all psyched and from there I knew I could do it. I knew it didn't feel as big when you step off, and the biggest thing for me was I wanted to learn how to get barreled. I wanted to know where to be on the wave. I wanted to know how to pump to get to the right spots, because it's a lot of wave reading. And it's cool to go backwards and be like, “Okay, this is where I need to be.” Making the critical drop is something I've done before, but then you're there and you need to figure out what to do next. Stepoff’s give you opportunities to learn at a faster rate. Because how else are you going to learn? That one mysto barrel that you find in Cali that you get once every month?

 

Has Balaram been coaching you on how to stay behind it and all that?

100%. I think I was so afraid of outrunning the barrel that I haven’t outrun a single wave. I've just gotten clobbered. He's like, “Just don't look like a kook.”

 

 

When you went down to Mexico, was doing stepoff’s the main goal?

Oh yeah, that's why I came. I was the one who made us go to Mexico. I did my first step off ever in Fiji on a pretty big day with nobody out. The third wave I got the most drained I have in my entire life, just hands on the head, full crazy moment. Balaram was chasing on the ski and couldn't believe I made it out. It was a solid five second barrel, just full on spit out, craziest wave of my life. I was all psyched and from there I knew I could do it. I knew it didn't feel as big when you step off, and the biggest thing for me was I wanted to learn how to get barreled. I wanted to know where to be on the wave. I wanted to know how to pump to get to the right spots, because it's a lot of wave reading. And it's cool to go backwards and be like, “Okay, this is where I need to be.” Making the critical drop is something I've done before, but then you're there and you need to figure out what to do next. Stepoff’s give you opportunities to learn at a faster rate. Because how else are you going to learn? That one mysto barrel that you find in Cali that you get once every month?

 

Has Balaram been coaching you on how to stay behind it and all that?

100%. I think I was so afraid of outrunning the barrel that I haven’t outrun a single wave. I've just gotten clobbered. He's like, “Just don't look like a kook.”