What they Ride: Casey Stahr and his CI Taco Grinder

Thanks for tuning in true believers!

This week we are back with the legendary Casey Stahr! When I first came to town I had always seen Casey out and owning the line up but never really knew him very well. He and Coco Cabana would pretty much take over any peak they put their minds to so I generally kept my distance being a “part of the problem” Flaglerite..

Over the years I saw him around town so much that we eventually crossed paths and I realized that he was a soft spoken father of two and a world traveler. He was literally never in the same spot for more than few weeks but as his son Zealand grew to the ten year old style master we know now I ended up sharing plenty of waves with him in our sub par surf. We generally talk shop on grovelers and small wave boards but one day he asked me if I had any shortboards for sale for real waves.. so I invited him over to check out my step up, a 6’1″ Taco Grinder.

Funny story with this board.. in 2015 I took a last minute long weekend to Puerto Rico with my then fiance’ (now wife) to get out of town and celebrate Valentine’s day. I was leaving red eye Thursday night and on Thursday during the day I ran up to the shop to check out the step up inventory as I saw the updated forecast for my upcoming weekend.. Austin Martin was running the boardroom at the time and we checked out the then new model, the Taco Grinder. I grabbed a 6’1″ off the rack which had a little more volume than my normal shortboard and off to PR I went. Needless to say I was overly impressed. In my board bag was also a 5’8″ Fred Rubble but the swell was huge on day one. I went south into Rincon proper to find a manageable wave and on my third wave I snapped the tail off.. great way to start the trip. I was bummed as the next few days looked to be back to manageable size and I only had a 6’1″ to ride in everything. I ended up being amazed of the versatility of the Taco Grinder in head high waves all the way up to double overhead plus..

 

I digress.. as Casey went through some boards of mine he picked this one out and it was nearly new. I had ridden it on two trips and maybe one or two sessions here and was apprehensive on selling it. I thought to myself, this thing is going to a good home and will actually be ridden in waves it was meant to be ridden in by a talented surfer. So off it went with Casey and the rest is history… I hope you enjoy today’s post featuring Casey Stahr. More on the uber talented son of his coming in the future…

 

surfer- Casey Stahr

height- 5’7″

weight- 150-155 lbs

Board-  Channel Islands Taco Grinder 6’1″x 18 3/8″x 2 1/4″ 26.1L

Five Fin Futures set up running medium Quads in hollow surf and medium tri fin in slopey large surf

Casey’s take on the Taco Grinder:

“This has been my go to step up the past few years. I really like this board in big hollow surf as it holds in really well and draws good straight lines in the tube.

 

The board paddles like a 6’6″ so I love that, as I’m usually out of shape when I show up on a trip lol. I’ve ridden this board in solid surf the past few winters on the North Shore, a few Indo trips, West Oz, and Mexico. Having a good travel board is really good for the confidence when your JOJ(just off the jet)and you’re trying to dust off the cobwebs. This was one of those boards that the first time I put it under my arms at Matt’s house I knew I would have it for a long time..haha thanks Matt!”

 

While we are currently low on Taco Grinders, we have more coming in! Check out the inventory HERE.

 

*All Photos courtesy of Casey Stahr and Jen Ollis*