Christiaan Bailey is so busy these days that this interview had to be conducted from the beach at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz.
"We're in the middle of a surf contest right now. It's a beautiful day today...about 75 degrees, and the waves are perfect," Bailey says, as he wheels himself to a quiet spot as the wind and waves softly roll by in the background.
Bailey's energy is infectious.
With an early love of surfing and skateboarding in Santa Cruz, California, Bailey was a professional surfer and skateboarder who spent much of his time traveling the world in search of great skateparks and perfect waves.
Then, in July of 2006, during the filming of a video at Derby skatepark in Santa Cruz, Bailey crashed on his skateboard. At the young age of 25, he fractured his L3 and L4 vertebrae, injuring his spinal cord in the process and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Bailey was not one to sit around and feel sorry for himself. Instead, he started brainstorming new ways to adapt the sports he loved so much to his new disability. One sport in particular, surfing and more specifically, surfboard design.
"The surfboard I'm riding right now, was actually a concept I had designed from my hospital bed a couple weeks after my injury. We used my original sketch as a template and went from there, modifying and refining the design over time as we saw fit," Bailey explains, realizing how far he's come in such a short period of time. "We're really trying to push the limits of disabled surf design because up until recently, a paraplegic or quad would take a surfboard off a rack at a surf shop and try to use it that way. We try to tackle it from the ground up and develop a board around each specific injury, re-engineering the surf board altogether if you will. It's really been remarkable these past couple years since my injury. To be honest, I would have never would have dreamed I would be living the life I am today...I feel very blessed."
Since his injury, Bailey's sponsors continue to give him the opportunity to both surf and chairskate on tour and he uses this spotlight to highlight the efforts of the Life Rolls On Foundation www.Liferollson.org for which he is a ambassador.
Life Rolls On is a 501c3 non-profit foundation that serves as a resource for young people whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injury. Their most popular event, the TWSA or "They Will Surf Again" program, is an event designed around getting spinal cord injured people back in the water and surfing. It's an event that in the past two years has gained huge popularity within the disabled community and is currently being held at various times throughout the year in several cities on both the east and west coasts.
As Bailey sees it, "The biggest hurdle disabled people face, once they do get hurt, is that they're very apprehensive about what abilities they have left. And in this case in particular, not as eager to get out in the water due to the risk of injuring themselves further. This is why we coordinate a massive gathering of lifeguards and volunteers both in and out of the water. This way we can ensure a very safe enviroment for all the surfers involved. What it's all about is to see the look on that person's face and the effect it has, when they break down that barrier for themselves, is truly magical!"
The Life Rolls On Foundation is all about breaking down barriers and shifting paradigms, and the "Ambassadors" of this foundation personify this philosophy. Each of the 10 Ambassadors have found ways to overcome their spinal cord injuries and adapt the sports and activities they loved to their disabilities.
Bailey is spreading the word to let the world know that it's possible for disabled athletes to surf on a professional level. They just need more support from the community as a whole.
"As it stands right now, Jesse Billauer http://vids.myspace.com and I are the only two disabled pro surfers out there. Which is something we would certainly like to change for the future, it would be awesome to have some healthy competition out there."
Bailey's chairskating has also been gaining attention. Watching athletes chairskating is an incredible thrill that encourages even the biggest couch potato to get off the couch. In short, it looks like fun but you have to see it in person.
"There aren't too many of us doing chairskating - myself, Scott Horton, Courtney Cooper and Aaron Fotheringham and only a handful of others. Aaron's the first one to land a wheelchair backflip," Bailey notes, "That youtube video pretty much put chairskating on the map."
Sure enough, when you view the video online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5B5iB67Ld0, it is stunning to watch a wheelchair backflip. And, again in slow motion www.YouTube.com.
That video is followed by the Chairdevils http://profile.myspace.com.
Bailey and his friends prove that anything is possible from chairskating to surfing and beyond.
"If you were to ask me, while I was in the hospital, whether I'd be traveling around the world and surfing, and doing all of this stuff, I would have said no way. However, my mantra is that life is full of challenges. It's how a person chooses to deal with those challenges that defines them as who they are. I just feel so fortunate to have been granted the opportunities I have and to be able to do what I do. Having the chance to meet and work with such great people and awesome foundations is nothing short of a godsend for me."
"My biggest focus as of late, has been on Shaka Surf Camp www.Shakacostarica.com in Costa Rica, built by my friend Frankie Bauer and Chris Moi. We're gearing it specifically to work with other non-profits and bring wheelchair bound kids out to the camp with their families. Our thought was: parents of a disabled child have always been the primary caregivers and in many cases have never been on vacation and certainly never out of the U.S. So our take on it, was to build a fully ADA compliant wheelchair accessible surf camp, where the coaches can take on the kids, caregiving as well, teach them how to surf, play on the beach, etc. While the parents, on the other hand, can relax, unwind and enjoy themselves, without having to worry about their child. This gives everybody the chance to have fun! "
So far this year, Bailey has traveled to Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico. In August, he will travel to Vietnam with David Richard and UCP Wheels for Humanity www.Wheelsforhumanity.org. As Bailey points out, "The United States is way ahead of the curve as far as the rest of the world goes when it comes to supporting its disabled community. The Americans with Disabilities Act really opened the doors for us to gain access to public facilities and getting jobs here in the states," Bailey adds, "while in other countries there are massive accessibility problems. In many cases the disabled don't even have the means or access to a wheelchair. In my opinion, if ever there was a foundation of unsung heroes it's David, Brian and Michael at Wheels for Humanity! I mean, they refurbish donated wheelchairs and then hand fit them to children and adults with disabilities. They are currently operating in 63 developing countries and have no qualms about working a 90-hour work week, so they can give the gift of mobility to someone they've never even met before. They are my inspirations."
Christiaan Bailey not only reminds us that it's up to each person to rediscover their abilities, but that everyone has the ability to make a difference in someone's life by volunteering.
For more information on Chris Bailey's work, visit www.myspace.com/santacruzsoulsurfer.
Pictured: Surfer & Chairskater Christiaan Bailey
"We're in the middle of a surf contest right now. It's a beautiful day today...about 75 degrees, and the waves are perfect," Bailey says, as he wheels himself to a quiet spot as the wind and waves softly roll by in the background.
Bailey's energy is infectious.
With an early love of surfing and skateboarding in Santa Cruz, California, Bailey was a professional surfer and skateboarder who spent much of his time traveling the world in search of great skateparks and perfect waves.
Then, in July of 2006, during the filming of a video at Derby skatepark in Santa Cruz, Bailey crashed on his skateboard. At the young age of 25, he fractured his L3 and L4 vertebrae, injuring his spinal cord in the process and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Bailey was not one to sit around and feel sorry for himself. Instead, he started brainstorming new ways to adapt the sports he loved so much to his new disability. One sport in particular, surfing and more specifically, surfboard design.
"The surfboard I'm riding right now, was actually a concept I had designed from my hospital bed a couple weeks after my injury. We used my original sketch as a template and went from there, modifying and refining the design over time as we saw fit," Bailey explains, realizing how far he's come in such a short period of time. "We're really trying to push the limits of disabled surf design because up until recently, a paraplegic or quad would take a surfboard off a rack at a surf shop and try to use it that way. We try to tackle it from the ground up and develop a board around each specific injury, re-engineering the surf board altogether if you will. It's really been remarkable these past couple years since my injury. To be honest, I would have never would have dreamed I would be living the life I am today...I feel very blessed."
Since his injury, Bailey's sponsors continue to give him the opportunity to both surf and chairskate on tour and he uses this spotlight to highlight the efforts of the Life Rolls On Foundation www.Liferollson.org for which he is a ambassador.
Life Rolls On is a 501c3 non-profit foundation that serves as a resource for young people whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injury. Their most popular event, the TWSA or "They Will Surf Again" program, is an event designed around getting spinal cord injured people back in the water and surfing. It's an event that in the past two years has gained huge popularity within the disabled community and is currently being held at various times throughout the year in several cities on both the east and west coasts.
As Bailey sees it, "The biggest hurdle disabled people face, once they do get hurt, is that they're very apprehensive about what abilities they have left. And in this case in particular, not as eager to get out in the water due to the risk of injuring themselves further. This is why we coordinate a massive gathering of lifeguards and volunteers both in and out of the water. This way we can ensure a very safe enviroment for all the surfers involved. What it's all about is to see the look on that person's face and the effect it has, when they break down that barrier for themselves, is truly magical!"
The Life Rolls On Foundation is all about breaking down barriers and shifting paradigms, and the "Ambassadors" of this foundation personify this philosophy. Each of the 10 Ambassadors have found ways to overcome their spinal cord injuries and adapt the sports and activities they loved to their disabilities.
Bailey is spreading the word to let the world know that it's possible for disabled athletes to surf on a professional level. They just need more support from the community as a whole.
"As it stands right now, Jesse Billauer http://vids.myspace.com and I are the only two disabled pro surfers out there. Which is something we would certainly like to change for the future, it would be awesome to have some healthy competition out there."
Bailey's chairskating has also been gaining attention. Watching athletes chairskating is an incredible thrill that encourages even the biggest couch potato to get off the couch. In short, it looks like fun but you have to see it in person.
"There aren't too many of us doing chairskating - myself, Scott Horton, Courtney Cooper and Aaron Fotheringham and only a handful of others. Aaron's the first one to land a wheelchair backflip," Bailey notes, "That youtube video pretty much put chairskating on the map."
Sure enough, when you view the video online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5B5iB67Ld0, it is stunning to watch a wheelchair backflip. And, again in slow motion www.YouTube.com.
That video is followed by the Chairdevils http://profile.myspace.com.
Bailey and his friends prove that anything is possible from chairskating to surfing and beyond.
"If you were to ask me, while I was in the hospital, whether I'd be traveling around the world and surfing, and doing all of this stuff, I would have said no way. However, my mantra is that life is full of challenges. It's how a person chooses to deal with those challenges that defines them as who they are. I just feel so fortunate to have been granted the opportunities I have and to be able to do what I do. Having the chance to meet and work with such great people and awesome foundations is nothing short of a godsend for me."
"My biggest focus as of late, has been on Shaka Surf Camp www.Shakacostarica.com in Costa Rica, built by my friend Frankie Bauer and Chris Moi. We're gearing it specifically to work with other non-profits and bring wheelchair bound kids out to the camp with their families. Our thought was: parents of a disabled child have always been the primary caregivers and in many cases have never been on vacation and certainly never out of the U.S. So our take on it, was to build a fully ADA compliant wheelchair accessible surf camp, where the coaches can take on the kids, caregiving as well, teach them how to surf, play on the beach, etc. While the parents, on the other hand, can relax, unwind and enjoy themselves, without having to worry about their child. This gives everybody the chance to have fun! "
So far this year, Bailey has traveled to Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico. In August, he will travel to Vietnam with David Richard and UCP Wheels for Humanity www.Wheelsforhumanity.org. As Bailey points out, "The United States is way ahead of the curve as far as the rest of the world goes when it comes to supporting its disabled community. The Americans with Disabilities Act really opened the doors for us to gain access to public facilities and getting jobs here in the states," Bailey adds, "while in other countries there are massive accessibility problems. In many cases the disabled don't even have the means or access to a wheelchair. In my opinion, if ever there was a foundation of unsung heroes it's David, Brian and Michael at Wheels for Humanity! I mean, they refurbish donated wheelchairs and then hand fit them to children and adults with disabilities. They are currently operating in 63 developing countries and have no qualms about working a 90-hour work week, so they can give the gift of mobility to someone they've never even met before. They are my inspirations."
Christiaan Bailey not only reminds us that it's up to each person to rediscover their abilities, but that everyone has the ability to make a difference in someone's life by volunteering.
For more information on Chris Bailey's work, visit www.myspace.com/santacruzsoulsurfer.
Pictured: Surfer & Chairskater Christiaan Bailey
