While some people choose to escape the heat of California’s Central Coast and flock to the coast, Johnny Stieg and his crew head a little more inland and take advantage of the warm weather and cool water.
With two large lakes just mere miles from our brewery outside Paso Robles, Johnny embraces the heat and cools off by wakeboarding, wake surfing and being on the water of Lake Nacimiento.
A CENTRAL COAST NATIVE
“I have been blessed to grow up in California, but not just any part of California, I grew up on the Central Coast and I’m proud to live here.
Growing up on the Central Coast has given me so much. It taught me values like hard work, kindness, being polite and staying humble. It has also allowed me a training ground to perfect my passions such as surf, skate, snow, moto, bike, fish, dive, wake, building, art. A place where I can rock sandals, skate shoes or cowboy boots on any given day.”
“When I was in third grade my family moved from Buellton to Templeton, California. Having grown up in a little farm town we had to find ways of making our own fun, playing outside, getting dirty. In my young days that meant skateboarding and riding BMX.”
HOW LAKE LIFE BEGAN
Johnny’s neighbor down the street at the time heard he was a decent surfer and had created a company geared towards surfing at the lake. He called it wake surfing. He asked Johnny to try it one day and he took to it instantly. He sponsored Johnny on the spot and that’s spiraled into a whole new opportunity.
“Now I travel the world for my boat sponsor, Axis Boats, giving wake surfing lessons, doing demos, interacting with people in places nowhere near the ocean. I get to spread the love and stoke of surfing I found, to people who may never even get an opportunity to ever see an ocean.”
“Growing up in the 805 has given me so much. It taught me values like hard work, kindness, being polite and staying humble. It has also allowed me a training ground to perfect my passions such as surf, skate, snow, moto, bike, fish, dive, wake, building, art. A place where I can rock sandals, skate shoes or cowboy boots on any given day.”
