I met Niko at Tower 10 for his interview and photo session. He came up on crutches. I’m getting ahead of myself though, let me start his story at the beginning. Niko is a 27-years old local. He was born in Encinitas, and except for 3 years in Hawaii, raised here in North County. He comes from a family that loves the water. His grandfathers surfed (his grandfather in his late 70s still does), his sister surfs, his brother, Tyler, is a talented boogie boarder, and his father, Adam, is a surfing fixture at Seaside. Niko told me he has been surfing ever since he can remember. He credits his father for teaching him how to ride and said he also taught a lot of his friends. He remarked that it is interesting how he can see his father’s influence in their surfing style.
When Niko was growing up his folks told him that he needed to do one competitive sport. He tried the usual few but none took, except surfing. As for the competing part, he did it. He competed in the regular alphabet soup of leagues, but his heart was’t in it He didn’t think competition made sense. Niko came to the ocean from skating and he wanted to bring a lot of what he did on a short board with 4 wheels to a longer board with some fins. I have known Niko and photographed him in the water for years; his style is his alone. A lot of riders do aerials, Niko thrives on them. He is one of those few surfers that spends almost as much time above the waves as on them. In my book that makes him one of those riders that you get excited to see paddle out and find so entertaining to watch and shoot.
That brings us back to the crutches. Three days before his interview Niko was surfing Oceanside and his friend and photographer, Conner Newton, was filming him. They had already been at it for 3 hours when the wave of the day rolled up. He estimated the face at 5-6 feet. He jumped on “chucked a big air to the flats and exploded”. He told me he never heard a popping sound like that before; it was his knee.
This is Niko’s first major surfing injury and when we talked he still hadn’t seen the doctor so didn’t know the full extent of it. He was sure it would keep him out of the water for quite a while though. I wondered how this would affect his riding. Would he be as eager to go for those big air tricks once he was healed? He said he honestly didn’t know yet. He thought that dealing with the mental part of the injury was going to be something he would eventually have to confront. In the end though he felt that it wouldn’t keep him from doing what he loves.
Ending Niko’s story here would be a great disservice to him. He is so much more than a surfer. For 4 years he was a professional model, traveling the world starting as an 18-year old. He said it was an amazing time in his life, but not always fun. He was separated from family, friends and the ocean for long stretches of time, and a lot of that time was spent alone in Europe sitting around waiting for the next job. He did the usual tourist stuff to pass the time. He also told me that at one point he bought a fishing pole and would go fishing for perch near the Eiffel Tower.
He is a musician, a guitarist, and enjoyed playing gigs as a duo with his brother, a drummer. The couple was called the “Chicken Leg”, an inside joke involving their two dogs.
He is an artist and will soon be participating in an art market showing his drawings alongside his girlfriend who will be displaying her hand crafted jewelry.
One of the things he is most passionate about is his love of herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians. He said his grandfather first got him interested in this when the two of them would go out to the garden and turn over rocks to try to find salamanders and fence lizards. Now he shares this passion with like-minded friends who travel together to the desert and rare locations to search for and record interesting species.
As I mentioned, I have known Niko casually for years and now it was fun to be able to learn more about him. He is a free spirit with a model’s good looks. He marches to his own drummer, but freely admits that at times he has gotten a little lost trying to find the beat.
I asked if he had any advice for Groms. He said “Keep your head up and keep going. No matter what is happening, keep moving and don’t give up.” After speaking with him I don’t think he ever will, no matter what the challenge. I for one can’t wait for him to heal and to see and shoot him flying over the waves again.
Written and Photographed by Nicholas Paoni.
