Crystal Thornburg-Homcy Surf Advocate

 

Ocean Ambassador for Patagonia and the World

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Like outdoor clothing maker Patagonia, Crystal Thornburg-Homcy has always blazed a trail for herself. For the past 23-years, Thornburg-Homcy, a competitive water sports athlete and filmmaker, has been Patagonia’s Ocean Ambassador, helping to spread its environmental message.

An all-around ocean athlete, she’s in her element surfing, racing outrigger canoes, long-distance swimming, paddleboarding, kayaking, and more. 

Born and raised in Hawaii, Thornburg-Homcy earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a minor in Fine Art from Chaminade University in Honolulu.

She produced and directed – with husband David Homcy – Beyond The Surface, a film about Ishita Malaviya, India’s first female surfer, which documents the ways surfing, yoga, and ecological creativity can bring hope and change for people and the planet.

Together, the couple surfs and travels around the world, filming their own and others’ stories about life, love and loss, including her personal story Sliding Into The Light.

Thornburg-Homcy says, “Surfing has taught me the art of impermanence. With each passing wave or new swell you observe your experience and learn from it and it creates you in that moment.”

Experiences and personal interactions are more important to her than things, an outlook in keeping with Patagonia’s goal to combat commercialism and encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Thornburg-Homcy and her husband also run the organic produce company Crave Greens and are involved in environmental groups including Conservacion Patagonia, Save Our Seas, Surfrider Foundation, Kokua Hawai’i Foundation, and The North Shore Community Land Trust.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel admire the passion she puts into everything she does and her commitment to making the world better for everyone.

Most at home in the water, Crystal Thornburg-Homcy says the ocean recharges her with the energy to give back to the environment: “Surfing means the world to me. It's my savior, my temple, my goddess, my guru, and my breath.”

SurfWriter Girls

 Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.