KARINA ROZUNKO

Karina Rozunko’s life is the endless summer. Roaming the globe in search of the perfect wave—which she always seems to find—is her reality, a life that she has carved out with her finesse and master skill on a longboard. Back home in California and in a refurbished VW bus, she lives the nomadic surf lifestyle that fill the dreams of many but few actually achieve. Karina grew up in the surf utopia that is San Clemente, born into a family of surfers. Her father introduced her to the water but it was her now pro surfer brother, Tanner Rozunko, who gave her the drive to progress her riding at a young age. Eventually, the allure of logging captured her desires and she ditched the short board to hone her craft on the traditional, once overlooked subculture of surfing. Her decision has helped her discover a rich community of fellow freethinkers that encourage the connection between rider and ocean before all else.

While her achievement of living a fantasy surf life has attracted the attention of daydreamers around the world, the prowess of her trade has gotten the attention of longboarding legend and Vans contemporary, Joel Tudor, who personally invited her to take part in the Vans Duct Tape Invitational in 2016. She is now a familiar face in the event’s lineup, which focuses on the use of traditional, single fin logs without modern attachments or interference. It’s an ode to the days of old, and Karina fits right in.