Tony Lynch never had aspirations to join the US military since his uncle was declared missing-in-action in Vietnam. The Colorado native excelled as an all-sport athlete in high school and worked odd jobs where he says he lacked purpose. At 24-years-old, he searched for meaning and stability.
In 1995, Tony enlisted in the US Marine Corps and deployed twice to Okinawa, Japan. He also served with MARSOC (Marine Special Operations Command) completing two combat deployments; one each to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012, Tony left the Marines after 16 years of military service.
“When I got out of the Marines I was going through a rough patch in my life,” he said. “I had a hard time assimilating back to society and had the stereotypical issues of veterans; mental health and anger issues.”
Tony attended a surf therapy session in Florida, which was the start of his surfing journey. He moved to Hawaii and committed to using surfing as a medium of healing.
While volunteering at AccesSurf Hawaii, Tony became friends with One More Wave’s Ambassador of Stoke Buster Kawasaki and worked towards making his own customized board.
“I have a classic sea foam green 10-foot longboard," he said. "On the top I have the One More Wave logo and a Hawaiian sea turtle with an Oakland Raiders emblem in the middle of it. At the bottom I have the initials CKIV, some of Micah’s work, and white, blue, purple, brown, and black BJJ belts that wrap around the board because Jiu-Jitsu has helped me stay out of trouble."
Tony explains with a laugh when he first described to Alex — One More Wave's founder — how he wanted to add a Stitch for a design.
“I told Alex I wanted a Stitch on the board, you know from the cartoon Lilo & Stitch, and he looked at me funny," he said. "He had never seen the show so he had no idea what I was talking about! Once we got passed that, I told him I wanted to have Stitch staring at a lovebird because Susan had them 30 years ago and when I look at it, it reminds me that she’s out there surfing with me."
Story by Matt Fratus.