Easy Reader News: Meet El Segundo’s Drew Boyles, the Charger
The sun had gone down and all the guys were out of the water after a long day of surfing in Nicaragua. They were at the tail end of a surf trip, celebratory and stoked, not quite ready to come back to the South Bay. It was time to eat a big dinner and have some beers when somebody noticed. Drew Boyles was not on land.
Nobody was particularly surprised. Over the course of many surf trips — to Mexico, Central America, the Mentawais — Boyles was always the guy who put in the most hours in the water. He wasn’t known as the best surfer in the crew, but nobody surfed as avidly.
“He’s good,” said Eric Nepomnaschy, a friend who has surfed with Boyles for more than 20 years. “He’s no Kelly Slater, but he’s relentless. He will do anything — big waves, small waves. He is definitely always the last one out of the water. He’s a charger.”
This particular incident, two years ago, was a little different. It wasn’t dusk. It was actual night. His friends peered out into the darkness. The surf was crashing pretty mightily.