An Unexpected and Welcome Tutorial on Frontside Carves

Originally posted on SURFER | By August Howell | Last updated Oct 13, 2025 6:08 PM ET

Though Lucas Owston hails from Oceanside, California, he’s spent many summers up I-5 in the Lower Trestles lineup. And there, like a sponge in water, the 20-year-old has absorbed high-level surfing at a rapid pace. Being embedded in the San Clemente scene has allowed him to take notes on a near-daily basis. He counts Griffin and Crosby Colapinto as major players, but it’s a 54-year-old former world tour veteran who still impresses every time he stands up.

It’s fitting that Taylor Knox is one of Lucas’s favorite surfers, considering they both share an affinity for powerful frontside hacks. “He’s a huge inspiration for me and how I want to surf,” Lucas said. “People don’t give him enough credit. He still rips.” In a friend group that included Kelly Slater and Shane Dorian, Taylor made a name for himself in the Momentum Generation with an unflappable rail game. By the looks of things, Lucas is following that same model.

This summer, Lucas spent a week surfing the right points of Salina Cruz with Eithan Osborne and Micah Margieson. Jason “Mini” Blanchard brought the lenses and the hard drives, and the crew rapidly accumulated footage on the smooth sand points. Despite the onslaught of hungry mosquitoes, a three-day power outage and nauseating heat, it was a successful trip.

Admittedly, I haven’t seen much of Lucas over the years. But his fundamentals and command of the rail jump off the screen in this video. There is not a single air reverse; it’s a welcome onslaught of carves and cutbacks.

One of the boards Lucas whipped around is a yet-to-be-released model from …Lost Surfboards that he described as “a sick frontside point break model.” The access to high-quality equipment and Matt Biolos' decades of experience is not lost on the second-year team rider.

“Matt helps me out so much. I’m super thankful for him because he’s one of the best surfboard shapers in the world,” Lucas said. “But also the whole team at …Lost Surfboards, all the guys who work on those boards, they do an incredible job.

“Matt is so good at understanding what kind of a surfer you are and just making me boards,” he continued. “I’ll tell him I want this, and he’ll go, no, you don’t want that. That’s just who he is, he’s so smart about his craft. He’s done it for so long. I just listen to him, let him do his work, and he makes magic boards.”

When I asked Lucas about his long-term goals, he pointed to the pride of Oceanside, 2024 world champion Caity Simmers, as a balanced blueprint. Compete on the world tour but indulge his artistic side along the way.

“I’m pretty creative and I just love the whole aspect of filmmaking in surfing,” Lucas said. “I think Caity does a really good job of creating films along her travels and telling cool stories. I really like creating high-quality films with really good surfing. Think movie, but intertwined with surfing where you go, wow, that was gnarly. Just something that makes another person want to go surfing.”

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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