RIP: Surfing Environmentalist Rob 'Birdlegs' Caughlan

Per Caughlan’s own website, he sites some of his exploits:

“Rob has surfed with sharks, hopped freight trains and orchestrated unconventional publicity events to promote environmental causes with celebrities such as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and William Shatner. His devotion to the planet brought him to the White House and side-by-side with a who’s who of American politics.”

His activism led him to the upper echelons of politics, as chronicled in his 2020 book, A Surfer In The White House: And Other Salty Yarns. The book’s description reads:

“There are vivid, first-person accounts of working with President Jimmy Carter. He used his pragmatic media savvy for a who's who of American Senators and Congressional Representatives - Dianne Feinstein, Jay Rockefeller, Jackie Speier, Pete McCloskey, and Leo Ryan.”

Caughlan also served as the first president to the environmental organization, The Surfrider Foundation. There, “The Surfrider Foundation elected him to be their first president which turned into six terms. During his tenure he acted as their plaintiff and won, in terms of violations, the largest victory for clean water in American history.”

The late, lifelong San Mateo County resident also made many activist films. And yet, amidst all that political and environmental work, surfing remained his true love. As The Half Moon Bay Review once wrote about Caughlan, who often surfed in Pacifica:

“Riding with the easy grace of a man who has caught thousands of waves, the silver-haired surfer seems at home in the ocean.

“He rides with the manner of a matador gracefully facing a charging bull...”

Rest in peace.