Professional snowboarder Summer Fenton takes us on a tour through her hometown.
Snowboarding has takenSummer Fentonaround the world , from the X Games in Aspen to the World Cup in Switzerland . But when she ’s not travel for her athletic calling , Fenton drop her downtime at home in San Francisco ’s Sunset District . “ When I go home and I see the sea , I feel an exigent relief , ” she says . “ I can fly high in my passions for the open and nature , but still have admission to city biography as well . "
Though the Sunset District is within the urban center limits of San Francisco , it feels like a world away with its parks and long stretch of beaches . It ’s a place that allows her to pink into her active life style — she can go surfboarding , biking , and skateboarding , all in one good afternoon , then stop her day watch over the sunset , with aPacificoin hand . “ You ’re incessantly connected with nature , ” she enounce . “ My feet are in the sand every day . ”
As a sixth multiplication San Francisco resident physician , Fenton ’s connexion to the Sunset District is thick , with memories tie to every block , niche , and house in the neighborhood . “ My house was built in 1917 and it ’s a beach bungalow ; it ’s all wood within and when I put my script against the bulwark , I can feel the wind [ from the shoring ] coming through , ” she say .
Photos by Summer Fenton | Design by Meg Konigsburg
To read what it ’s like for a professional athlete on a day off , Fenton portion out her daily turn when she ’s back home , pass clock time with fellowship and friends , in San Francisco ’s Sunset District .
At home , Fenton ’s mornings look a lot different than her mornings on the road . Instead of sitting at the embarkment logic gate of an airport , she come alive up and head for the hills across the street to check out the surf . “ Once I get in the water , it specify my pure tone for the sidereal day , ” she says . “ It wakes you up ; the water ’s cold , the metropolis ’s still asleep , the haze ’s roll in , and there ’s a mist on your face . ”
The neighborhood ’s beach , Ocean Beach , is one of the more dangerous surf spots in northern California . The strong rip currents and undertows make the beach well suited for more advanced surfboarder . From an early years , Fenton ’s dad , a surfer himself , taught her how to read the tides and instilled water prophylactic practices . “ At Ocean Beach there are so many lesson to be learn because it ’s such a hard boat paddle out and it experience like you ’re just go [ on everlastingly ] , ” she enounce . “ It teach you to be resilient and to keep push through , because once you get the wave or make it out to the lineup , it ’s always so worth it . ”
After catching a few waves , the feeling of excitement from her surf help carry Fenton through the rest of the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . " I ’m stoked , " she says . " [ It lay me ] in the best mood ever . "
One of the advantage to endure in the Sunset District is that it borders the city ’s turgid park . Golden Gate Park sprawl more than 1,000 Akko , spanning from Ocean Beach to Lower Haight . Because she ’s so close , Fenton like to practice her day-by-day yoga routine in the park . She runs home after catching the morning surf , grabs her e - bike and yoga mat , and headway over to Golden Gate Park .
She posts up next to the Dutch Windmill and its heyday beds , then begins her flow . like to surfing , the breathwork and stretches during yoga ground Fenton , put her in a good mindset to proceed her Clarence Day . “ There are all these vibrant peak and it ’s so quiet there in the morning , ” she says . “ It ’s protect by the fart , too , so it ’s just a little bit of a warm spot in the metropolis when it ’s foggy outside . ” Afterward , Fenton likes to walk around the park , stopping to say hello to the buffalo at the Bison Paddock and regard the foot pedal boats in Stow Lake before biking back home .
For an utmost jock like Fenton , fueling her soundbox with nutritive food is all-important . It ’s also an opportunity to indulge in her preferent locality bites , like the Hong Kong egg tarts fromPineapple King Bakeryor a fish burrito from her local seafood shack . “ I ’m always venture through neighborhoods exploring all the different types of cuisine San Francisco has to offer , ” she articulate .
To get there , Fenton maneuvers through the street of Sunset on her skateboard . It ’s just another fashion of transportation because it comes naturally to her ; she has been skateboarding since she was a kid . Fenton thinks back to her childhood , when she and her sibling would satisfy the streets with skate ramps and rail . “ I do n’t want to say we were the little Sunset kids that were menace , but we definitely blocked the street off with all of our skateboard gear and were constantly skateboarding in the neighborhood , ” she says . These day , she pull through the joke and ollies for the novel skatepark at Civic Center , but she ca n’t resist an easy afternoon ride with her friends down the hills of the Sunset District .
After tapping into her vibrant living in the Sunset District , coming home allows Fenton to reconnect with her parents and sib . “ My mammy and I always overhear up with a retentive walk of life along Ocean Beach or the Lower Great Highway , hop that we feel some sandglass to add to our collection along the elbow room , ” she says . They salt away these beach mementos in deoxyephedrine jounce , putting them on display around the house .
On these golden hour walking on the beach , Fenton like to terminate , sit , and enjoy a present moment of gratitude with her family . She cross out the social function by cracking open a can ofPacifico Clarabeer . “ There ’s no better agency to envelop up the daylight than by sipping a crisp , prosperous laager , palpate thankful for all the epic moments throughout the solar day , ” she says .
As the sundown lights up the sky , Fenton maintain up her Pacifico and toast to everything she has carry through , not only in this natural process - carry day , but in her life — commemorating how her hometown and her mob have forge her into the person she is today . “ [ The Sunset District ] is always going to be a part of my spirit , ” she pronounce . “ It ’s always going to be home for me . ”
