Patagonia

The Coloradan has been based on Oahu’s North Share for more than a decade now and has become one of the crazies who bob and buoy in the heaviest surfing line-ups in the world. Christa is a regular at Pipeline, putting her body on the line for the chance at making a moment amongst that heaving vortex. She also swam out into 30-foot-close-outs at Waimea Bay during The Eddie.

Over dinner, I learn that when Christa Funk was seven, she returned home from an aquarium with tales of blue ringed octopus and dancing dolphins. Despite growing up more than 1000km from the nearest ocean – a hair west of the American Midwest, in Grand Junction, Colorado – she knew then that the ocean was the place for her. She resolved to be a marine biologist.

Later that week, pharmacist Bob Funk, her dad, shared the projected salary for his youngest daughter’s prospective field of study:

1998 Salary Projections:

Marine biologist (with PhD): $40,000
McDonald’s store manager: $55,000

Seven-year-old Christa Funk was not perturbed by these statistics. It sounded like a helluva lot of money to her. Bob Funk did his best to steer his brown-eyed little beauty away from the trappings of a dead-end career path, and clever Christa was wily enough to heed her father’s practical wisdom – while never losing sight of the long game.

She saw her dad’s conservative advice for what it was: protective. “My dad was an artist who ended up in a scientific occupation. Much of my life I watched his personal struggle reconciling the two within himself. Men of his generation went to work; you didn’t chase your passion. He was an incredible organ player and musician. He would carve and shape wood and stone. But to feed his family, he chose an occupation that provided security over passion… and his family was better for it.”

The same year as her aquarium epiphany, Christa became a serious swimmer. She says that she never quite fit in at school. Under the tutelage of the long black line, she harnessed her energy, found a community, and honed self-discipline. She was the kind of focused kid for whom punishment was taking swimming practice away. The water was her way “to turn my fucking brain off.”

To pay for school and create career options, Christa joined the military. Her dad suggested it, and she couldn’t think of a reason not to. In exchange for five years’ service as an officer, Christa had a debt-free university degree and a deadly work ethic. Having been responsible for hundreds of lives onboard military vessels, she knew how to find calm amongst chaos in the deep.

“I wasn’t the typical military officer. To be in the military you have to accept indoctrination. You have to know and accept your place and position, or the machine breaks down and people die. I don’t like to accept my place and position. I’d like to choose my place and position.”

Christa has made a wildly successful career out of doing just that, donning a pink helmet, camera housing in hand, and swimming out into the storm. “When I was in the last few months of my obligation to the Coast Guard an email popped up in my inbox. It was so simple but said so much. His email read, ‘Follow your dreams. Love, Dad.’ Reading that felt like I had his approval to go for what I wanted, regardless of the inherent uncertainty built into being a freelance photographer.”

This story features in Roaring Journals, Edition Two:order your copy here.