Wild Leap Brewery: LaGrange's Premier Craft Brewery

Sidetracked: A recent article profiling you said the catalyst for Waves For Water was you trying to figure out your next move. You were fading from professional surfing and spending more time riding motorcycles through Baja and hiking in the mountains, wondering what to do with your life. Can you tell us a little more about that time? Jon: I was a pro surfer for 13 years and I turned pro straight out of high school. I was on tour for about six of those years; the rest was spent pro freesur

I zip my sleeping bag up to my neck as the glowing warmth of the bothy fire fades; my legs are tired after the day’s cycling but I can’t sleep. Two shafts of silvery light from a full moon briefly stream in through the back windows before the cloud and rain return. The wind is whistling, searching for any gap in the walls or roof, but without much success. It was in even stormier conditions in 1944 when an RAF Dakota plane crashed into Ben Talaidh, the mountain only a few hundred metres away

Tortured by clegs that swarmed in the fierce heat, settling and sticking to sweat-soaked skin, bites boring into neck and calves, my shoulders burned. Swollen feet ached, and my lips cracked as I pushed the pace a little, sensing an end to the climb. Just ahead, the narrow road turned and passed through a wide col – the highest point I’d reach today. 17 miles in, another 9 to go. I’d been preparing myself for this moment. Paddling beneath the vast cliffs of Scotland’s north coast, approachi