How do you run a highly successful business and still spend much of your time screwing around? Do like Blinde Optics founder and extreme-sports freak Richard Walker and build a 2,000-square-foot skate bowl in your Nolita showroom (“we only skate from 7pm on,” he assures), work with factories in France and Italy located conveniently close to two of the world’s best snowboarding spots (Chamonix and the Dolomites), strike business deals with wily Australian surfers, and make friends with “storm trackers.”

Walker -- whose slick, sci-fi frames have been worn by Lenny Kravitz, Bono, Madonna, and the cast of The Matrix -- sadly had to move offices last January, and bequeath the skate bowl to Chelsea Piers. But he hasn’t stopped traveling the globe looking for the next big bowl to skate, wave to surf, and immense mountain to snowboard down. Feeling the heat, we asked him where in the world the best surf is. Below, his favorite spots 

Bocas del Toro, Panama
“I spent the month of January in Panama, sitting on an island called Bocas del Toro, which is about a 35-minute flight from Panama City. A friend of mine went on a surf trip, and ended up moving there. Everything is on hills, so you need jet skis to get out. Bocas del Toro is a large island, with hundreds of small islands around it where all the waves are happening. They’re all protected, so you can’t build on them, and need boats to get near them. But once you get there, there are no crowds, and it’s incredible. There’s surf around Panama City, but the water is super-polluted. Bocas is the spot, but you gotta have the boats and toys. 

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
“The best waves here are near San Juan del Sur, a little town on the Southern coast of Nicaragua. From there, it’s about an hour boat ride to a break called Rio Colorado. Good stuff out there.”

Rockaway, Queens, NYC
“It’s not just that it’s easy to go there from the city. They have the fastest beach breaks, and they tend to be a hell of a lot heavier than in Montauk. I mean, it’s not world-class, but on certain days, when the weather’s right, it’s really great.”

New Jersey Shore
“Again, when it’s right – when there’s a storm – it’s great. There are a couple spots: Asbury Park, Deal Beach, Sandy Hook is great. Sandy Hook is incredible, actually. But it has to be perfect timing. I can’t read a buoy to save my life, but I have friends that sit all day in front of monitors and watch for storms. They work as, like, deckhands off the coast of Indo, so they can surf for three months straight and make a little money on top of it.”

Punta Roca, El Salvador
“You fly to San Salvador and drive one hour down the coast. Incredible.”

Boomerang Beach, Australia
“I’m there like twice a year now for a project I’m working on. And we go to this place Boomerang Beach, about a 5 or 6-hour drive from Sydney. It’s a little, tiny coastal town with one convenience store, and a rainforest on the beach. And no crowds.”

Melbourne Beach, Florida
“I’ve got a place there. It’s basically Kelly Slater’s stomping grounds. It’s in the center of Florida. During hurricane season, when there’s a storm moving up the Carolinas, the surf is great.”

Go There:

For more info and accommodations in Bocas Del Toro,bocasdeltoro.com

San Juan del Sur, sanjuandelsur.org.ni

Punta Roca, El Salvador, surfingelsalvador.com

Boomerang Beach, Australia, hotel.com.au/NorthCoastNSW

Melbourne Beach, Florida, floridavacations.com

Check out Skatebowl Abyss, a film on psychoPEDIA.com shot in the former Blinde studio.