# Van Vu

> Van Vu is the founder and CEO of Basis Surf, a New York-based company that makes a dry-land paddle trainer for surfers, and the host of the Basis Surf Podcast, which The Inertia voted the best overall surf podcast. He grew up surfing in Orange County, California, spent three years and countless late nights engineering a device that replicates the resistance of paddling a surfboard, and turned his own obsessive frustration - living an hour from a break that is flat 90% of the time - into a product and a body of coaching interviews with roughly 100 top surfers, shapers, and coaches.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Basis Surf
- **Organizations:** Basis Surf
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Founded and built Basis Surf and its patent-pending paddle trainer over 3+ years of self-funded R&D, Hosts the Basis Surf Podcast, voted best overall surf podcast by The Inertia, Interviewed nearly 100 professional surfers, shapers, and coaches including Nathan Florence, Matt Meola, Zeke Lau, and Parker Coffin

## Career timeline

- **childhood** — Grew up surfing in Orange County, California, introduced to the sport by a cousin with a vintage VW bus and longboards
- **2023** — Launched the Basis Surf Podcast, inspired by Michael Frampton's Surf Mastery Podcast
- **2020s** — Spent 3+ years in R&D developing the Basis Surf Paddle Trainer, leaving a nine-to-five job to work on it full time
- **2020s** — Released the patent-pending Basis Surf Paddle Trainer System (later a v2), a portable dry-land paddle trainer
- **2020s** — Basis Surf Podcast voted best overall surf podcast by The Inertia after interviewing roughly 100 surf professionals

## Achievements

- Founded and built Basis Surf and its patent-pending paddle trainer over 3+ years of self-funded R&D
- Hosts the Basis Surf Podcast, voted best overall surf podcast by The Inertia
- Interviewed nearly 100 professional surfers, shapers, and coaches including Nathan Florence, Matt Meola, Zeke Lau, and Parker Coffin
- Teaches paddling technique to elite surfers, collaborating with Olympic surf coach Marcello Castellanos
- Documented case study of a user (Pierre) doubling his wave count in one month of training

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — Basis Surf published an updated About page and continued expanding the podcast and paddle trainer product line, including a v2 of the Paddle Trainer System.

## Links

- Website: https://surfbasis.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/van-vu-97726011/
- Twitter/X: http://www.twitter.com/sitescout
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7glYvNhW9jo

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/van-vu
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-07