Channel Islands' Newest Team Member is an All-Around Weapon

By now if you haven't heard of Ian Gottron, aka Gato Son on Instagram, you're clearly not paying close attention. He's one of those surfers that everyone loves and there's not much to critique about his approach, he can log just as well as he can egg--and he sizzles like piece of bacon whenever he's on a shortboard, be it a thruster, fish or bonzer.

He's exactly the type of surfer we love to see, humble and curious. Clearly in it for the love and not just hype. We first mentioned him in SURFER back in 2019 alongside another all-around stylist (and buff lord) Zack Flores. The two were teammates on Katin for years (Zack has since left to ride for Cedar) and Ian left enough of an impression on Uncle Devon Howard to get the invite to join the team at Channel Islands.

The latest edit from Ryan Cannon, aka Log Rap, offers an up close look at Ian and his deep quiver of boards. Before joining Channel Island, Ian was riding for Hobie (talk about classic) and would resort to grabbing used boards whenever he wanted to ride something shorter. Now that he's with CI, he's got access to everything he could want from their newer longboards--the Log and the Noserider--as well as their Mid, the Tri-Plane Single, Feb's Fish, etc.

While he may be best known for his catlike skills on a log, homie is not afraid to pack some serious heat when things get heavy.

Who knows, within a few years we may even see him collabing with Uncle Dev, Britt, Wayne Rich, maybe even Mikey Feb, to develop something new for the lineup. Ever since Devon has stepped in at CI we've seen some changes that most people would have never expected.

Devon and I spoke about this last year and, to be clear, they are still 100% the high-performance powerhouse we've come to know over the years. The only difference is that they are now bringing that same focus and drive for excellence into a realm that, for lack of a better word, we call alternative.