SCI Superstar: Christiaan Bailey

At the beach or skate park is where you would’ve found Christiaan Bailey before his injury. A professional surfer for several years, he suffered a L3-L4 fracture while filming a skateboarding video in 2006. After his injury, he refused to let it stop him from doing what he loves. Read on for his story. 

Why He’s Fearless

Within weeks of his injury, Christiaan was sketching an adaptive surfboard while he was still in the hospital. He knew right away he had to create adaptive ways to still surf and skate to stay sane. In a year, Christiaan was back surfing, and he began to partake in WCMX, a wheelchair-version of skateboarding.

Christian, along Jesse Billauer (surfer, quadriplegic and founder of Life Rolls On) were the first professional disabled surfers in the world, with Christiaan staking the claim of being the first-ever paraplegic pro surfer. Christiaan has been in several tournaments and has won several titles over the years, including being a three time USA National Champion (2009,2017,18) and a 7 time ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship medalist (2015-Silver, 2016-Silver & Team Silver, 2017 Silver & Team Bronze, 2018 Silver and Team Gold). 

He also co-founded the nonprofit, Ocean Healing Group, that helps young people with disabilities go adapted surfing in Costa Rica and go on other once-in-a-lifetime adaptive outdoor adventures, one year after after his injury. He worked as executive director until 2015, and then was hired as Captain of Team USA Surfing, becoming a member of their board of directors as well.

What’s Next

Christiaan has done a ton of international traveling since his accident as well, from surfing at beaches all around the world to passing out refurbished wheelchairs in developing countries for UCP Wheels for Humanity. Traveling remains one of the remains one of the most significant ways Christiaan expresses himself, as well as how he continues to help the greater disability population. 

— Follow Christiaan on Instagram