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KETCHIKAN - Heavy surf pounded an Oregon beach in September as Ketchikan's Tanner Thomas revved his 1990 Yamaha SuperJet through the shorebreak, launching the customized "ski" off the crests of incoming waves for aerial stunts observed by a crowd of spectators and judges on shore.

The Kayhi senior and National Honor Society member was stoked to be competing in the Blowsion Surf Slam-his first event riding in big surf.

"It's nothing like riding the waves that we have around (Ketchikan)," said Thomas, who rides local storm swells off Survey Point. "There were 15-foot faces down there. That's just unreal until you're out there in that. It's just ridiculous."

Steering clear of the biggest waves, Thomas threw together a combination of "nose-stabs" and other surf-riding maneuvers that helped him place seventh among the 11 competitors in the event's amateur freeride division.

"And I'd never ridden surf before," he said earlier this month, smiling at the memory.

As he talked, Thomas, 17, was standing in his family's garage, next to the Yamaha SuperJet that he rode in the Surf Slam.

It's a "stock" ski, but Thomas has either customized or improved just about every part of it, from the mechanics to the paint scheme that's emblazoned with logos of sponsors and companies who've helped him out.

They include national names like Monster Energy, Blowsion and Hydro-Turf. But there are local names too: Alaska Marine Lines, Sign Pro and TNT Kustoms.

TNT Kustoms? That's Thomas. Look closely at the ski and you'll see "TNT" etched on the custom parts that he's made.

And, on his helmet is a custom mount that he made for attaching a GoPro (another sponsor) camera that takes point-of-view footage of the action.

"This just adds a whole other dimension of what we can get on film out in the surf," said Thomas, who's been learning video production skills at Kayhi.

It quickly becomes clear during a conversation with Thomas that he isn't a casual participant in the endeavors that he's involved with.

He wants to know how something works, how he can make it better, and how he can achieve what he wants to do. Then, he does it.

That attitude and focus is appreciated by a number of people who've helped and mentored Thomas along the way.

That includes his dad, Craiger Thomas, family friends such as Brent Johnson, and local business owners like Pat Bauer of PC Hydraulics.

"He does have the curiosity on how things work and how they're inter-related," Bauer said. "A lot of young men don't have that. ... He looks and you can see him absorbing the things that you're doing, on how it all works."

Steve Locklear, who owns Sign Pro of Ketchikan and has worked with Thomas on a number of stencils for the paint schemes on his skis, noted Thomas' focus and personal initiative.

"I don't think I've ever seen it, I mean, at least to the extent that he does," Locklear said. "He's taken the initiative to go out and get Monster Energy to sponsor him. He's got some of the top pro jet skiers in the world backing him up, giving him advice. He's really attacking this thing."

Craiger Thomas said Tanner always has had an enthusiasm for riding trikes, bikes and, later, motorized vehicles.

"He'd go around a corner too fast at (age) 2 on his trike in the garage and almost tip it over and not quite wipe out ... you could just see the adrenaline valves are wide open," Craiger Thomas said.

Craiger Thomas grew up in Ketchikan and was one of the "North Tongass Gang," a group of about 20 guys who were into motorcycles during the late 1970s and early '80s.

There's a mindset that's unique among "motorheads," he said.

"If it's motorized, and you can wheelie it and you can jump it, we want to try it," Craiger Thomas said. "It's a thrill. It's a little bit of an adrenaline addiction there."

In addition to riding, Tanner Thomas was drawn to the mechanical side of things from an early age, too.

He began building custom bikes after he made a set of wheelie bars for his bike so he could ride wheelies while biking to Point Higgins Elementary School.

Thomas learned to weld when he was 8 years old. By age 14, he'd built a custom chopper mini-bike that won the "kid's choice" award at the Ketchikan Harley Riders Association annual show.

Then he got interested in engines.

One of his dad's longtime friends is Johnson, an acknowledged master of two-stroke engines and who's renowned locally for his ability to revive broken-down vehicles

In return for Tanner's assistance with the engines, the Johnsons started taking him jet skiing at Lake Harriet Hunt.

Seeing how much Tanner enjoyed the small, highly maneuverable watercraft, Craig Thomas obtained an old Kawasaki 550 Jet Ski.

"It was just a stock, white, plain-Jane ski," Tanner Thomas said. "Me and my dad, we just put it all together. It was just a pile of parts."

In 2008, he took the ski to Washington state for his first race and had a blast. He wanted to compete more.

Using money from his part-time job at Hal's Equipment (he recently became certified as a Polaris technician), Thomas bought a Kawasaki 800 SX-R.

In the spring of 2009, Tanner used a borrowed Kawasaki to take seventh overall at a race in Parker, Ariz. He was intending to race at Lake Elsinore, Calif., during the same trip, but got sidelined by a case of shingles.

He recuperated and rode a lot this past summer in the Ketchikan area with friends such as Colin Ayers, Anthony Chavarria and Bryan Moody.

Buoyed by the positive competition experiences to date, Thomas is looking forward to being able to compete again in events this year.

In addition to the potential for racing, there are also two specific freeriding events-the Grayland Open in Washington state, and the Blowsion Surf Slam in Oregon-that top his list for 2010 events.

But his current involvement on technical aspects of watercraft is as a hobby rather than business, although that could change in the future, said Thomas, who's actively considering what direction he might be heading.

"Right now I don't have plans for college, or really even a career-I'm trying to figure that out," Thomas said. "I've focused all of my efforts on doing what is here and now, and thinking about how it's all going to kind of come together. I think I do a good job at that, but I still haven't determined what I'm doing with my life."