Surf Guru RSS Surf Hall Of Fame Most surfers tend to remember that last song on the radio, CD or IPOD when they head out to the lineup.  It’s just one of those nuances of surfing:  that last song—good or bad—favorite or loathsome—that keeps the sport or the art so special to all of us who do it.  And most real surfers simply love music.  It’s the rhythm, the melody, like a ride; like a good day on the water, with its unique shade of fun, color, and personality.  And there ...]]> Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:04:15 GMT I had the opportunity a few weeks back to interview Cecil Lear, the President of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and one of the founders of the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA). To say he was an amazing man is a complete understatement, yet the lesson this man had in store for me was not one I expected during my chronicles of East Coast legends.  Tom Hanks, as the infamous Forrest Gump, ended the movie of the same name with a statement that cuts to the heart of my most recent ...]]> Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:28:51 GMT Mimi Munro's email address includes the phrase, "Mother Ocean," which caused me to hum Jimmy Buffett's tune in my head through my experience interviewing her. It also turned out to be a pretty good description for this Maven of the High Seas. I set out to interview Mimi Munroe, initially inducted into the Hall of Fame by Greg Noll in 1996, over the summer. Since this is coming out in October, you can guess that I hit some snags. Having been told about Munro by many who know and love ...]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:38:08 GMT I have been doing the Hall of Fame profiles for a few months now and decided to back up this month and catch someone I missed at the start. Tony Sasso is the man with the plan that I mentioned in my introduction to the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and Museum profiles a few months back. When I did that story, I missed Tony and before I jump too far ahead, I think it best to stop and get to know the guy. Sasso is the Executive Director of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and Museum in ...]]> Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:52:49 GMT Dick Catri is called the Godfather of East Coast Surfing for good reason. Armed only with cursory knowledge of the legend from what I had read in old stories and online, I met the 1996 East Coast Hall of Fame inductee at the door of his garden cottage on the river near the end of a torrential downpour. He welcomed me in to his refuge, a small home he purchased 20 years ago with his third wife, Teri, when it was little more than a shack surrounded by overgrown weeds. Despite the gloomy clouds ...]]> Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:21:20 GMT Pat O’Hare was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame by Greg Noll in 1996 as one of the first inductees. Back in 1963, when the Space Coast was just starting to earn its nickname, O’Hare and buddy Ricky James moved from the West Coast and began manufacturing some of the first surfboards in the state at a shop called James & O’Hare. His father and two siblings followed him to Florida. His mother had died tragically of kidney disease when he was ...]]> Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:05:45 GMT During the past four years I have fallen smack into the career of my dreams, landing me the opportunity to meet the most interesting of people and work from home with the most interesting people in the world to me: my three-year-old twin boys. I started writing while waiting for the little bundles to arrive and since that time I have had the chance to interview rock stars, astronauts turned psychopaths and recently some people who make me - hybrid print journalist mom extraordinaire, nervous ...]]> Mon, 14 May 2007 20:09:56 GMT