New Features Coming to Surf Guru in June
- May 14, 2007
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- By Story/Photos by Dharma Mum - Gayla Schaefer
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 like a school girl: Surfers.
Working on a business cover about Surf Travel, I encountered two guys who re-opened my eyes forever to the aquatic wonders lurking nearby.
One was Jim MacLaren, a wonderfully crunchy surfer who works for Carol Holland, one of my favorite folks anyway, at Surf Express. Jim became my email pal and story muse as the one story evolved into four that the newspaper had to run over two days to fit.
Because of my Kerouac-esque friend, I rediscovered the dormant part of my psyche that wanted no more in life than to emulate my Beatnik heroes and wander the universe in search of God-knows-what for all eternity. So, the bundles and I are taking our first real road trip together to destinations unknown in a few months.
The other guy who came into my frame was the Buddha Surf Guru, someone who provided me some background research leads and then contacted me after the stories ran. He was understandably ticked that I hadn’t mentioned his site, but for some reason decided to offer me a job writing about surfers anyway.
And to answer the next question: nope not a surfer, never even tried it and I can barely ride a bike so you really don’t want me in there with ya anyway. Think of me as an art lover and yourselves as the artists.
Twenty something years ago, I moved here from deep in the heart of the Lone Star State where no one even had a pool so we learned to swim during Y-camps where I landed the unfortunate nickname “guppy.”
Next thing you know, old Jed’s next door to the center of East Coast surfing and, like all the other teeny boppers in the area not of proper surf heritage, I was mesmerized by the golden ones able to walk on the water.
I’ve been on the outskirts of the lifestyle, like so many here, and I see my boys heading for the waves like their dad, but I’ve never really been a part of it. So alas, those who can not do, teach, ‘er write.
So this is my intro to my new gig as a staff writer for Surf Guru.
Starting next month, I’ll be profiling one local female surfer – from beginners to grandmas, and I will also be focusing on the East Coast Hall of Famers, one by one, starting at the beginning and working through to the end. May the end never come.
Sean O’Hare gave me a good overview of his baby, the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and Museum, but at post time, I had not yet tracked down Tony Sasso, the main guy in charge who by all accounts is the man with the plan that will take the place huge.
Sean moved me with his recollections of starting the museum. He told me about his dad, Pat, who I am sure you all know and if you don’t I will be telling you his tale soon enough, and how he wanted to make sure the generations to come in the East Coast waves would at least have some idea how they got there.
I did my standard research into the museum and the Hall of Fame, how each got started and how they merged three years ago and moved into the building next to Ron Jon Surf Shop that the mega retailer donated to the cause until they grow enough to buy a place of their own.
I learned how the Hall of Fame, started in 1996, was a “hall” only in the minds of those who loved it until it found a home with the museum. I listened intently about how the place is still staffed solely by volunteers, from the board to the staff to Sean as curator and Sasso as executive director.
Amazed is an understatement really.
Before this writing bug bit, I’d never worked for anything but groups trying to save some corner of the world: some gave me huge expense accounts that made me sick and some grabbed my heart and soul so much that I had no problem sharing a closet office with another crusader, a parrot and occasionally a salamander.
That was nothing compared to what came across from Sean.
This guy is for real in a way we crusaders question the existence of in the new millennium. In his spare time from work at the Sunseed Food Co-Op, he made this museum out of sheer love – for his dad, for the ride and for his kids.
I debated how to break into the piece with a history of the place. Looked at dates and names and all that jazz that a historical piece should have – but that is not the story here any more than the concrete of the building.
The story is the heart of the place – the modest Museum and Hall of Fame next to the area’s biggest mega-surf retailers that no doubt will become a mega attraction in its own right in decades to come not for glitz and tourism promotion, but because people in these parts love the life so much it can’t help but explode to the masses who, like me - I admit, want to touch a piece of it and feel somehow connected.
Of course the local tourism folks will want to help it along to promote the local heritage in a way that could be profitable for every shop relying on tourist bucks for their bread and butter, but that won’t taint this as far as I can tell.
Mass marketing of surf culture has already landed it in trendy malls in places where no one has the remotest chance of ever seeing a wave and that hasn’t tarnished the true soul surfers who know it’s not about the bucks: it’s about the bond – with each other and the tide. And this museum is about paying homage to those bonds.
So yes, you should all go check it out for yourselves and the crusader in me even wants to encourage you to get a membership to help it grow. There are some kick ass exhibits you’d never find in the local history museum, even one on this website - and the people memorialized are for the most part still kicking around in the waters nearby.
The East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and Museum is located in the building next to Ron Jon Surf Shop, which donates use of the space it owns, on N. A1A in Cocoa Beach, the epicenter foundation at the heart of East Coast surfing. They are open 8am - 8pm, 7 days a week and admission is less than a frappuchino at the Starbucks down the street, a real bargain in these mouse-eared parts.
For more information check www.ecsurfinghallandmuseum.org or call (321) 784-3005.
In my quest to profile the ladies in the water, I’d love your help. No promotional tour photos here, I want real women, or girls, moms or grandmas - the greatest Gidget you never knew. Send me suggestions and while your at it - feel free to tell me what you think I should write about the East Coast legends. How did the forefathers of East Coast wave riding impact your quest.
You can contact me at gschaefer@cfl.rr.com.