#1 ~ Greetings World!

What’s up, World? Let me just start by saying that it is a trip writing something that could be read by potentially anyone, anywhere in the world. Besides being a surfer I’m also an actor and one of the primary questions we ask ourselves when doing a monologue is “who am I talking to?” The answer to this question greatly determines how to proceed. For example, say you were talking about your last surf trip. How you told the story to your best friend would greatly differ from how you told it to your 5-year old Niece. I’m still not sure how to address ‘the world’ but I’m going to move ahead anyway. It’s like paddling out at Spot X for the first time…..not quite sure what’s out there but you just keep on paddling….
Since the acting reference bubbled up I’ll just continue down that path. Another vital question is: who am I? That’s of obvious importance when an actor is attempting to portray the life of some character. Here it is important because the world wide web is intense! There are so many different people plugged into this thing that I could be ANYBODY. To clarify things a bit I’ll give you a brief lowdown on me. Ideally, more will be revealed through the continuing entries….
Hmmm, I am a Surfer.
I am a Black Surfer. It has to be qualified because, ,good or bad, that’s just the way things are on this planet.
I am a Husband, Father, Son & Brother.
I am a Traveler.
I am an Observer.
I am an Actor…..
……which brings me to the next key question: What are the circumstances? I grew up as a competitive Bodyboarder in Carlsbad, California back in the mid 80’s. Then strayed from the ocean in college when volleyball became my thing except for annual surf trips to Baja or Nexpa. As soon as I graduated I was back in the water primarily still Bodyboarding but leaning towards Surfing. Two years in the heart of New Jersey had me beached again. And then I packed up with a Friend and decided to learn to surf on the road. So with surfboards and backpacks we traveled the world for 18-months. My beginnings as a stand-up Surfer were: South Africa, Mauritius, Indonesia, Australia & New Zealand….with a few other non-surfing countries in between. Coming back to the U.S. I settled in San Francisco where Ocean Beach became my home break. Then it was up to Seattle for a few years where I made the occasional 2 hour & 14 minute surf trip out to Westport when grad school would allow…..plus, the honeymoon/surf trip/baby conception to Costa Rica and Panama. And now I’m happy to be back at good ol’ Ocean Beach! (read about it in the Surfer’s Path magazine; issue #55)

In my travels I’ve encountered Black surfers all over the globe yet I see little mention of us in the media. We’re rarely seen in surf magazines….and even less in videos. I have had some success searching on the web. I was especially stoked to come across the writings on Nick Galbadon,…a Black surfer from the 40’s! I wish I knew about him as a kid. Also, there is the Black Surfing Association & Quashi surfboards which are doing tons of great stuff…someday I hope to surf with that crew. And I found Rahim Walker who is documenting an epic surf adventure….and ‘surfsister’ who is documenting her own adventures in SoCal. These are just a few of the people I was happy to discover but unfortunately I didn’t find too many more. Given those circumstances I simply wish to add one more voice to the community. Surfing has given me so much that it’s an honor and pleasure to share it.

A broad diversity of surfers are enjoying the ocean these days! It seems almost weekly I’ll see or meet another Black surfer in the Bay area. One of the most diverse places I’ve surfed is a spot a few miles south of OB called Linda Mar. EVERYBODY (literally) surfs there. It’s always a treat to be surrounded by the myriad shades and sexes of our species! As we move into this new century I think the more people who take up surfing the better off the planet will be [excluding the crowd factor].

Surfing has a lot to teach us…….