NE BLAHS

Dustin Ray -- Nelson
In the northern regions around the Great Lakes, water temps dip into the 20’s, and surfing becomes literally painful in such brutal cold. Creature comforts in these freshwater iceboxes come far and few between. There are, however, a few small self-indulgences that can bring some brief relief. “Peeing in your wetsuit is a luxury you know. When your wetsuit is caked with ice, and you pee in it, that’s 30 seconds of pure heaven.” This bit of information, from the “more-than-we-needed-to-know file,” comes courtesy of Paul Atwater and the Great Lakes Surfer newsletter. GLS is the sounding board for the very large Great Lakes Surfing Association, and to get involved, give Rick Boss a call at 616-494-0811, or visit him online at rickboss_2000@ yahoo.com or surfmi2000@yahoo.com. You can also check out the Great Lakes surf scene at www.lakesurf. com and www.kacm.com/GLSA.html. Thanks for keeping us up to speed on your local happenings... and bodily functions. •Mike Nelson of Unsound pinched it off long enough to report that Java Bailey is now riding for the Long Beach, NY, store, and Oakley Team Manager Terrence McNulty hung out with some of the local kids while doing a promo in the area. As far as new hardgoods go, the store is now carrying Aloha surfboards as well. Unsound also thought it would be pertinent to point out that the shop sponsors three west coast surfers. Dustin Ray, Adam Virs, and Gabe Gazzola are all part of the Unsound crew. Finally, congratulations are in order for Unsound Surf teamrider Mike Salerno and girlfriend Stacy Hirschman on the birth of their son Kai on April 3rd.
Java Bailey -- Nelson
•In reference to Issue 63’s NE Blah Blahs about the New England Surf Riders Club (NESRC) luau in May, ESM inadvertently printed the old e-mail address of NESRC’s contact Andrew Paulson. To reach him on behalf of the club, type in www.nesurf.org/. Our apologies go to Andrew and the newly renamed NESurf organization. •Former Who Da Guy Bill Tynan brought ESM up to speed on his whereabouts over the winter. The NY charger spent a month-and-a-half in Costa Rica and scored head-high surf on both the Carribean and Pacific sides, including the infamous Witches Rock. He was back and forth between the two coasts so much that he racked up 3,000 miles on his rental car. Bill also said he acquired some property on the Carribean side last year, and he’s planning on building a little Tico-style retreat to rest and eat between gallivanting from coast-to-coast.
Jay Gould -- Mez
Bill was also stoked that his home state provided him waves upon his return at the beginning of April but added the water wasn’t warming up at its normal pace. •Pump House’s Matt Rivers returned from a three month solo mission to Costa Rica and Cali. He opened up the Orleans, MA, shop full-time on April 28th and is now carrying Robert August and T&C surfboards as well as Ocean Tech wetsuits, so stop in and check them out. •Much like the rest of the East Coast, The Board Shop in NY is gearing up for summer. The store is organizing a surf camp and numerous contests, but there are no definite dates as of yet. To find out what the Huntington outfit has been up to, or for info on the upcoming events, type in rickocean@ aol.com. •Also opening its doors for the season was Ride A Wave Surf Shop in Misqua- micut, RI, on May 1st. Owner John Shield said that in addition to his painting duties and spring cleaning chores at the store, he expanded his board line to include WRV, Kechele, Shane Smith, and the Hobie Peter Pan Slug. He’s stocking smaller shapes for the groms and clothes from Rusty, Quiksilver, and O’Neill. Shield added that local surfers have finally persuaded the Rhode Island government to make motions towards allowing surfing at state beaches. This is going down around Dickies in Narragansett where right now you can’t even ride a bodyboard let alone the stand-up variety. The boardriders of the area have even gone as far as recommending lifeguards be posted at the beach in question. •Speaking of Nor’easters, Mark Keup was stoked with the new addition to his shop family. His daughter, Alexandra Malia Keup, was born on April 26th. The birth coincided with the arrival of a mountain-sized amount of summertime merchandise, leaving the new dad’s hands more than full with all the midnight diaper changes.
Joe Coffey -- Nelson
•Other Massachusetts happenings had Maney Cusciania returning from a two week trip to Costa in late April, only to turn around and board a plane bound for Hawaii for two weeks. Bob Pollard and Mike Walsh headed to Indo for five weeks in mid-April. The two wanted to e-mail some pictures back to the real world, but their jungle accommodations inhibited any of those plans. •Cinnamon Rainbows’ Dave Cropper informed ESM that he, Jay Gould, Mark Jowett, Josh Bellman, Billy Hartford, Ken Linsiman, Johnny Meehan, and Bobby Morgan spent 16 days touring Chile in a military passenger vehicle this winter. Cruising the coast in the Hummer-like van outfitted with a kitchen and bathroom, they found waves from head-high to 15-foot. Nick Catell, who has been surfing Chile for ten years, operating the tour, supplying passengers with food, and setting up camp wherever the waves are good, said they didn’t run into many people but did surf a perfect 1/4-mile-long left with the legendary Mickey Dora. If interested, you can check out pics from the trip at www.chileadventours.com. Upon their return, Jay, Johnny, and Bobby opened another Flatbread Pizza Company in Portland, ME, at the end of May. The meals are crafted with organic ingredients and cooked in a Native-American-style clay oven. Sounds like just the kind of place to go for the after-surf grinds. On a sad note, Dave reported that Carl Jackson broke his neck in a snowboarding accident in December. At the end of April, the halo was removed, and Carl was out-and-about, anxious to surf. Doctors have given him a 100% recovery prognosis, and he is now going through physical therapy. •Robert August and Wingnut stopped by New Hammy’s Cinnamon Rainbows during their East Coast tour and encountered some friendly people, waves, and one big-ass bodyboard. The sponge equivalent of a longboard is owned by Mike Flahive who was more than happy to snap a pic of the two posing with his Hawaiian-made Turbo Surf bodyboard. •“Does your face hurt? It’s Killing Us!” From the “Mishaps” file, ace ESM photog Joe Coffey got creamed while shooting snowboarding late this past winter at the infamous Killington, VT, halfpipe. After photographing the X-Games, our man in Mass. decided to take a few recreational runs for himself and ended up pulling a nasty air to faceplant on the icy hardpack, receiving stitches in his chin as well as his upper and lower lips. ESM sends thanks to Mrs. Coffey for letting us use a photo of her son so we could embarass him in print. You know we love ya, Joey. Compiled by Chris Stellaccio


MA BLAHS

Cam Powell -- Dugan
Getting a spring warm-up in Florida, Virginia Beach’s Cam Powell and Jeff Myers spent a few days surfing, doing photo shoots, and hanging out at the ESM office. The two stayed at Casa de Hobgood during their mini vacay. Incidentally, Cam is now riding for Quiksilver, and Jeff is gettin’ goods from Planet Earth. •Further north, OCMD’s Matthew Amey, surfer and co-owner of Independent Tattoo Studio in Selbyville, DE, ventured to Texas for The New Extreme Millennium 2000 Tattoo Extravaganza held March 16-19. Matt won 1st and 3rd places for his artwork and received $12,500 in prize money for his creations on Ocean Pines, MD, residents Jim Coltellino and Jon Kellogg. Amey is renowned for his quality work and also has a website set up for the Delaware store. You can check his and the other shop artists work at www.independent-tattoo.com. •Other MD happenings had OC Surfrider organizing a massive cleanup at Northside Park along with vegetation plantings in the coastal bays. The chapter combined forces with the ESA, Assateague Coastal Trust, MD Coastal Bays Program, 62nd Street Longboarders Club, and the SSU Surf Club to enhance the wetlands area on April 8th. The Maryland chapter has also been sponsoring numerous events to help the region, and a recent debate involved them with the town of Ocean City regarding the proposed placement of gates at the Inlet.
Jason Muller -- Gibber
With the gates installed, surfers would not even be able to check the surf without paying. Contact chairman Randy Meyer at 410-745-3572 to get involved or e-mail him at gonesurfn@yahoo.com. •Dewey Beach Surf and Sport’s Harry Wilson was recently named Business Person of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce of Dewey and Rehoboth, Delaware.Harry has been in the business for 20 years, and the recognition is well deserved. •The RAD Show, which has expanded to Melbourne Beach, Florida, and Wrightsville, North Carolina, went over incredibly well at its new locales. The OCMD homebased event, now in its sixth year, was the best to date with local restaurant Belly Busters supplying the reps with food and drinkRestaurant owner Mac Scrimgour ordered 30 lbs. of mahi-mahi for a fish taco party the night before the start of the show. HIC and Sector 9 rep, Allan Brown, was witness to the delivery of the ludicrous amount of fish and said the mahi was so fresh it was still swimmin’ when it got to the 45th Street store. The Buster crew thought they would have mahi left over for the duration of the Rad Show, but within 3 hours, every bit of it had been gobbled up. Founder of the show, Brad Hoffman, who is now the mid-Atlantic rep for Electric™ eyewear, said the overall vibe at the show was incredible. All who participated had a fun and productive time while in town for the event. 
Phil Brown -- Hallgreen
•MD’s Jason Muller returned from his annual mid-winter Costa Rica trip in March with news that he had purchased ten acres of land south of Dominical and plans to build a surf resort. Jason wants to construct 15-20 rancho style cabanas, a pool, and pool bar. Muller will be leaving MD permanently in the fall, and he hopes to have the place open in mid-December. •Further north, Brick, New Jersey’s, No Flat Earth reported that teamrider Greg Previte hopped a plane to Barbados with a quiver of freshly shaped Lynn Shell/ HIC boards. Another teamrider, Tim Sramowicz, is now gettin’ goods from Split Clothing and Hamish Graham surfboards. NFE also said that local shaper Martin Barbosa of Maqer Surfboards returned in late March from a month’s stay in San Clemente, CA, and he’s ready to tackle ding repairs and custom orders in record time. •Hotline Surfboards will be hosting their Summer Surf Challenge on June 17th and 18th in Virginia Beach. For more info on this and other Hotline happenings, check out their new website at www.hotlinesurfboardz.com. •Bob Huey announced the opening of his new surf shop Currituck Surf & Skate during the second week in April. Located on the western shores of the fabled sound that separates the Outer Banks from the Carolina mainland, the store will be carrying Perfection and Inner Island surfboards, Billabong, Rusty, Reef, O’Neill, and G&S. For more info on the store, call 252-232-0219.
Jason Borte's "Peter Five" -- Mo-Daddy
•Randy Washburn returned to Vah Beach in early April after shooting What Exit? with fellow Timebomb riders Tom Gore, Hank Steill, Jr., and Timebomb owner Chenzo. Footage for the video was shot at Pipe, Lani’s, and Jockos, among other Hawaiian hotspots. •Fly Surfboards has recently moved from Neptune to Belleplain, NJ. The new factory boasts 7500 sq. ft., almost three times the size of the old factory. The spacious facilities should help to enhance the efficiency of board production. Owner and operator Paul Baymore reported that business is booming, and he wonders if anyone can make the days longer than 24 hours so he can still catch a few sessions at his beloved Manasquan. The new phone and fax number for the Belleplain warehouse is 609-861-7000. Also, Paul told ESM that Phil Brown headed to Bathsheba, Barbados, for a month and test-piloted a new design known as the Fly2k Square Railer. The new shape is already receiving high praise from those who have tried them, and Fly2k’s are available by order only, so if you want one, call the new warehouse. ESM Senior Photog Bruce Chrisner joined Fly as a sales rep for the NY/ NJ areas and can be reached at 732-223-2230. While there has been quite a bit going on with Fly, they unfortunately had to say goodbye to Scratchy who moved to Ireland with Richie Fitzgerald and started his own label called Legend.
Jim Vaughn -- Mo-Daddy
•Congratulations to both Terry Gibson and longtime ESM contributor Jason Borte. Jason recently left his position as East Coast Editor for Surfer magazine to work for one of the many online surf mags, and he and wife Kirsten delivered baby number two, Mia Isabelle Borte, born April 12th. Borte’s sizeable sandals at Surfer were filled by an eager Terry Gibson from West Palm Beach, FL. Good luck to all of you. •Delaware’s Surf Sessions Surf Camp is ready for the onset of summer and is ringing in its thirteenth year. The program allows kids and adults of all ages to receive instruction and live a true surfing lifestyle, if only for a week. The camp offers daily and weekly sessions from $25 to $475. Reservations and info can be obtained by calling Brett Buchler at 302-539-2126. •NC’s Rodanthe Pier is in the process of being rebuilt. It sustained significant damage after hurricanes Dennis and Floyd’s swells battered the Outer Banks for days-on-end last year. As of late, the pier and pier house are being reconstructed. The house is larger than the previous structure, and it takes up some of the already existing cramped parking lot. So the question is, where will everybody park? That has yet to be resolved; however, the pier is bigger and stronger than before, so hopefully this hurricane season will not hold the same fate for the new building. •Lastly, from the Outer Banks, congrats go out to Jim and April Vaughn who opened up a new Whalebone Surf Shop on April 14 to better serve the Corolla, NC, area. Compiled by Chris Stellaccio


SE BLAHS

Ronnie Giesling -- Hill
It’s time to crank up that A/C because summer has descended upon us once more. The spring months brought several good swells making up for the generally wave-barren winter, and surfers throughout the Southeast are now eagerly awaiting the approach of our first tropical systems. While most of us have been out enjoying the beautiful spring weather and decent surf, the shark population has been feasting on Florida waveriders. During one week in early April alone, there were three reported attacks from Ponce Inlet to Melbourne. One of those bitten was Connie Wilson who encountered the less-than-friendly fish while surfing in Indialantic near the Boardwalk. Fortunately, Connie survived the incident but required close to 50 stitches to mend her wounds. Joel Penn of Satellite Beach needed 16 sutures to close the bite on his foot he received while surfing Pet Den, and former pro Barry Pasonski was munched on as well while in the water near Floridana. The shark tore some tendons in Barry’s arm and did damage to his thumb and index finger. So far, all the attacks have been relatively minor, and there have been no fatalities since ‘98. Sooner or later, however, the landlord could decide to up the rent, so be on the lookout during those grey dawn patrol and after-work sessions at certain left-hand river mouths.
Teague Taylor -- Hill
•Surfers in Stuart don’t need sharks to inflict bodily damage as the guys down there seem to do just fine on their own. In a three-hour period of one day in late April, there were 7 injuries at Stuart Rocks. Ronnie Giesing hit the bottom and scraped up both of his arms and the front of his head, Teague Taylor required stitches to seal up his chin, his brother Jeremy hit his own board and almost snapped several of his ribs, one kid broke his nose, another guy needed five staples to close a gash in his leg, and there were a few other bumps and bruises as well. The injury list from the South Florida reefbreak is making the WWF look like a playground scuffle. •Over on the Gulf Coast, the St. Petersburg Skatepark in Coquina Key celebrated their one year anniversary in April, and there’s a local contest in the works sometime soon. For more info, contact Florida Oceansports at 727-823-4434. •On the other side of the Gulf in South Padre Island, Texas, Gene Bagley’s shop, On the Beach, became the latest surf shop to carry ESM. Now just sit back Gene, and watch the flocks of customers start rolling in looking for the new issue. •Far Away Imports, located just across from Natural Art in Indian Harbor Beach, FL, reports that the store has a new showroom which houses a beautiful variety of Balinese bamboo furniture. The owner, Roger Sinigoi, was one of the area’s first importers of clothing, furniture, and other items from Indonesia. •ESM would like to issue a round of applause to newlyweds David and Stacey Speir for becoming the new Florida reps for Rusty Apparel and Surfboards. The couple has gotten so busy representing Rusty that they had to postpone their honeymoon to Tahiti. •The guys up at McKevlin’s in Isle of Palms and Folly Beach, South Carolina, have also been busy lately. Team Manager Chris Burch reports team members Anthony Osment and Chris Jenkins left for ESA Regionals in May, and the shop in Isle of Palms hired a new ding repair guy, Jim Ross. Lastly, shop manager Scott Kirste was recently married and will be spending his honeymoon on Maui and Kauai, HI.
Bud Hedinger -- Dugan
•Top Orlando TV newsman Bud Hedinger made an appearance at Lightwave Surfboard Factory in Melbourne, FL, during April, and the WB18-WKCF celebrity shaped a new board as part of his “Where’s Bud?” series. “Where’s Bud?” is the station’s promotional gimmick in which Mr. Hedinger visits a local business and perform s your job for a day. This time around, Bruce Grimes at Lightwave handed over the planer, and Bud managed to crank out a pretty decent funshape without losing any fingers in the process. Following his guest appearance, Hedinger is reportedly fielding numerous calls from Al Merrick in California as well as Byrne in Australia, and Bud is thinking of taking up shaping full-time. Hey Bud, wanna try your hand at writing this column so we can go surfing once in a while? We’ll buy the beer.   •For the record, Lake Worth’s Baron Knowlton is surfing for MR’s Surf and Skate and not Island Water Sports as erroneously reported in the last issue. Thanks go to Mike Rogers of MR’s for pointing out this detail. •The Sick Flicks 2000 Tour made its rounds across the Sunshine State in April and May, stopping at some of the state’s finer watering holes and debuting two new movies, Digital Days and Class of 2000. The video premieres included live music by the Nature Kids and a raffle of surf and skate products to raise money for Surfrider Foundation. •Tim Malins at High Tide Surf Shop in Tybee Island, Georgia, tells us that the island’s dredging is complete, and the oceanic engineering has dramatically improved the surf quality. Malins even claims that the sand replacement has created a few sandbar pointbreaks at either end of town. It’s nice to see man affect the surf in a positive way for a change. •A new all-girl surf shop is opening in North Florida called The Girl Next Door. The shop will be located next to the Surf Station in St. Augustine, and it will specialize in surfboards, wetsuits, boardshorts, and suits for the female surfer.
Kelly Slater -- Welsh
•ESM would like to offer its condolences to the family of Ryan Johnson who was killed on April 28th while surfing Jobos in Puerto Rico with his father. Johnson, 13, was down the beach from his dad, Eric Johnson, when he apparently hit his head on the bottom and disappeared. Ryan was underwater for some length of time before anyone got to him, and his father performed CPR for a half-an-hour to no avail. The young guy from Jupiter was the Menehune division champion in Palm Beach County ESA district, and sadly, he was to receive his district champion trophy the next day. Outside of the water, Ryan was a first-string quarterback on his school football team, an AAU state and national champion in Taekwondo, and a devout Christian, too.
Glen Klugel -- Mez
A paddleout was held at the Juno Pier on May 6th to honor Johnson and his boundless Aloha spirit. •Jimmy’Z is adding many new faces to their professional and amateur surf teams, including East Coaster Amanda Klutz. Amanda is from North Carolina, and she finished in fourth place during last year’s East Coast Surfing Championships. On land, Jimmy’Z skate team continues to do well, and Jesse Fritsch recently won the Tampa Am Skate Championship. •Also in Tampa during April, former North Shore hellman and Pipe charger, Jonathan Damm, held an art show at the Atomic Age Cafe in Ybor City on April 13th. Damm, who learned to surf in Puerto Rico and is credited with discovering many of PR’s more popular breaks, is now an artist residing in Florida. Damm’s ability in the water earned him several magazine covershots in the 80’s, and now his “Warholish” style paintings and prints are earning him world-wide recognition. Kelly Slater and Damm have announced plans to begin selling limited edition serigraphs over the internet. To find out more about the artist and his work, contact Surfquest Media, Inc. at 727-518-7873. •Indialantic’s Glenn Klugel wanted to be the first to publically congratulate John and Patty Holeman on the birth of Paul Michael Holeman on 3/16. GAK Surfboards would like to welcome the new addition to the team along with Gary Billingsly, Dave Hyde, Aric Dunn, Chad Locke, Jeremy Anderson, Gabe and Gavin Vaughn, Ian Schemoyer, and Gibber. Compiled by Chris Towery

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