In Florida Surf, Heirs to a Legacy Hone Their Skills

By MATT HIGGINS - NYT
Published: April 10, 2006

"It's a 100-mile stretch of Florida's Atlantic coast dominated by the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, and during the past two decades, the waves there have been a launching point for some of the biggest stars of competitive surfing.

Top professionals who have honed their skills in the area include the seven-time world champion Kelly Slater of Cocoa Beach and the brothers C. J. and Damien Hobgood of Satellite Beach. Shea and Cory Lopez of Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf Coast took frequent cross-state trips as teenagers to surf Sebastian Inlet, a proving ground for pro aspirants.

Together, their impact on the sport has been impressive.

In 2005, four of them — Slater, the Hobgoods and Lopez — finished among the top 11 on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour. Only 2 of the top 11 hailed from Hawaii and none from California.

The dominance of the Sunshine State surfers can be traced to 1992, when Slater won his first world title as a 21-year-old rookie. Ever since, he has been to surfing roughly what Lance Armstrong was to cycling. In Slater's wake have followed C. J. Hobgood, the 2001 world champion, and Lisa Andersen of Ormond Beach near Daytona, who won the women's world tour championship from 1994 through 1997. Slater and Andersen have become the biggest surfing icons since Duke Kahanamoku and Gidget.

All of which has been hard for Hawaiians and Californians to wrap their brains around. Florida's waves are generally small and sloppy compared with those in Hawaii, Australia and California. Conventional wisdom has held that East Coast surfers, too, are inferior."

Continued

God I love articles like this - just goes to show that we are not an inferior breed of insect just because some of us started surfing on Cape Hatteras or Cape Canaveral rather than Blacks, Huntington, 1000 step, or on the damn North Shore.

Rob