It’s a bittersweet anniversary for me. I started surfing on October 31st 1984. Before that I had rode a bodyboard and gone to the beach with my brother Chip and Johnny Martinotti JR. I remember freezing cold days in 83’ when I couldn’t get out at the Indian Rocks Pier. I thought Johnny and Chip were so cool and I was a nerd so I started surfing. After that I got the bug and surfing was really under my skin. It became a part of who I am. But the main reason I started surfing was because I wanted to be cool. It became so much more than that. I asked my mom to drive me to the Redington Long Pier in our 78’ Ford Econoline van on October 31st, 1984. I went out with my 7’2 Plastic Fantastic single fin/pin tail and caught a bunch of waves, standing up and going straight on each one. This board had the lightning bolt on one side and a cosmic airbrush of the universe on the other side. Someone gave it to me. It was a piece of garbage but I wish now I still had it. That's how it started for me. Ever since then I’ve been a surfer. The longest I‘ve ever gone w/o surfing is like 24 days because I had surgery to repair a hernia.(it was supposed to be at least 4-6 weeks but it was el niño 97' and I couldn't stay out of the water). Now it’s October 31st, 2004 and I’ve spent 20 years living on the Gulf Coast and surfing all over. The biggest difference between now and then is the internet. It has affected surfing so much. Back then I depended on Dick Fletcher and Channel 10 weather every night at 6:15pm. There was the St. Pete Times weather section on the rack at the Seminole High School library. Even then my friends would ask me: "when we getting waves?". Now there are models and charts on the internet. Buoys and cams and
Wavewatch III. We had none of that back then. But we could still basically smell when the waves were up.

The Island Shop Surf Team, 1990. We won the WFL ESA team trophy that year.
From top left: Jason Hook (RIP), Mike Watson (holding trophy, Meteorologist for SURFLINE).
Jason Hatch (Personal assistant to 3X world Champ Andy Irons), Julian Buerganoux, (French Clothing Afficionado) IRB, 5/90. photo: M Weaver.

One thing that has not changed is the fact that the surf media ignores West Florida, its surfers, it’s waves and it’s scene. We can’t really blame them. WFL is the armpit of the surfing world. We rate somewhere below Cocoa Beach and only slightly above Lake Erie or even North Dakota. I’m not ragging on it. WFL is my home. That’s just the facts. The good thing is that the internet makes it possible to get information on Gulf Coast Surfing. You can even read coverage of sessions that went down. That’s one great thing. Who needs surf mags? Back then we would just stare at pictures on the surf shop pin boards. We lived for those photos that people had brought in of Gulf Coast Surfing. Times have changed. I grew up in Seminole and I rode my bike 2 miles to the beach. It was uphill both ways, wind in the face, steering with one arm and carrying my board under the other arm. I surfed "Elenas" on South swells (that’s what we called the Mad Beach Holiday Inn back then). And I surfed "Peaks" on W and NW swells (that’s what we called the break across the street from the Park Blvd. Bridge).

Christmas Day 1985. Epic Swell... A gale Low was off LA and the winds were NE.
This is Joey Stevens@Peaks. I later heard the Cove was 6ft and glassy that day.
Indian Shores, 12/25/85. photo: M Weaver.

When I finally got my first car; a 69’ bug, I would drive to Central Ave in IRB. That was THE SPOT back then in the late 80’s. I remember seeing 100 people out at Central on good days. There was no place to park. The little Lopez boys would tear it up. Guys from Tampa came all the way to surf IRB. There were some good days back then. My favorite thing was going to the Cove in Longboat Key after cold fronts. We had so many epic days down there till it got dredged in 1990.

We used to skip school, drive down to the Cove and park under this half built pink mansion.
Good times. LB Key 11/88. photo: M. Weaver.

When it was flat we would skate a lot. Skating helped my surfing so much. I would loosen the trucks on my Vision Old Ghost and charge any little bank we could find. There were no skate parks. It was all back yard. There were a lot of good ramps around back then also. Monk’s ramp was across the street from the high school and Chris White’s ramp was down the street. There was the Kane’s bowl and the Family Mart ditch. That’s what we did when it was flat.

Skating close to home, 11/86. photo: R Hall.

I remember all my first boards- after the single fin I had a 5’11 Ocean Avenue twin fin by Jeff Klugel(now an ASP judge) that I picked up for $35. It was so wide I couldn't fit my 15 yr old arms around it. My 2nd board was a 5’8 Fox Wave Weapon by Greg Loehr. Then in 87’ I got a 6’0 Spectrum shaped by Shriver. It was the first new board I ever bought. I mowed lawns all summer to save up the money. I went into Suncoast Surf Shop and layed out $330 for it. That board was awesome! My surfing progressed so much on that board. I went from just going down the line to doing cutbacks, off the lips and floaters all on that one magic board. I still love getting new boards. They are so worth the money. I even shaped boards for awhile in the late 80’s. I shaped 24 boards myself. Some of them were o.k but most were asymmetrical with messed up rails. I rode my own boards for 2 years and IT DID NOT help my sufing at all. In 1988 A young kid named Brian Tudor would come over to my house and help me make boards. One day he picked up the planer and shaped his first board. It was rad. That kid had a gift in his hands. His first boards were good and he’s still making great boards today.

Makings of a world class shaper...Brian was the hero of Mr. Rayos graphic arts class.
He has always been good with his hands. photo: M Weaver

The early 1990’s were lean times for surfing on the GC. They had been dredging all the beaches and had ruined so many spots. Kelly Slater’s influence had everyone riding tiny potato chip boards that were way too small for Florida waves. I had a major desire to move to the East Coast in the late 80’s. But like many teens I had tons of personal problems and I wasn’t about to move over there where I knew noone. That and I had my truck broken into some many times on the EC during that period. It was a bitter turn off. There were so many surf rat thieves over there. I even had my back pack ripped off the beach while I watched helplessly from the outside at Tree Top. The EC was no paradise to me. Do you remember the landfill... errrr
I mean the path to Spanish House and how it was littered with trash and soiled underwear? It made me sick. Here on the West Coast of Florida we would have killed for a break like Spanish House and how it was then. Pristine Florida coastal environment with clear water. But the surfers trashed the place. I was not that impressed at all. I still don't think the East Coast is anything too great. If the EC was Hawaii we would all live over there but it’s not. It’s just slightly more consistent and bigger than the Gulf Coast.

"I hope nobody's breaking into my truck". Tree Top, Hurricane Gabrielle 9/89.
photo J Stevens.

I was really down on surfers after that. I pretended like I wasn’t one. I would dress normal, act normal but still go grovel on anything I could find. I didn’t have too many friends who surfed so I never traveled anywhere cool. I did go to Cali in 89’ with my brother Joel. In 1991’ I met Sabrina, a beautiful Italian girl who later became my wife.

My wife's family is from Italia, we went to visit them.
The food was EPIC! Pisa photo: S DiDonato.

She loved to travel and we went to Mexico shortly after we got married, then Costa Rica a couple years after that. That’s when I decided I wanted to learn Spanish but I never got on it till now (I’m still the world’s biggest gringo). When I got back from Costa in 1995 we went to Sebastian Inlet one day. There were these guys surfing wide template boards on glassy chest high waves and getting so much more distance and speed even while carrying the flow. I went home, ran into Mad Beach Surf Shop and got my first retro fish. To go from potato chip thrusters to wide bodied fish made surfing so much easier and fun. Also, when I married my wife I moved from Seminole to St. Pete. For years I still made the long drive to surf my local spots in IRB but with a fish I found surfing Upham was a blast. In 1996 I started surfing in St. Pete and staying closer to home . Now I consider the St. Pete breaks to be my local spots and I rarely surf IRB anymore. In the late 90’s the surf was really bad, 2000 was bad also. Once I wrote "there will never be surf again in WFL". It was that bleak. We had years w/o hurricanes. We had December’s that were 85 with SE winds and forever flatness. I thought seriously about taking up sailing. But like everything else that period passed and 2003 was really good at restoring my faith in Gulf Coast waves. In retrospect, I wish I had moved away at some point in my life. I wish now that I had that perspective. But I love St. Petersburg. I love surfing with all my friends. I love my wife and my family- who I’ve stayed here for. I don’t even mind my work which allows me freedom to surf. It’s for all these reasons that I have surfed the Gulf Coast for 20 years.
Ya tengo ganas de mudarme de aqui algun dia (I still want to move away someday). There’s not too many days I don’t dream about living somewhere else and having anytime access to crystal clear glassy waves every day. I know it will happen, but I’m not sweating it. I am happy here.

Still a kook. The fat lady hadn't sung at this point of the Ivan event and a fresh West swell appeared long after the EC guys had gone home. Nobody gets it like a local. Middle Jetty, Sunset Beach. St. Petersburg, Florida. Thursday September 16th, 2004. Photo: paulspictures.com

Tips for Survival:
1. Stay busy, working hard makes the flat spells go by faster.
2. Travel: If you want to get good at surfing it's a must. Charging waves in Centro will make surfing the Gulf like a walk in the park.
3. Have Good Equipment: Compared to other sports surfing is cheap. It's worth it to spend the jack and have good boards and good wetsuits. We don't get waves too often. Maximize your surf time by riding the right board for you on that given day. One idea is to have 1 board for good waves and 1 board for fat or mushy waves.
4. Skate: Sidewalk surfing is the next best thing to the real thing so loosen your trucks up and hit the street when it's flat. Wake surfing helps also if you have a boat.
5. Stay Tuned: A lot of surfers can figure out the weather and when the waves are coming. If your not one of them stay in touch with one of the web sites or somebody who knows. Plan ahead for up coming swells.

Note: Waves are a gift on the Gulf Coast. I do all of these things and the long flat spells still drive me nuts so if you want perfect waves, move somewhere that has them. Otherwise your stuck like the rest of us.

When I look back at these pics on this page I think of the music I was listening to at the time. What was in the tape player on the way to the beach. What was in my head when I was surfing...kinda diverse but better that the gnarly stuff kids listen to today. The music that shaped my sessions: 1984/85: U2, the FiXX, INXS all that good 80's stuff.86-87:The Cult, The Cure, The Church, New Model Army. 1988: Midnight Oil. 1989' Janes Addiction, FUGAZI 1990' the pumpkins, nirvana. pearl jam. 1991: 7 Seconds, Social D, Minor Threat, TSOL, the Replacements. 1996-98 Bob Marley and other mellow stuff. 99-01: Hot Water Music. 02'till now: Aterciopelados, Julieta Venegas, Control Machete, Tego, Hector Lavoe and other musica latina.

Hall of Fame: My Dad and Mom, Pa- my father-in-law Savino, Lucio, Porfi, Hector Muñoz, Bob Bulatowicz, Tom Curren, Bob Marley, Joe Jurevicius, Mike Alstott, Shea and Cory Lopez.

Credit Due: John Purdy, Steve Kepler, Daryn Smith, Skip Miller, Pete Lopez.

Apologies: Everybody I forgot, I'm out of time.

Shout out: TC, Nip, JG, Meryl, Conway, Alex, BK, Ryan and Karina, Josh, and all my other brothers and sisters, mi chiquita, te quiero.

Memorable swells: The entire 85' season- Bob, Danny, Elena, Juan, Kate. Christmas Day 85' Gordon 88' Roxxane and Opal 95', Bret and Harvey 98'. New Years Day 03', December 18th, 2003. Rita 05'