Last week, I had a conversation with a woman about the surf lessons her daughter had taken with Ocean City local professional surfer, Matt Keenan, and how much her overall approach on each wave had improved. I started thinking about the summer ahead, and summers past, and how important it is to our surf scene to have guys like Matt in the line-up. The guy enjoys surfing so much that he wants to share his stoke with up coming grom in the surf, and he goes out of his way to take them in under his wing.. I think it’s a good way to be, and I try to do the same. I can remember back to what it was like to being a grom..

In fact, I attribute the generations that surfed before me for the passion and personal aspirations I have for my own endeavors in the sport. I can remember vividly being a grom, or young surfer, and learning how to surf. I looked up to the older guys in the line-up, they taught me respect, technique, and to overcome the fear of catching the bigger waves. It was tougher then, if you cowered when someone shouted, GO, on the wave of the day, you may have dodged a beating in form of a wipeout, but you were sure to get tortured for it on the beach. There were the guys that took you in and watched you closely, pros that set the standard, the older crew that told crazy stories and then told you to go home, and your peers. Surfing had it’s own school, an unwritten right of passage and when you grow up in the scene, you know what’s up. We’d always watch guys like Matt, who was usually the best guy in the line up. We’d look to him for his cutting edge style and approach. Matt and his peers would often offer advice if they saw us struggling in or out of the water. There were always unforgettable moments and people. For instance, lifeguard Jimmy Kirk. He wasn’t a big guy, but the look he gave you when he spoke to you put the tail between your legs. He knew who was who, and we knew he was a legend. He would stop my crew friends from paddling out on the biggest day of the summer, and, with a pointed finger and a sinister scowl, grant two of us permission to paddle out, the rest were forced to watch. And they did, because that’s was the way it was, no getting around it.

Every year I grow further away from the kid I used to be, and it seems a whole group of young surfers replace the crew I remember being a part of. Each year the groms rally together and push each other’s progression in the sport. They feed off each other like brothers and sisters, rolling around in rat packs, growing through the trials and tribulations of adolescents, and surfing. When I leave for a few months I come home to see them ripping harder than ever before.

In my last column I brushed on the fact that Ocean City had been victorious in the Red Bull Riders Cup. OCHS has established itself as a dominant surf team for years, and I feel it is directly derived from the town itself and the brotherhood I’ve been trying to explain. All the groms that surfed in the event on that final day spend their days surfing in Ocean City. The OC Surf Team all surf together, make surf films on youtube, shoot photos, eat, fight, scheme, and party together. They are a family. Chris Kelly, Pat Westman, Zack Kreiser, and Sean Santiago started for OC this year. They’ve worked their way up the line-ups and all surf really well. I surf with these guys often and rarely do I go home unimpressed. Though it will lose seniors Chris and Pat, the team has depth and, the bench is ready for next year. The cool thing is, when the seniors leave next year, they will remain connected to the surf scene, and their surf team for years to come. Last years MVP, Rob Kelly, was back from competing nationally this year, to coach along side Mark Medima and Matt Keenan, the team his younger brother Chris would lead to victory once again.

The Red Bull Riders Cup is a big deal. It has grown into a major part of the High School Surf Teams agenda. The OC boys will be competing in the championship event at Upper Trestles, a world-renowned surf spot, in San Clemente, CA. These kids are in the limelight now, not only will they be gunning for a national title; the entire road for the cup is being documented for a six episode television series for MTV. A film crew, from VBS productions, has followed the team around town for the past two weeks. They’ve been interviewed, filmed in the surf, and they even partied back stage at a punk rock show in Philadelphia. A crew of us went to the Electric Factory last Thursday to see Pennywise, a band largely known in the surf world for their politically edgy and fast paced sounds featured in many surf flicks over the years. The guys from VBS gave me a backstage pass and we worked out getting some unreal footage, behind the scenes and under the venues security teams radar. After the show I asked lead singer, Jim Lindberg, who had been giving shout outs to the surf team during the performance and a big help to the film crew, if we could get the groms backstage to meet the band. Jim is a cool individual and he was stoked to meet the team he’d been hearing about all night. He actually came to the side door with me to let them in personally. Talk about an epic night! These kids are actually living like rockstars for the next few weeks, and it’s Rad!

Pennywise shouting to the youth!

The surf scene is made up of people who surf, and every one of them, when not too frustrated with the excessive crowds of the summer, tries to teach by good example. Some will go out of their way to lend a friendly tip or two on how to improve. Some of the “Old School” lessons are still being learned, and sometimes the old school learns from the groms. I assume, from what I’ve seen elsewhere, that most surf towns are this way. I’m fortunate to know this town’s surf culture intimately, and I cherish being a part of it through the thick and thin. There is a familiar sense out in the surf and the respect for each other and Mother Ocean is our common bond. It’s growth and progression that keep the surf town lively, like the fountain of youth the ocean and the community within makes it hard for a surfer to grow old.

Groms Rip! Chris Kelly backstage in the pit when he's not backstage at PENNYWISE