Longboard Challenge draws legends
By Roy Harrell
THE SURF REPORT
From the Delaware Coast Press
At first glance, it could be perceived as a convention of almost anything.
Perhaps they're sellers of widgets on holiday in Ocean City and they're having a little gathering in the downstairs ballroom of the Castle in the Sands Hotel. The crowd is mostly men, with a smattering of women and children mixed in, but made up largely of middle-aged and older guys bellying up to the bar and working their way through the food buffet.
Upon a second look, however, you begin to notice a few differences, if the rhythmic bass beat of the surf music didn't clue you in at first. Yes, there was a lot of white hair present -- and a few heads with no hair at all. But underneath the blazing palette of Hawaiian shirts ,were a lot of deeply tanned, barrel-chested surfers posing as older men.
It was Friday night of the Surfrider Foundation's Longboard Challenge. The agenda called for a legends induction and awards presentation, followed by a surfing documentary movie. Saturday was to be the main event -- the five-man team challenge. The roster was full, with ringers called in from all over the country.
But Friday was a time of reflection and catching up with old friends. Once the vocal cords had been lubricated a bit with a few adult beverages, the rest of the agenda was almost superfluous. Most guys were just enjoying the chance to talk with guys they had shared more than a few waves and adventures with.
There is an easy-going camaraderie among surfers that effervesces to the top at an event like that. It doesn't matter what kind of work you do, or how big your house is, or any of the other considerations that are a part of the normal sizing-up that men usually do when meeting socially.
Among surfers you're accepted at face value, welcomed into a brotherhood that judges you only by what you can do on a wave. You may be a doctor or a lawyer on land, but that doesn't get you any respect if you can't do a decent bottom turn.
With great difficulty, the Maryland director of Surfrider, Shelly Dawson, managed to get a quorum to pay attention long enough to announce the inductees of the "legends" and the winners of the Keepers of the Coast awards. Next came the surf movie, "Waves of Reflection," which was billed as a documentary about surfing in Maryland and Delaware, produced by Maryland expatriate Will Lucas, now living in Florida.
It's amazing that Lucas was able to gather enough material from this area to make a movie. He relied heavily upon friends' resources, and especially the still photographs of Bill Wise, one of the first surf-shop owners in the area. Wise was in attendance that night and was honored by Surfrider for his contributions to the surf community over the years.
Wise was injured surfing a beachbreak in South Bethany in the mid-1960s and broke his neck. He's been paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair ever since. He learned to take photographs by using a special camera attached to his wheelchair, which he operates by using air blown from his mouth.
It was extremely gratifying to see some credit finally given to local surfing from a historical perspective. Seeing archival footage of some of those guys in their younger years gives a sense that we are part of something significant, even if the majority of people never really know we exist.
The movie is available in most local surf shops and should be considered an essential part of your surfing video library. The grainy, backlit footage of Jack Powell and Brent Clark ripping a now-extinct break, with a name that can't be printed, on a well-overhead day is worth the price of the DVD alone. And the inclusion of a host of other local luminaries, including a teenage Bill Helmuth skateboarding in pre-Dogtown days, makes it priceless.
A final note from Lucas -- if you have old surfing photos or film from the area that you are willing to share with him for a possible future film, contact him at www.surf64.com.
Reach Roy Harrell at wave@smgpo.gannett.com.
Originally published Wednesday, June 16, 2004