Long before I started writing about surfers, actually long before I started writing at all, I met a woman who by almost all accounts is the Godmother of Surf Travel.
I was a newbie Event Director at Brevard Zoo at the time. I had been at the job maybe two months and was still trying to wrap my mind around planning the zoo’s biggest event of the year, Boo at the Zoo, since my only event training came from high dollar black tie galas outside of New Orleans.
It was a bit of a culture shock, but …

Before I begin to tell this month’s tale… allow me to channel Simon & Garfunkel for a moment… 
When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It’s a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall 
Kodachrome…
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So, Mama …

Eighth grader, Corinne Carew, grew up thinking that everyone surfed.
By the time she was three-years-old, Carew was already swimming like a fish and her dad, long time East Coast soul surfer, Blaine Carew, took her out to catch her first wave off the Cocoa Beach Pier.
"I remember I was terrified," said her proud mother, Alexia. "She was on the board with Daddy and I wanted her to wear a big fluorescent orange vest."
No dorky vests for this sweet wahine! (Sorry, Mom!)
"I …

For years, Monica Monsalve surfed Central Florida surf breaks as one of the few females in the line-ups. Steadily, she noticed the amount of female surfers growing more abundant in the water and the interest to learn, just as promising in numbers.
 
When Monica made the decision to open a distinctive surf school in Cocoa Beach, Florida, the idea of providing a more relevant and comfortable environment for females, helped launched the Surfet Surf School and brand.
 
Not just an …

All of this writing about you surfers has had quite an effect on me.
After hearing about the fantastic lifetime exploits from some of the greats, as well as the empowering stories of the previous two women I profiled, Ingrid Matta and Debbie Walker, I have been tempted by many offers from those who know I can’t "do the deed" so to speak. Yet, until now I was still not been persuaded that I could do more than flail like an idiot and convince everyone once and for all that I have no …

Debbie Walker starting learning to surf when she was 16-years-old and living in St. Petersburg.
"That coast of Florida is NOT known for their surf," she says. "It is usually lake flat. The only rideable surf is when they have a hurricane approaching."
Even in the mid 1980’s when Walker was getting her feet wet for the first time, the surfers in her neck of the woods spent a chunk of their time driving to the east coast.
"My friend and I would make the drive almost every …

Ingrid Matta is a soul surfer you might not pick out of a crowd.
 
The Merritt Island resident who is pushing 50, although no one would ever know it, spent the past 20 some odd years as a Major in the Air Force and then as an Associate Vice President of Community Relations and Marketing at Brevard Community College. She is now a college English instructor.  
 
She is the picture of a calm, cool and collected military woman or college professor. She is grace. She is …

a href=http://photos.surfline.com/displayimage.php?pos=-21539img src=http://www.surfline.com//surfnews/images/2009/03_march/ecuador/thumb/Salinas-Beach-Break-2.jpg align=left //a A look at surfing in Ecuador going into the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships

a href=http://photos.surfline.com/displayimage.php?pos=-21539img src=http://www.surfline.com//surfnews/images/2009/03_march/volcom_pr/thumb/LEIF_3.jpg align=left //a Leif Engstrom wins pro/am division in pumping surf

a href=http://photos.surfline.com/displayimage.php?pos=-21539img src=http://www.surfline.com//surfnews/images/2009/03_march/cwc_day4/thumb/JORDYSMITH.jpg align=left //a Jordy and Damo push on during a day of upsets at a fourth new location