Join Brad Wells of Thank You Surfing in Season 3, Episode 5 when Scott from IWS Miami hosts Taylor, Theo, Daniel, and Aden from the FIU Surf Club to explore the changes in the surf industry and culture since the 1980’s. Recorded on June 27, 2024, this episode examines the decline of surfing’s cultural relevance, shares Miami surf stories, discusses the impact of fashion trends, and highlights the sense of community within the surfing world.
Transcription
[00:00:00] Intro-Outro: Welcome to another episode of the Thank You Surfing podcast. Today’s episode is sponsored by [00:00:18] Sponsors: BryteBox. Marketing for design, architecture, and hospitality. IMAIM Capital. Experts in revitAlizing Miami’s urban multifamily real estate. And Team Key Aquatics, fostering growth and excellence in aquatic sports. [00:00:36] Brad: I’m Brad Wells. Still, it’s June 27th. [00:00:46] Brad: Uh, a bunch of awesome guests with us today. I got the FIU Surf Club and the one and only from Island Water Sports, Miami. The legend of the podcast. We were getting into that before. Go ahead and [00:01:00] reintroduce yourself to our esteemed guest. I’m Scott. I’m old, [00:01:04] Scott: um, the owner of Island Water Sports, uh, a store that opened in 1984 and, um, 40 years later, still doing it, still surviving in Miami, the only surf shop left in Miami. [00:01:24] Brad: Keep it going. [00:01:25] Scott: Keep it going. Yes. Catch a wave. There’s still a catch a wave. I have to preface that, but they’re just not as good. involved in the surf aspect of surfing. [00:01:32] Brad: None of the hardware. [00:01:33] Scott: Yeah. I feel bad not [00:01:35] Brad: including it. Yeah. Very normal to do. Next here. [00:01:40] Taylor: Alright. Give him a mic. Hi, uh, I’m Taylor, and I’m part of FIU Surf. [00:01:46] Taylor: Pretty much my whole thing. I surf with FIU. Excellent introduction. [00:01:53] Theo: Hi. The camera. Uh, I’m Theo. I am the president of FIU Surf right now. [00:02:00] [00:02:00] Aden: And, [00:02:02] Theo: yeah, [00:02:02] Aden: that’s me. Um, my name’s Aiden. I’m the current vice president. Like, today’s pretty much my last day. But, uh, I’ve been with the club for over a year and, yeah, I’ve loved it, so. [00:02:14] Daniel: Uh, my name’s Daniel, just like these guys. Part of FIU Surf. I’m the treasurer. I will not be stepping down when elections start this year. Oh, yeah. [00:02:24] Brad: I didn’t know we were in campaign season. I was like, I’m gonna have to rewrite the notes. I forgot to mention he’s going to be a future president. Is that why you guys are here? [00:02:31] Brad: You guys here to campaign? We’ve been live for [00:02:33] Scott: a while, so. How many votes? How many members do you guys have? 630. [00:02:39] Daniel: What? Are you serious? And 1, 300 on Instagram. Like, just followers. [00:02:43] Brad: No way. [00:02:46] Scott: That’s really pretty amazing. Cause, um, UM has a surf club. This is a call out to UM who, uh, they, they don’t do anything. [00:02:56] Scott: And, um, they’ve tried to get it going a few [00:03:00] times and it’s hard. I mean, it’s really hard. I mean, this isn’t a ragging on them. It’s really hard to do, but somehow you guys, you know, um, have managed to get it going and in a place that kind of like we’re the only surf shop, you’re the only club. ever seen that’s ever. [00:03:19] Brad: No one’s ever gotten. Yeah. [00:03:20] Scott: Barry tried to do it for a little bit. I mean, a few schools have tried to do it, but, um, you should be pretty proud of yourself. [00:03:26] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. So first question out the gates here. Talk to me. Uh, what’s happening in surfing? What’s the latest? What’s the latest in surfing? What’s the latest in surfing? [00:03:37] Brad: Well, [00:03:38] Scott: Theo and I had this conversation. Did you? It got, it got deep. It got deep. What’s happening in surfing? Well, surfing or surf shops? [00:03:49] Brad: Just answer the question, Scott. [00:03:51] Scott: Surfing is the same. Surfing is the same. I mean, people want to surf. They surf. They have a good time. It’s great. They get into it. [00:04:00] Some people stick with it for life. [00:04:01] Scott: Some people don’t. Either way, they have a great time. Just like they always have. The surf industry itself, that has changed. Over the last 5 or 10 years. 5 or 10? [00:04:10] Brad: Yeah. Give us a quick synopsis of those last 5 or 10 years. I look at Theo [00:04:13] Scott: because we talked about this. Um, I was explaining to Theo that my whole lifetime surfing has been culturally relevant. [00:04:23] Scott: Um, not just a sport, but just like in high school, if you looked at like fast times at Richmond It’s all the rockers and the surfers and the, the druggy kid, you know, they all had their little character and um, surfing’s always had that. And in the last five years, it kind of lost that there’s no cultural, you don’t see it culturally in society anymore. [00:04:47] Scott: So how that’s affected the surf industry is that people don’t necessarily, um, go to surf shops to buy surf wear and then [00:05:00] feel like they’re a part of that surf culture that I don’t want to say hand pies. It’s just more of a nomadic, we don’t care, we’re, you know, like, we’ll leave a job. with that? I don’t think, I don’t think, I think it’s, I don’t think so. [00:05:12] Scott: I think somewhere along the line surfing went from being much more than a sport, um, a way of life to just a sport. Pickleball, bowling, surfing, it’s just a sport, [00:05:24] Brad: which is fun. Pickleball has come up in the podcast a lot. We’re actually talking about getting a pickle pass going. It’s a thank you pickle ball. [00:05:31] Brad: Yeah, [00:05:34] Scott: you just don’t see it, um, when high school and college kids stopped wearing, like you can go to any high school or college in the U. S. other than California or maybe New Smyrna Beach, Jacksonville, and no kid is going to be wearing any surf clothes. All right, so who cares about [00:05:49] Brad: surf clothes? What about surfboards and all the other stuff? [00:05:51] Scott: But surfboards, you buy a board for 700 and sell it for 850. 50. You don’t make hardly any money on these [00:06:00] things. Um, the clothing is where everything is at. So that’s what you need is soft. You need in order to maintain it, which is why all the surf shops that have been around have gone out of business because I was explaining even board shorts, kids used to wear board shorts. [00:06:17] Scott: If you didn’t surf, it didn’t matter. You’d go to a pool, high school, college, board shorts. Now they all wear elastic wave shorts. You can buy elastic wave shorts anywhere. Um, They don’t want Billabong Elastic Waste. They just want Elastic Waste. Whereas Board Shorts, you went to a surf shop. So all these things have kind of, of, um, have hurt the surf industry. [00:06:36] Scott: Um, which is why south of BC Surf Shop in North Fort Lauderdale, we’re really the only one left. You don’t see Quicksilver stores, Billabong stores, anything. You don’t see any, I was telling Theo in the Aventura Mall, you can’t find surfwear. It’s just not relevant anymore. No store, even Nordstrom’s [00:06:56] Taylor: What do you think about like aftermarket stuff? [00:06:58] Taylor: Cause like the whole thrifting [00:07:00] and like, um, selling your board on like Facebook marketplace and stuff like that. Like, do you think that had a big impact? Cause a lot of my friends, when we like buy surfing clothes, it’s a lot of, uh, like you go through a thrift store, get a cool old billabong and like cool. [00:07:14] Taylor: I think [00:07:14] Scott: that is super relevant amongst you guys. Okay. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of you guys, you know, um, people who care about the culture of surfing kind of, you know, embrace that whole thing, which is what we don’t have anymore. And it’s more of a lifestyle thing. Um, you guys are anomalies, unfortunately. [00:07:38] Scott: Um, so it’s relevant, but I’m not on a big scale. Okay. [00:07:44] Brad: Maybe there’s only one shop down here because that’s all it can support really. But then the servers that are here, [00:07:49] Scott: well, it wasn’t because remember 95 percent of the people. store don’t serve. [00:07:54] Brad: Well, that’s right. [00:07:55] Scott: And there used to be six, eight, 10 stores down here that, [00:08:00] um, that were supported. [00:08:04] Scott: So you can’t buy it anymore, can’t, but you can’t. And if it was popular, you’d find them all. If people wanted it, you know, we’re in America. If I use the vape store analogy where if, if, you know, you can’t throw a rock by hitting a vape store because they make money. This is America. If you, if surf shops made money, there’d be surf shops here and we wouldn’t be the only one. [00:08:28] Scott: But you know, we’re, we’ve able to maintain [00:08:30] Brad: because I thought it was because of your anti competitive practices. Going out there and throwing rocks through all the windows and being [00:08:38] Scott: fired. Um, we’ve survived because everyone has ever worked here surfed and we have a little saying which I made up, um, um, if we don’t do it, we don’t sell it because people want us to sell kiteboard stuff all the time or foils. [00:08:56] Scott: I don’t know anything about that. I’m not going to sell a 2, 000 [00:09:00] foil set up to someone and not know what I’m talking about. So that through four years. Yeah. And so people still do want that. Um, just not as many. So [00:09:10] Brad: you definitely need that more in a hard goods kind of store, [00:09:13] Scott: you know, where [00:09:13] Brad: you’re actually looking for equipment and you’re trying to progress in some sort of athletic endeavor. [00:09:18] Brad: Once you get like Scott, which t shirt looks cuter on me. Right. [00:09:22] Scott: Although you did just ask me what board would be better if I didn’t know. I know, but I was asking I mean, [00:09:29] Brad: um, Chris would, by the way, would, Full on try to style me. I would go in the shop every week and he’d be like, you know This would look great on you and you i’ve had some of those shirts For like a decade. [00:09:43] Brad: I still wear them [00:09:44] Scott: for reference. We’re going to talk about chris probably, you know periodically through this and it’s because um [00:09:50] Brad: No, this is your one time. [00:09:51] Scott: You get one chris Chris used to work here at the store and he’s a big part of the fixture Of south florida surfing and he passed away a few years ago super [00:10:00] close friends with brad and I You Chris and Brad started the whole, uh, thank you. [00:10:04] Scott: Surfing thing together. So, um, yeah, and he was a fashion. Oh God, he really wasn’t how not to dress. Everything was a little too tight. Everything was, uh, you know, a little too colorful, but anyway, [00:10:25] Brad: that was pretty your taste for my taste. All right. The rest of you guys, where’s, where’s what’s happening. It’s different. [00:10:31] Brad: It’s [00:10:31] Daniel: different. But to be honest, at least with like, uh, like surfwear and stuff, you go into the gym easily. You can find five people at least wearing O’Neal or Quicksilver or Villabong T shirt. How many people are in [00:10:45] Brad: this gym? Well, there’s five people wearing that, it’s [00:10:47] Daniel: just [00:10:48] Brad: the five people. Lots. Yeah, like. [00:10:50] Brad: Seven thousand. And I’m gonna ask you kind of a weird question in there. [00:10:53] Scott: Um, like, like an LA Fitness or one of those things? No, no, the FIU Gym. FIU Gym? Where the [00:10:57] Daniel: demographic is all, like, younger kids and [00:10:59] Scott: stuff. Okay, [00:11:00] that’s good. But the gym [00:11:01] Daniel: that, like, kind of isn’t, why it’s not helping you is because these people aren’t buying them from surf shops and stuff. [00:11:06] Daniel: They’re buying them from Marshalls or Ross, wherever these brands are ending up landing all their clothes that doesn’t sell. So that and things like that, like you go to Ross, there’s Billabong, Rip Curl, always. [00:11:18] Scott: Yeah, yeah. Up there [00:11:19] Daniel: everywhere. So, [00:11:20] Scott: well, what happened, um, in the last few years as well, which kind of shows you, so you don’t have as many surf shops, um, not just down here. [00:11:29] Scott: But a lot of the Inland stores all went away. Which is crazy because we have way more surfers. We have more surfers, but they’re not wearing surf clothes. I point out a lot of times when these surfers come in, they’re not wearing, like he’s not wearing anything surf related whatsoever. By the way, neither are you. [00:11:48] Scott: Oh. And I’m not saying nothing about, no, but I mean, you just don’t know that I am. [00:11:53] Brad: I just have no, I have no logos that are visible. Okay. This is actually a rip curl tshirt. These are bulk pants. Really? [00:12:00] I’ve got on van socks and venge. I [00:12:02] Scott: like it. You’re gonna keep us in business. You know, in general, the younger, and I [00:12:07] Brad: bought these T-shirts ’cause I liked them and anybody knows, me knows I have like 17 of them and I just like swap ’em out. [00:12:13] Brad: Yeah. [00:12:14] Scott: And [00:12:14] Brad: I’ve bought these pants like three different pairs of the same ones. And when I wear ’em out that’s, so we [00:12:18] Scott: do, we’re in [00:12:19] Brad: and then these are vans and. Well, [00:12:25] Scott: all these companies, um, have struggled in the last five years. Back when you guys were really young, um, Pacific Sunwear used to be a place where you’d go and buy surf clothes in the mall. [00:12:37] Scott: Maybe it was known as PacSun. PacSun. You remember that? I don’t know. They’re still in the malls now, but in the nineties, late eighties, nineties, two thousands, there were either 600 or 900 of them in the country in malls selling surf wear. And about five years ago, they went out of business. They’re out of business.[00:13:00] [00:13:00] Scott: They’re back in business now, but they’re selling, um, street wear, no surf. Yeah. I had no clue that, [00:13:05] Daniel: I had no clue that they were a surf company. They were, that’s all. They started all soft. I like viewed them as like a. There were 60%, [00:13:12] Scott: 60 percent brands, Quicksilver going along, 40 percent their own, but all surf related. [00:13:18] Scott: And that was kind of the canary in the coal mine saying that surf isn’t relevant with young people anymore. Um, and, but it’s been [00:13:27] Brad: not cool before, right? [00:13:29] Scott: Not like [00:13:30] Daniel: this. I don’t think that it’s not cool. Cause like, I mean, our success, like as a club, just cause you’re cool, you surf, [00:13:36] Brad: doesn’t mean that everyone thinks It’s cool. [00:13:38] Daniel: But like, there are 600 members and like a thousand whatever followers, like the majority of those people have never touched a surfboard in their life. And just like the idea of like the lifestyle or just like the idea of surfing, hanging out at the beach. Yeah. [00:13:53] Brad: And there’s nothing wrong with that. Cause I mean, Yeah. [00:13:55] Brad: Who doesn’t want to do that? It sounds pretty awesome. I don’t think I’ll [00:13:58] Theo: ever [00:13:58] Daniel: be like, [00:13:58] Theo: not cool. Yeah. [00:14:00] What I think, um, talking about that same aspect, I think it’s, there’s like kind of been a separation between the, the surfing culture and the surfing as a sport because the aesthetics and all that part, I do still, like when we were first starting, for example, as a club, our, our way of recruiting was like approaching every person with a rip culture and be like, Hey, do you surf? [00:14:21] Theo: And that was like our way. And a lot of them just didn’t serve and, but there was still a lot of those types of shirts. And so I think it’s just what happened is, at least from my perspective, it, that, that shift happened. And there’s, it’s kind of like, no, people don’t associate it to the sport itself. So they don’t buy it through the surf shops because it’s like, I mean, I didn’t do it to surf. [00:14:50] Theo: It just looks cool. And on the other side, surfing as a sport, I do think it’s popular, but without that aesthetic part, without that [00:15:00] cultural part. So they’re kind of like, those two things have like parted ways a little. And one has kind of like lost a little bit of essence. The surf culture aspect. [00:15:08] Scott: Yeah. [00:15:08] Scott: Yeah. Yeah. You don’t see, um, you don’t have a, um, someone’s dad saying, um, Oh yeah, my daughter’s dating one of those surfer types anymore. You know? Um, thank you. So, um, that cultural aspect, what’s that supposed to be? Well, what it went back to the eighties and nineties was, um, Where it has that, um, nomadic, uh, get up and leave, go travel the world and surf. [00:15:35] Scott: Something that a lot of people gravitated towards. Yeah, like you and they, and they want to be that in life. Um, I understand where you, when you talk about the club and how many members there are, surfers, surfing, it’s a bucket list thing. You talk to almost anybody. I’ve always wanted to, yeah, I’ve always wanted to surf. [00:15:56] Scott: I’ve always wanted to skydive. I’ve always wanted to. [00:16:00] So, and you’re also surrounded by it, like skaters will a lot of times say. Um, I don’t know why, we’re gonna, we’re gonna open a skate shop, you know, everyone skates. No, you and all your friends skate. But once you get away from that, and that’s the same with surfing, you’re immersed in it. [00:16:17] Brad: Way more people skate. [00:16:19] Scott: Well, yeah. And he’s immersed in it with the club. So he sees it a lot more and I’m not saying it’s dead. It’s just went from here where it kind of was going for years to down here. And when I mentioned PacSun and when I mentioned these brands, Quicksilver, Billabong, Ruka, they’ve, half of them have gone out of business, filed chapter 11, come back, gotten sold. [00:16:40] Scott: They’ve gone from a 2 billion, annual revenue to, you know, 500, 000 or 500, 000, 500 million, a million, 1. 2, because, um, there aren’t as many stores selling the product because not as many people are [00:17:00] buying it to be part of that world of surfing. You’ll still find Quicksilver in beach stores and Billabong, you know, relevant in stores. [00:17:09] Scott: People Beach culture, but they’re not actively going out to go to a surf shop to go buy the stuff to feel like they’re part of the whole thing. [00:17:19] Aden: I feel like surfing, um, it’s still big. You know, lots of people do it. You go out to South Beach on a good day. There’s like a hundred people out there. Maybe too many. [00:17:26] Aden: But, uh, yeah, but for me growing up. It feels like it was just an activity that I did by myself or with a couple good friends. Like there’s no community really for it or I wasn’t really a part of a culture. It was just like, oh, the waves are good. Let’s go surf. But not that I was really part of a community or the culture. [00:17:44] Aden: It’s what it feels like it’s lacking now. [00:17:45] Scott: Unfortunately for you, um, that maybe in California, that’s relevant. Maybe Jacksonville ish, you know, but I mean, I’m from Jacksonville. Okay, that’s [00:17:56] Aden: it. In the beaches, like, there’s [00:18:00] definitely a tight knit surf community, but it’s not huge. And, um, I didn’t live in the beaches, you know, I lived kind of far away. [00:18:06] Aden: And it was hard for me to meet people who surfed unless I met them surfing. And even then, it just never felt like there was something more than just that activity. It was just kind of like, oh, let’s go surfing. [00:18:18] Brad: And that’s in, like, so you’re saying that’s in Jacksonville. Yeah, Jacksonville’s a big surf spot. [00:18:22] Brad: It’s a surf town. Like I said, I didn’t [00:18:24] Aden: live in the beaches, and if you live in the beaches, it’s a lot more tight, tightly knit surf community, but on average, it’s just, it still just kind of feels like disjointed. [00:18:32] Brad: So when you learned to surf, it was going to drive to Jack’s Beach from, oh, by the way, let’s name any, no specific spots, general areas are fine, but like, [00:18:41] Taylor: somewhere in Florida. [00:18:42] Taylor: Yeah. [00:18:42] Brad: Yeah. So how long was your drive? How did you get into it? [00:18:46] Aden: I got into surfing, um, I moved around a bunch, and then we moved to Jacksonville when I was like in 3rd grade. And, like, I had always wanted to learn how to surf, and so I went. There’s a surf shop there called Aqua East. [00:18:58] Brad: Wait, wait, so you always wanted to learn how to [00:19:00] surf, and this is 3rd grade? [00:19:01] Brad: Yeah. So this is like in the 7 short years of your life. Yeah, pretty much. You’re still, like, long ago. Yeah. I That’s pretty crazy that you had a young niece who wanted to do [00:19:09] Aden: it. And so, I just joined some surf camp, went out there, messed around in foamies, and loved it after that. And I met some good friends through that, who were the same friends that I surfed with throughout my entire time in Jacksonville. [00:19:19] Aden: Like, I never really switched up a couple people that I met surfing here and there. But, just kind of those same guys, you know? [00:19:26] Brad: And then what was it like, like a long drive to the beach, or? It was like, [00:19:29] Aden: uh, maybe a 40 minute drive to the beach, which is not like that crazy, especially when you consider driving through traffic to get to South Beach and that sort of thing. [00:19:38] Aden: But, as like a broke high schooler, you know, like the gas starts to rack up. Jacksonville is a big city, and so it’s a lot of miles. Um, I also just kind of got into doing, you know, Other things like weightboarding and stuff because it was more accessible. So [00:19:51] Brad: that makes sense. [00:19:51] Daniel: Yeah. [00:19:52] Brad: And what about you guys? [00:19:53] Brad: Where’d you guys all grow up serving? [00:19:55] Daniel: Um, I’m born and raised here in Miami. Uh, and I, no one in my family serves, [00:20:00] like I don’t have a dad or a cousin or anybody to introduce it to me. It was kind of just like a natural progression of like when I was little, like just doing a boogie board in whitewash. And then like, I got a little older, like around like middle school age, I picked up skimboarding and stuff. [00:20:15] Daniel: And then I realized, like, eating shit and sprinting on sand fucking blows. So, I started, uh, like, I just rented a Foamy one day, like, from some beach rental. It was fun, like, I popped up. And then from there, it’s just like, YouTube, teaching myself. I didn’t have any friends that surfed at all until I met all these guys. [00:20:36] Brad: So like, then you went to YouTube, that was like, yeah, [00:20:39] Daniel: yeah, yeah. What school did you go to? Southwest. Yeah, I’m down there. I’m by like South Beach, but like, it’s like a 30 minute drive for me with no traffic. But like, I didn’t know anybody. I would surf. I was surfing like alone. I’ve been surfing for like four years now. [00:20:54] Daniel: I was surfing alone for like those first two years completely, like going up to central Florida, just like [00:21:00] completely alone, like no one in the lineup. Random beach break somewhere and like just like out there and like now I can’t even surf alone. I’d be like, I just go nuts [00:21:09] Brad: That is a very yeah, you know, so yeah It’s totally different, you know, like you like learn surfing like really you And started going from all the way out to the beach. [00:21:21] Brad: And then you started like he, what you don’t know [00:21:24] Daniel: is that he, he actually, well, you can explain how you didn’t really serve. [00:21:28] Aden: Yeah. Um, so before I moved to Miami, I came here to go to school. Uh, like I surfed a lot. Whenever my family went out to go to the beach, it was kind of like a beach thing where we’d meet up with my friends who surfed and we liked their families. [00:21:39] Aden: And we’d go out and surf in high school once I got my own car and started driving. Um, all my friends that I surfed with, with kind of weren’t doing it or we’re busy. And so the times that I would go out by myself, the waves would be like shit. And so my parents also got a boat around the same time. I just started wakeboarding more often, you know, [00:21:57] Brad: such a Florida thing. [00:21:58] Brad: I think so many, [00:22:00] so many guys and girls in Florida, like wind up like getting introduced to surfing. And then they’re like, Oh, wait, the lake doesn’t go in. Yeah, it doesn’t go anywhere. And you know, I could always go out [00:22:08] Aden: and it was super easy. And then, um, I moved down here to go to school and I planned on surfing and you know I would go up to people on campus who have a sex wax shirt on or a rip curl shirt on and ask them if they surf and they’d look at me like I’m crazy they’re like what you got a rip curl shirt on like oh no I don’t surf or they tell me oh you can’t surf down here that was a common thing everyone said And whenever I, yeah, so I started to believe it, I started to believe it until I met him. [00:22:35] Aden: And he’s like, Oh, you can definitely surf down here. He’s showing me the South Beach propaganda when it’s really pumping. [00:22:45] Aden: And he got me hooked after that and I started doing it. [00:22:49] Theo: So I’m from Peru, and I actually, I’m not proud of it, but I learned in 2020, back in pandemic. Yeah. [00:23:00] Yeah. Anyways, um, I, I grew up in Peru. And I grew up in Lima, which is right in front of the water, and it’s just so accessible. Like, there, I feel like the culture there is so different from here because it’s so big over there that it’s not like a community, it’s just like an industry. [00:23:15] Theo: You know, it’s, it’s, you don’t feel that closeness because it’s just so big. And, um, I was terrified of the waves for the most part of my life. I would dive, I would be, I would do like scuba diving, snorkeling, and like all the jazz, but surfing, I took it when I was 17, 18, because my stepdad, he loved surfing and he was like, okay, let’s pick it up. [00:23:37] Theo: Let’s, let’s like, I’ll teach you. I went against a rock jetty my first time. I’m never doing this again. But a month later, that’s, um, like, okay, let’s try it again. And I lived, uh, it was like a 20 minute drive without traffic and a two hour drive with traffic. It’s kind of like that. And, um, [00:24:00] so after that, I just started going every single day of the year until I came here and then I came here. [00:24:06] Theo: I was like, Oh, About [00:24:10] Brad: those lakes. [00:24:13] Taylor: Uh, yeah. I, I didn’t have the, like, wanting to surf thing. I grew up, like, my dad pushed me into surfing when I was, I think, 7 and 8. And I, like, barely remember it. And, during that, it was, uh, You know, it was like my dad pushing me and I was like, I don’t want to be going in this like whitewater getting pushed in and it was like cloudy days and stuff like that, but he was doing it more and more. [00:24:35] Taylor: And then, you know, I was starting to like it a lot more. Uh, but it was just me and my dad and since he surfed, I don’t know. I had a weird perception of surfing because it wasn’t a culture people. It was just, all right, we’re at South beach. These are the guys that serve. I’m kind of trailing my dad or I kind of want to go home now. [00:24:52] Taylor: You know, I go home. And then we did like little gnarly Charlie competitions, like push ins. Um, and that was fun. And then [00:25:00] middle school hit and we kind of both stopped surfing, like every now and then we’ll go on a trip up coast, but that was like pretty much it. And I still kind of hated it. It was like, why are we waking up four in the morning for some wind chop? [00:25:12] Brad: Yeah. [00:25:13] Taylor: Uh, but then he started, he stopped surfing. Cause he was like working on his work, on job stuff. Yeah. And that’s when I kind of met this other friend, and he was learning how to surf. And that’s when I realized, like, I know how to surf. What are you talking about? And I was like, obviously a little better than him, so that was like a little ego boost. [00:25:36] Taylor: And then we started surfing more, and I just like, it. And now my dad serves a lot and I love surfing with him. Um, and yeah, now he’s like bored, crazy, buying every board and I’m, you know, fighting along. Yeah. See if anything falls out. Uh, and then, yeah, now I’m like surfing more and more, but I never had the whole like, Oh, I want to surf. [00:25:59] Taylor: Let me learn surfing. It [00:26:00] was just like, it came up. It was just hearing them learn, like. Yeah. I want to do this and have this passion and drive for it. It’s crazy. [00:26:08] Brad: That is very a different thing. Like I was probably more like you were, were like where I would come in and like, be like, okay, no one in my family serves. [00:26:16] Brad: Oh, like my brothers did kind of serve, but I like went on the internet and I just like read as much as I could. I like took out books from the library and just like read as much as I could about it. I had every surf magazine, like anytime, like I’d wear it, Like the airport was like the only time that I would see surf mags for sale, so I’d buy every surf magazine. [00:26:34] Brad: In those days, man, there was a lot there, like Transworld Surf, and Surfing, and Surfer, and Longboard, and Pacific Longboard, and Surfer’s Journal, Eastern Surf Mag, Trax. [00:26:46] Scott: It was an industry back then. Yeah. It was an industry back then. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:50] Brad: Yeah. All right. So, um, you know, none of you guys are like really surfing. [00:26:55] Brad: Um, so much like where you grew up surfing now. So like, what’s the culture like [00:27:00] now here in Miami around FIU? Yeah, your perception. [00:27:04] Scott: I’m interested because I, it’s almost fascinating to me listening to them. Um, that’s why we do this podcast. Thank you. I mean, I do like, just circling back to the industry just for a second and then going to you guys. [00:27:20] Scott: The industry’s not dead. It’s just smaller than it used to be. If you, but you don’t, you’re young enough to where you don’t realize how big it was back in the nineties. Yeah, that’s the thing. Don’t have that perspective. I cannot express. And one way, um, I mean, if you were a pro surfer, you made money. If you were that next level down, you made money. [00:27:40] Scott: If you were the next level down, you made money. If you were, I mean, there are guys locally here. Arnie was getting paid money. , uh, Bedley was getting. Paid money. Why do we gotta [00:27:50] Brad: say it like that? . [00:27:52] Scott: I’m saying local search options. Like you go to the local guys that are good, like Arnie and Dave Bagley and Kendall, they were all making money in [00:28:00] Miami, um, which is insane. [00:28:02] Scott: Now, some of the best guys in the state don’t make any money. Um, the industry is much, much smaller, but it’s still gonna be relevant and it’s still gonna be important. And it’s just going to be more about surf shops, hard goods, there’s not going to be as many stores selling the product inland and stuff like that. [00:28:21] Scott: It’s going to be more relegated to real surf shops, which is where guys like you. And when I listened to your stories, Billabong had a dumb saying, really, so only the surfer knows the feeling. Just a simple saying. But as an older person, um, surfing has been everything to me my whole life. Um, I play every sport. [00:28:45] Scott: Maybe not good, but basketball and tennis and volleyball and Golf and windsurfing, I mean everything. I can’t even compare it to surfing. Snowboarding, all that, it doesn’t even matter. Surfing, there’s a feeling, [00:29:00] um, that if you’re not a surfer, you just don’t get it. And when I say surfer, I don’t mean someone who goes to the beach and surfs. [00:29:05] Scott: I mean somebody who drives 40 minutes to go surf Windchop, somebody who gets on a bus to go to the beach, um, to go out in the cold, to go out with Man O Wars, to go out when the wind is blowing. When it’s this big or to wait for it to get two hours on the beach because the low tide is going to be this big to do one turn and to have it mean everything and those people that feel that understand and we’ll keep this for going forever. [00:29:39] Scott: But yeah, so going back to his question, you, the culture in your idea of the culture, because I know. I have a longer perspective of it, but how do you see it now? [00:29:49] Brad: And like we can define the culture as whatever you want it to be. [00:29:54] Daniel: Well like local culture, I mean it’s like I’ve always like known the guys like who [00:30:00] ripped just because like I would be out there at South Beach for so long that I’d eventually like start talking to some of the older guys. [00:30:05] Daniel: We’re like starting to know their names, like, oh that’s Dave, oh that’s like Arnie, like, stay out of these guys ways, like, they fucking, like, don’t burn them, things like that. Or, but like, when I was like, pretty bad, I would still get like, taken in by someone like the older dudes like me. I think he was on the podcast with the band. [00:30:22] Daniel: I think his name is Carlos or no, he was the one standing at the door [00:30:27] Brad: with the dog. [00:30:29] Daniel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was really cool. I served with him a bunch of times when I was like way worse and I don’t know. We’d like talk. He’d be like, Like introduce me to different people and stuff and just like a really cool dude. [00:30:40] Daniel: I never like really received any like negative, like, I guess, like, I don’t know, like just negativity towards me, like when I was learning and stuff, but also cause I was like informed. I wasn’t just like out there clueless. [00:30:53] Brad: Yeah. I was going to say, yeah, you were watching the YouTube videos. Yeah. I was like, Oh, that’s the [00:30:57] Daniel: priority is okay. [00:30:58] Daniel: That’s it. Guys. Yeah. [00:31:00] [00:31:00] Brad: Yeah, [00:31:01] Daniel: that’s what we do with the club. Like, that’s the main focus. Like, people think we’re out here unleashing 600 beginnings onto South Beach to just burn everybody. I wouldn’t [00:31:08] Brad: be here talking to you if [00:31:09] Daniel: that’s what happened. We would’ve had a little talk [00:31:11] Brad: before. [00:31:12] Daniel: It’s like, we try to teach people, like, the rules of the game. [00:31:15] Daniel: To make informed like surfers in the future, if they stick with it. But yeah, like now with like the club and stuff, it does feel like there’s a little bit like of a culture, at least within like FIU, but I think like the culture has kind of been there. It’s definitely not strong where there’s like competitions or events to go to outside of surfing. [00:31:32] Daniel: It’s just kind of just surfing. [00:31:33] Theo: Um, he mentioned like the people that stick with it. I think that’s something that at least from my perspective, I see a lot from our perspective, there’s a lot of people that try it out, that want to try it out. But from like a lot of them just try it out because it’s accessible and then there’s just a few people that go and stick with it and actually become surfers for like the rest of, I guess, [00:32:00] their life, hopefully. [00:32:01] Theo: Um, cause I don’t know. I feel like, I feel like that’s something that happens now a lot with how accessible it is. It is. A lot of people try it out. Not a lot of people stick with it. And [00:32:10] Scott: that’s what I tell, and that’s what I tell people when they’re coming in to learn. Um, I’ll explain to them, look, surfing is not what you think it is. [00:32:18] Scott: You, you think you’re going to be able to stay, all you’re thinking is I can stand up. I think water feels like nothing. It has no power. And you, um, And you don’t realize that you’re not going to be able to paddle out. You’re not going to be able to sit on the board without falling over. You’re not going to be able to catch a wave. [00:32:30] Scott: The wave eventually is going to catch you, and it’s going to send you flying. And it’s, it’s not, it’s actually miserable learning surf. It’s not miserable trying to hit a tennis ball. Well, I’m down. I don’t know what I’m saying. No, but think of You’re a surfboard. But to, to the people that stick with it, it’s not, it’s those ones that, that stick with it. [00:32:52] Scott: And that’s what I tell either. You’re going to be someone who, some reason, all those things you [00:33:00] somehow enjoy and just being able to get out gives you a sense of. Like I’m accomplishment the first time you stand up and ride straight accomplishment and it makes you so happy or if you don’t get that feeling you’re going to quit 99 percent of the people are going to quit that 1 percent you guys, um, is, uh, it’s going to be something that adds to your life for the rest of your life because it’s a feeling a happiness that you’re going to get. [00:33:31] Scott: Like you’re not going to get from tennis and golf and all those things. That other people will never get. [00:33:36] Taylor: Yeah, surfing is definitely a weird, like, bug that if it definitely bites, Yeah. You’re cursed, uh, doomed for it. And it’s funny because you were talking about, like, all that struggle and if you make it past and all those accomplishments throughout, you’re gonna want to do it more and stuff like that. [00:33:53] Taylor: Um, when I was, I don’t, I barely remember it. So, like, I passed all those, like, paddling [00:34:00] and, like, sad. All I remember is just, like, tears. You know? It’s like distant memories. For some reason, I’m like, I’m stuck with it. I love it now, you know, and I think it’s, I don’t know, maybe having like in my scenario, having someone else, uh, and having other people to surf with that might be, that might bring out the surfing or at least having someone to like. [00:34:25] Taylor: Talk to about surfing. [00:34:28] Scott: I, I know that there, there’s thousands of dads out there who surf and want their kids to surf. It’s hard. And they don’t, the kids don’t want to serve. Yeah. And they’re brought up around surfing and it goes to, again, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your ethnicity is. None of those things matter for some weird reason. [00:34:52] Scott: Some people just, I wanted to surf when I was a kid. I grew up in Norland. I don’t know why. I watched Endless Summer and I was obsessed with it. And I wanted to surf [00:35:00] every moment of my life after that. I don’t know why. And I know so many dads that have taken their kids on the best trips in the world. And they’ve surfed the best waves in the world. [00:35:09] Scott: And they couldn’t care less. I wish I could have slapped myself like when I was young. Like, [00:35:12] Taylor: appreciate paddle. [00:35:13] Brad: Really. Empty liners. I mean, I was the same way. He just bit me early and, uh, It’s biting you, [00:35:21] Scott: what he said, is a good way to let it in. If it bites you, It holds on. Yeah, when it does, it does. And if it doesn’t, you can’t, Those dads out there, they just, you know, they [00:35:30] Brad: just, Well, a lot of people get bit for, or they think is bit, And they’re like, For sure, I’m gonna be a surfer. [00:35:37] Brad: And then they get worked by the first set, And they’re like, I’m happy to be alive, this is the dumbest sport ever, I don’t know. Out of here. [00:35:45] Scott: Yeah. A really bit is when you’re in Jacksonville or wherever and you’re 40 minutes from the beach and you’re a light, and your stomach’s in a knot because you think you’re gonna miss another minute of that wave or whatever. [00:35:56] Scott: And, [00:35:57] Aden: yeah. And what you see a lot in the club [00:36:00] is beginners who just like the idea of surfing because of how it’s portrayed in the media and social media. It’s portrayed as like this really relaxing sport, like super friendly. And then you take them out and they start getting splashed by the waves in the face, and the salt water’s stinging their eyes, and the wind’s howling, and that’s the only time you know there’s waves. [00:36:17] Aden: And the rash really gets to them and they start thinking, Hmm, I don’t know if I really want to do this anymore. But a lot of times, even if they don’t like to surf or want to surf anymore, they still like to be a part of just kind of the whole atmosphere that it is. The community that it brings, because we’re going, we’re having these adventures where we go look for cool spots, and we’re chasing swells, and they like that sense of adventure, even if they don’t like, you know, getting their ass kicked by the waves, or the parties. [00:36:44] Scott: The community part that you just said, like I’m looking at you four, and the three over there, and um, you, genuinely nice people, who are, um, have a sense of community, until [00:37:00] But, you know, in this world today, like getting past the surfing thing, um, so much of everything is online, all the social media, um, the way people interact with one another. [00:37:17] Scott: A lot of people want more than that in life. Um, the beach and surfing, everyone kind of has an affinity to want to try that or, or towards that rather. Um, you guys are nice and, and, and welcoming and friendly. And, uh, there’s, I think in life, not just young people, there’s a lot of people that are looking for. [00:37:39] Scott: Or people say to associate to do things with. And then, and it’s one thing, okay. Yeah. We all meet at the library. Oh no we don’t. We go to the beach and we have fun and we have parties and we welcome people and you know, a little bit of Chris, like there it was not, yeah, I know. This is what I was gonna [00:37:54] Brad: say. [00:37:55] Brad: We were talking about this before, you know, like Chris is one of those guys that just like invited [00:38:00] anybody in from anywhere, you know, like if you were like a, like a pasty white tourist, like walking down the street and it was super bright out here, like run out of the shop with like free soda. Unblock for you and be like, please, I like to see you have a good time for the rest of the week. [00:38:15] Brad: Like, don’t get something on your first day, this guy. Or you know, like just bringing other people who are just like new to the sport into the shop and explaining to them shops have like a, a really, I don’t know, it’s a bad or good reputation. There is reputation that they’re just like too cool for school in the shop. [00:38:31] Brad: Yeah. [00:38:31] Scott: Chris definitely [00:38:32] Brad: wasn’t. Yeah. You walk into the shop and you get vibe and you’re like, what are you here to buy stuff? He’s like, yeah, I’m at your retail location and I was hoping to buy some wax and bleach. I can be like that. [00:38:46] Scott: But these guys, um, are so welcoming. [00:38:51] Brad: Well, that’s what I was going to say, like, how is it that that cult, I mean, is it that way? [00:38:55] Brad: Like, because back in the day it was not, I mean, this guy was showing you videos before [00:39:00] and people just getting full on hype. For walking down the street, like, and you guys were like, yeah, we had like 600 members. We have parties and we go like trips [00:39:11] Taylor: together. Because I don’t know. Lawsuits. Yeah. I don’t remember going like, maybe it’s weird. [00:39:18] Taylor: Maybe going to hollover. Like my first time going to going to blah, blah, blah. There was like a fight that happened, which was kind of gnarly, but like, I don’t know, going out to any beach, I don’t feel, like, scared, um, that you’re gonna get told off. If you’re, you know, not in peak priority, like, just paddling up to the main peak and stuff like that, it’d be, like, smart, but, I don’t know, I don’t, I don’t think there’s a fear anymore, I don’t know. [00:39:45] Theo: Yeah, I feel like now, as long as you’re educated, people are gonna be nice to you. And respectful. And respectful, yeah. If you’re not stupid, stupid. If you’re educated and respectful, yeah. Most people, like, There’s an occasional jerk in the lineup, but there’s an occasional [00:39:58] Scott: jerk at the restaurant and [00:40:00] in the parking lot and everything. [00:40:02] Theo: But it’s not like you guys tell us right now that like back then it was like super aggressive. I don’t like, at least for me, even though like I came here like three years ago. Um, I haven’t felt like that. I haven’t felt like that. It’s honestly, it’s blocked me. [00:40:15] Daniel: Yeah. I mean, when I started, And it’s like, I feel like it’s all mental because like, I’m like, Oh, everybody’s staring at me. [00:40:21] Daniel: Everybody’s looking at me. And then you just realize like the sun’s in their face, just like squinting in your direction to like see who’s around and stuff. And I don’t know. I thought that was there when I first started, but like, then you just like start talking to guys more often and you realize it’s, it’s not really all that bad. [00:40:38] Brad: Yeah. But like I said, like you, Yeah, definitely. I’ve seen guys get heckled [00:40:45] Daniel: before at South Beach when it’s good. And they’re just like, blowing every wave and then sitting on the inside, blowing everybody else’s wave, basically. And it’s like, those guys get told, like, hey, get out of here. Like, move down or something. [00:40:57] Daniel: Like, you’re just messing up. Which Proper. That’s what you gotta [00:41:00] do. It’s dangerous. [00:41:00] Taylor: Yeah. So, and I think like, uh, not to be so like endorsement to you, but like what FIU surf is like bringing for those, like beginners is having a little group that they could go out into the lineup with so they’re not like by themselves and just going to the first surfer they see and just paddling out right next to them and, [00:41:19] Scott: you know, dropping in. [00:41:20] Taylor: So we’re like, we’re together, guiding them, pushing them wherever they’re getting pushed at. So they don’t feel that also, you know, teaching them as well, you know, Yeah. It’s pretty good. I get water. Women collected with that. [00:41:31] Theo: We, the girls, [00:41:32] Taylor: same [00:41:33] Theo: thing. Yeah. We try to like make a safe space for the people to, to fail, you know, and we will educate them. [00:41:38] Theo: But it sounds like this sounds so [00:41:39] Brad: unlike myself. It’s like a what space [00:41:43] Theo: for the who [00:41:44] Brad: now? [00:41:44] Theo: Yeah. I don’t remember that. But yeah, it’s for them to fail. We’ll educate them, but they don’t, so they can feel like they can try it and fail and keep trying and keep trying. Cause that’s kind of like what we’re, what we’re trying to do. [00:41:56] Taylor: We’ll still yell at them to give them the surfing experience. [00:41:59] Theo: Yeah. [00:41:59] Taylor: [00:42:00] Splash water at them. [00:42:00] Scott: Well, [00:42:03] Aden: typically also like when we roll up to a beach, especially if we’re traveling to some pretty crowded spots up north. Um, we’ll walk down a ways, try and find our own peak that doesn’t have a lot of guys on it. [00:42:13] Aden: And, cause we’re gonna bring out a good bit of people. Even now, like at first, there weren’t that many people who even surfed in the club. But now, there’s some that have stuck with it and can surf. And then there’s also a lot of people that have Because FIU is an international school, so there are so many international students who surf, but they just don’t think you can surf in Miami. [00:42:31] Aden: So when we go up, we kind of roll up with a big group. So we kind of make sure to find a separate peak. It’s maybe not as good, but you’re with all your friends. You know, you kind of have it. Good moves. Yeah, the waves are still there, so. [00:42:43] Brad: Is, uh, your scene diverse? [00:42:46] Aden: Very, so diverse. [00:42:48] Brad: What do you mean? I don’t even know what I mean by diverse. [00:42:50] Brad: What kind of diverse from [00:42:52] Aden: everywhere. Like, I wish we could see, like, how many countries we make up as FIU Surf. [00:42:57] Brad: No way, really? And there’s, like, diverse [00:42:59] Taylor: in, like, [00:43:00] what they surf, you know? Like, people, we got a kid that loves his, like, beautiful 9 0 log. Uh, there’s other short boards, fishes, and stuff like that. [00:43:09] Taylor: So it’s, like, diverse in people and diversity. [00:43:12] Theo: Yeah, and the way they see surfing too. Some are super competitive, some are more laid back. And it’s all about you. You get to see it. It sounds like a real surf club. It [00:43:21] Scott: really does. I mean, no, it’s It’s amazing. No, it’s amazing. Again, I’ve done this for so long down here and you just don’t get, um, you just don’t get people who, um, care that much in trying to get people together and, and, um, I think when, you know, when people genuinely care, people feel it and gravitate towards it. [00:43:47] Scott: Cause I’ve seen so many of these clubs trying high school clubs, college, you know, just you guys. It’s [00:43:54] Daniel: the most fulfilling thing when you get somebody hooked. Yeah. More like, don’t be guys. You know exactly like the second you [00:44:00] see somebody if they’re going to be the ones that stick around for it or if they don’t and then sometimes you do get surprised by like, Oh dang, I didn’t think this guy was going to be cut out for this. [00:44:08] Daniel: But here he is paddling out for the first time ever on an eight foot foamy in like four to six foot beach break. And it’s like way too gnarly out of his skill, but somehow he made it out into the break and he’s just like, He’s just like sitting out there with a couple of guys like that. And everybody’s like, [00:44:24] Brad: fuck yeah, like, we made it. [00:44:26] Brad: Actually, I got a story about a guy from the FIU club. He came down to El Salvador a few weeks ago. [00:44:37] Brad: Chris came down. I mean, he’s been to El Salvador, um, at least once or twice before. That’s a gnarly It was like, I was like, I talked to him like, like the weeks before he was coming and um, I was stoked that he’s coming down again. I was going to go surf with him and I was like, no, tomorrow’s going to be like bad. [00:44:56] Brad: It’s going to be huge, gigantic and [00:45:00] like, like onshore, sideshore, like, Basically, no one’s going surfing that day. [00:45:06] Taylor: He explained that as like quadruple overhead. [00:45:09] Brad: And he’s not wrong. It was gigantic. And I was like, I’m not really going to serve tomorrow. It’s going to be really bad. I’m taking the day off. I’m like, but we’ll like keep an eye on it. [00:45:18] Brad: And then I talked to him later and he’s like, all right, I left the house at 5 AM, checked 17 different places. And then we went to one place and it was the only place that looked maybe doable. And the guy that I was with was like, it’s not doable. And he’s like, I can catch one wave. And the guy’s like, I’ll watch you. [00:45:38] Brad: And he went! And he caught one wave! And I was like, no way. I was like, you surfed today? And he was like, yeah, I caught one wave. And I was like I can’t believe you went out. [00:45:50] Daniel: You should, you should, you should see the shit that we paddled out in. It’s like so bad sometimes. But like, when you’re with all your friends, it’s like, it doesn’t matter how bad the waves are, you’re gonna have fun. [00:45:59] Daniel: Like, it [00:46:00] doesn’t matter if you’re just getting your ass kicked, and you just paddled for 30 minutes to get out. It’s like [00:46:06] Theo: For us, a term that’s gotten a lot, like, very popular in our club is carnage. That’s what we look for. It’s just even like the 20 mile per hour onshore winds with like three incubate soils everywhere. [00:46:17] Taylor: Let’s go. Well, we’re saying we, but it’s we. These two mostly. This guy can dude there holding on Mike most? Yeah, it’s them. They’ll go on the Carnegie, like just water everywhere. And you’re like, yeah, it’s, it’s doable. Let’s get out there. You know, catch a couple waves, stay out there. Are you guys traveling [00:46:32] Brad: for, for, for something? [00:46:33] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. A couple [00:46:34] Taylor: hours at least. Yeah, mostly driving. [00:46:36] Brad: Driving. You guys haven’t taken any like international trips yet? We’ve done Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico. Yeah, we did [00:46:44] Daniel: that with a group of like, what was it, 15, 15 people. Most of them were surfers and it’s a blast. Yeah. [00:46:52] Brad: And so it’s like, this is something that’s come into your club. [00:46:56] Brad: Like who planted the seed to go on a surf trip? Like we just, [00:47:00] yeah, we planned our [00:47:01] Daniel: trips. We’re, we’re just going up coast and we rent an Airbnb for a weekend. And there’s, well, it’s like just all on the fly. We just create like a Google thing and we’re like, all right, submit your names and stuff. If you want to be on this trip, we’ll tell you how much it’s going to be. [00:47:15] Daniel: We’ll do like food and housing and all that stuff. Who coordinates all [00:47:18] Brad: that stuff? [00:47:18] Daniel: We do. It’s just part of it. [00:47:20] Brad: Oh, I know [00:47:22] Daniel: it’s part of it because I’ve been doing it my whole life. I can share my spreadsheets. Nobody thinks it’s hard. Nobody thinks it’s like, everybody [00:47:28] Brad: thinks it’s a breeze. I mean, It’s not like, it’s like a weird heart and like, if you’re good at it, you’re good at it. [00:47:35] Brad: If you like it, you like it. And then it’s not that way. [00:47:37] Aden: He’s got a lot to think about, but if you can think about it all, then yeah. [00:47:41] Brad: You kind of [00:47:42] Daniel: just have to tell people what’s happening too. Cause like then there’s too many opinions and then everybody wants something different. So you’re like, all right, this is what we’re doing. [00:47:49] Daniel: You guys like [00:47:49] Brad: plan meals and everything. [00:47:51] Daniel: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a bunch of stanky or something. [00:47:54] Theo: Hot dogs. Yeah. We, we sometimes do like a reel for everybody. Uh huh. And it’s [00:48:00] kind of like. How many is like everybody? Depends on the trip. Depends on how much space we have in the Airbnb. What was our biggest? [00:48:05] Theo: Um, our biggest was uh, like 40. 40? It was two Airbnbs. Airbnbs. It happened to be next to each [00:48:12] Scott: other. So like, it was like. Yeah. It was like a block party. It was awesome. It was really cool. All I’m thinking is how much I wish I was a part of that. Growing up. Because when you do these things with a buddy, it’s great. [00:48:26] Scott: You know, you said you used to go by yourself. I used to go by myself. That’s what I thought was normal. It was like, oh, this is what surfing is. You know, as a someone who’s got got to travel a bunch in my life now, um, the people that you’re with make the trip. And, um, it’s just so much more fun when you’re with a bunch of friends and you’ll remember those things for the rest of your life. [00:48:51] Scott: And again, going back to your club, you’re doing something that are giving all these memories to these people. people that we didn’t have growing up. I didn’t [00:48:59] Brad: [00:49:00] know [00:49:00] Scott: there was, you know, [00:49:01] Brad: I couldn’t name 40 people. No. At the most, we’ll have two or three [00:49:06] Scott: guys and go to new Smyrna and, you know, surf a little bit. [00:49:08] Scott: And, and, um, and it’s, it’s the journey, you know, that you remember and all the people and all the chaos and the fighting and the arguing and the, And the broken down cars and, you know, all that kind of stuff that running out of food. [00:49:22] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Or the raccoons. Oh, we’re roughing it. These Airbnbs [00:49:26] Daniel: do not sleep as many people as we do. [00:49:27] Daniel: We’re mostly on the ground. Yeah, [00:49:30] Taylor: it’s almost like more fun when it’s like crappy waves. Cause it’s just like, you’re out there sucking together. Yeah. Cause, at least for me, when it’s like, actually firing, which I’m definitely going on a surf trip with you guys. We fly so much. I want to sleep on the floor. [00:49:43] Taylor: Our first first trips, we went up north. And this is the first trip I joined them. Uh, I was like, alright, I missed already a day with them, so I came in the next day like, alright, I’m gonna visit, uh, the Airbnb first, and I met Chris for the first time, and he’s a character, uh, morning, we go [00:50:00] surf, and, oh my gosh, it’s like, what, like, six to, overhead, pumping, spinning, like, beautiful, cool. [00:50:10] Taylor: You have to think about paddling out. And just like, I was making prayers and stuff like that, so it’s, it gets big and stuff like that. But when it’s big like that, at least for me, I get so like, try to say stupid and serious that I’m like, Oh, I just need to catch my waves. But when it’s like, you know, choppy and stuff like that, then you’re just having fun with the guys. [00:50:30] Taylor: Yeah, like [00:50:30] Aden: carnage out. Yeah, [00:50:32] Taylor: yeah. Close outs. Yeah, big sections. Breaking boards. [00:50:36] Brad: Alright, last question of the evening. Where is surfing going? I’ll let them talk first. [00:50:45] Scott: I want to hear what they have to say. [00:50:47] Brad: Well, I mean, I think that one interesting thing is that Scott’s been talking about how the industry has changed so much. [00:50:52] Brad: Right. Industry. Not surfing itself, but the industry. And so, like, with all that, what does surfing [00:51:00] mean to you guys? [00:51:01] Taylor: Um, at least for me and my perspective in surfing, I think it’s, it’s in a pretty cool space because there’s a bunch of like cool different boards that people are surfing. Um, it’s not really one style surfer now. [00:51:16] Taylor: Uh, everyone has a YouTube channel that you can follow whatever. Free surfer. Oh yeah. Um, [00:51:21] Brad: subscribe and like, [00:51:22] Taylor: yep. I thought you surfing so good about that . Yeah. So yeah, there’s a bunch of different cool free surfers that now you could just follow and either mimic how they surf or, you know, be passionate. [00:51:33] Taylor: But there’s so many other styles of surfing out there, different boards, different fin shapes and stuff like that. And I love it. Excuse me, [00:51:45] Theo: Yeah. I mean, I don’t think surfing as a sport is going anywhere. I think, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s a lot more, I guess, mainstream in that sense. Um, and yeah, I mean, I agree with Taylor that there’s a lot more [00:52:00] variety, a lot more diversity in surfing and I kind of, for at least from my perspective, I see it a lot more like, Hey, it’s turning more into for fun rather than I got to be the best ripper in there. [00:52:14] Theo: And I kind of like that. [00:52:16] Brad: Wow, that’s really what you guys see going on here. [00:52:18] Aden: That’s interesting. I mean, I kind of feel the same way. I don’t think surfing is going anywhere. If anything, it’s more people are going to start surfing and uh, hopefully that the culture starts to grow and the industry starts to, to grow as well. [00:52:30] Aden: Um, I think we’re going to see a bunch of like super groms who came out of wave pools as those become more common. That’s huge. I was, I was waiting for the wave pools. Have you [00:52:38] Brad: guys been to a pool yet? Okay, yeah. [00:52:43] Taylor: Have you? [00:52:43] Brad: Yeah. You good? [00:52:45] Taylor: I mean, it’s, it’s fun, like, you get the same waves and stuff like that and you practice, but after those four waves, that’s it. [00:52:53] Brad: I mean, you guys are talking about going out in carnage, so you’ll [00:52:56] Daniel: love it. [00:52:57] Brad: Don’t [00:52:57] Daniel: worry. I don’t know man, we’ll have more fun [00:53:00] in like, giant section close out like, Listen, you’re in Disney [00:53:04] Brad: World. So, it is just the wildest thing, you know, they’re like super early in the morning, where you don’t really like, I don’t know, no one else is there. [00:53:14] Taylor: My dad broke his board. Uh, the wave malfunctioned and threw him into, like, the wall, yeah. Busted his Machado, just fully busted it. And he was like, what? Was this recently? This is super recent, like a month ago, maybe. No. He went without me, first of all. And I want to be clear, he like texted me like, I’m at Typhoon Lagoon. [00:53:30] Taylor: Uh, but yeah, he got like busted on the wall and he had to like go up to the people like, Hey, something’s wrong with the wave. It’s not supposed to be like this. And they’re like, well, you know, yeah, and they fixed it. It’s, it’s pretty gnarly. We actually [00:53:42] Brad: had a situation. I guess two or three trips to Typhoon Lagoon with Thank You Surfing. [00:53:48] Brad: And this one morning, like the, the wave pool engineer comes out and he’s like, surfers, guy’s going to go surfing. I’m like, [00:54:00] he’s like, cool. All right, sick. He’s like, you want big waves? And I was like, yeah, I guess. Like, I don’t know where we’re going to choose. Well, and so like the first wave comes and it’s like a giant close out. [00:54:14] Brad: I was like, turn it down, turn it down, please. I swear to you. It’s like, [00:54:21] Scott: When I surfed it the first time, um, they had just opened it up and actually they had a contest. Machado was there. What? Where? Which surf? Typhoon Lagoon. Typhoon? Did they do it during surf? Yeah, we had it during surf but they had a contest with Machado and I remember singing. [00:54:36] Scott: Standing on the rocks, like, watching Machado come at me and bust airs and stuff. But then, they opened it up as a party for the surfers. And at best, I’m just an average surfer my whole life. So you stood in a line, and then you got into the pool, and there’s, I don’t know, a couple thousand people there because they’re all having a party at Surf Expo. [00:54:57] Scott: Um, and there’s an announcer going, Okay, [00:55:00] next up is Scott from Island Water Sports Miami. Let’s see what he can do. No pressure. No pressure. Um. I don’t remember. I blacked out after that. I honestly don’t remember anything about it, but yeah, that was, that was, um. That [00:55:15] Brad: was [00:55:16] Scott: my little, yeah, but I’ve served there a bunch and all that kind of stuff. [00:55:19] Scott: You were gonna talk about, um, Where surfing’s going? [00:55:22] Daniel: Yeah. Um, I don’t know, I think it’s, it’s gonna grow. I mean, as far as like the industry, like when it comes to clothing and stuff, I don’t really know if like Billabong and all these bigger brands could like save themselves and like pull them out of this thing. [00:55:37] Daniel: Cause I think people care more about like having something that’s more like authentic, like whether it’s like a smaller brand or something like that, that they could be like more tied to. Um, but like, I like the way competitive surfing is going. It’s in the Olympics now, which is pretty crazy. And, like, if it catches on and people enjoy watching it, it might become something huge, like, in the future. [00:55:58] Brad: You guys do competitive surfing? Have you guys ever [00:56:00] surfed in a contest? [00:56:01] Daniel: No. Have you guys thought of it? I mean, there is like a little club circuit, right? There’s like a, it’s called King of Clubs. So it’s like all those surf clubs in Florida, they kind of just do this comp at Jack’s Beach And it’s always terrible waves for some reason Sounds right up your alley It’s not terrible in like the big close outs, it’s terrible in like one foot [00:56:23] Brad: Who’s better at this than South Florida at that? [00:56:26] Brad: They’re surprised [00:56:28] Scott: I’m going to tell you where I think surf is going I want to hear this guy I don’t really know Come on, it’s that one This is Florida, you know, listen to that Nostalgic here listening to these guys and um, so when I grew up, we’d go to Surf Expo. Surf Expo was insane. Everybody wanted to go, like you, people were trying to get in using any means possible. [00:56:53] Brad: Back in the day, [00:56:55] Scott: the, like, the lost booth would have, you know, it, it’d be chaos, the booth [00:57:00] and they would [00:57:00] Brad: just erupt out of the booth. You couldn’t, they weren’t, they couldn’t be contained by a booth. The reef, all the reef girls and their, [00:57:06] Scott: and their, you know, bikinis and the everyone’s drinking and the, the ULCA booth and everyone’s drunk as a skunk and skating. [00:57:13] Scott: And pros are walking around everywhere and, and there’s parties and parties and parties. Surf Expo would have a party at Typhoon Lagoon every year where you would go if you were, and you’d go down the slides. What year is this? This is all [00:57:27] Brad: in the late 80s, early 90s. [00:57:30] Scott: Um, oh, I went [00:57:31] Brad: late nineties. It was still like that. [00:57:32] Brad: Yeah, it was [00:57:33] Scott: still, it was still in the nineties, in the early two thousands. In, in the nineties. It was still like that. And it was just so much fun and comradery around it. And, and we would have surf movies at patos and there’d be, you know, 150 people and, and, um, there were surf show microphones. There were surf shops everywhere, um, in Miami. [00:57:52] Scott: Um, not everywhere, but there was a half dozen. And, and within that surf shop. You know, this person met that person [00:58:00] and that person met this person at the beach. You know, you get all these different people that would surf the same break. It still happens in the store. We’ll say, Hey, you know, Joel, you ever met, you know, Frank. [00:58:11] Scott: They’re like, no, I’m just thinking you guys have surfed next to each other for 20 years, but you don’t say anything. And then they started talking. [00:58:22] Brad: And then [00:58:22] Scott: once they start talking a little bit, then all of a sudden you’re in the water and you’re with someone that. You have a relationship like, Hey, how you doing? How were the waves earlier, this and that. And then, and it just makes it more fun. And, um, what at surf movies, uh, parties at the beach contests, so many more contests. [00:58:40] Scott: We used to have, there were so many contests down here making it happen, which made that community, which has made it more fun. And I’m really happy that you guys have all. Found, you know, started this club and found that because if you could think about being a surfer Let’s just say the store wasn’t here [00:59:00] and that club wasn’t there. [00:59:01] Scott: You guys wouldn’t know one another just go go to that school You go to the beach you surf you probably wouldn’t talk to one another and it would be you would still enjoy surfing But this camaraderie that you’ve built which kind of goes back to community and the Chris thing and all that kind of stuff I’m just happy that you guys have that because it really does make it so much more fun and it makes it more fun for me to watching you guys, you know, do all this, um, relative to just seeing a few people go out and surf and kind of stick to themselves. [00:59:32] Scott: Same with, um, the water woman, you know, Karen and the water women, they have a whole little group and some of those people are gonna be lifelong friends. And, um, they go on trips, and they have fun, and, um, I wish there was more of that. So when you talk about where is surfing going, I don’t know. But hopefully there’s more things, surf shops, clubs, I don’t know, whatever it is that tie people together, bring people together to make it more fun for [01:00:00] everybody. [01:00:00] Taylor: We’ll hang out here more to make you happy. You can hang out here more. You can hang out [01:00:03] Scott: here more. Um, [01:00:05] Brad: well, you know, that’s as you’re describing the scene, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen like a coral spawn or like all the polyps are like popping up out of the coral and they’re all like how you’re going to tie this thing. [01:00:17] Brad: They’re all they’re all kind of like floating in a stream of water and then like they hit an obstacle and then if that obstacle is like another coral and they’ll like attach themselves to it and then like another polyp attaches to it and another another. And then it builds, but you need like that first like thing and not for nothing, but a surf shop is that thing? [01:00:38] Brad: A surf shop [01:00:38] Scott: does it You know, well, you don’t know because you moved but South Beach all the locals down there will say it’s not the same since I [01:00:49] Daniel: started surfing when I started And it was, yeah, it was like, you’d see people hanging outside, inside, just talking the whole day. Yeah, it was such a cool vibe. [01:00:58] Daniel: You could feel the energy when you walked past it, [01:01:00] and like, without it, it just [01:01:01] Scott: And it made it a little community, and now, now it’s not. Right. And, um So yeah, I wish, I wish there were more stores. [01:01:09] Brad: Yeah, so like those physical locations are important, like this one is, I mean, gosh where else are you going to buy a freaking bar of wax? [01:01:16] Brad: And then, you know, and then you guys have created this whole other sort of like reef of surfers. That is like started to like attract other, other surfers. And that’s like it’s home, other little community. And you can do that virtually. Like I do with this thing on the podcast, um, or you can do doing trips or like meetups or whatever, whatever the hell else. [01:01:37] Brad: But yeah, I mean, when I started surfing, like I said, like it was in books, like I literally like went to the library and I was like, Taking out every book that they had and that’s how I figured it out. And eventually, like, like you guys also said, like someone will be like, Hey, don’t battle out that way. [01:01:56] Brad: You’re going to get worked battle out this way. And you’re like, we [01:02:00] literally, is he like trying to mess with me? Or like, I don’t know. I guess I should listen to him. And then you do it. And then you’re like, Oh, that was way easier. That was like little tips, but like you guys are like fostering that as like a group and from what I can tell, like honoring like what the sport means beyond just like the performance of it. [01:02:16] Brad: Like it has a culture and there is rules, rules, trying to [01:02:20] Scott: teach and help all that kind of stuff. Cause I do get some old school crusty dudes in the store. Sometimes they’re younger, you know, with Karen, the water women or the, or FIU, they’re bringing all these people and like, yeah, they’re bringing people to beach to surf. [01:02:34] Scott: The same thing that you love to do and they’re getting people to do it. What’s the, um, and both of you guys, Karen and always been super respected or respectful of trying to keep, um, you know, help people. It’s going to make it a little, I don’t know. It’s, I mean, if you, it’s just so dumb. Oh, nothing. You guys are doing it great. [01:02:57] Taylor: Nothing. [01:02:58] Scott: I mean, I think [01:03:00] one time Stefan said to you, uh, to, said, Hey, you know, bringing everyone here isn’t the best. And you said, okay, great. And you moved on. I wasn’t there, by the way. That’s it. That [01:03:09] Theo: was really good advice. [01:03:10] Scott: Yeah. And occasionally you’re gonna have a jackass, say, give you some advice that really isn’t relevant, but you guys can figure that out, you know, I think you know who’s, you know, telling you the real stuff. [01:03:21] Scott: And you guys have surfed enough that you guys are good, and you try to help make it safe for everybody, just like Karen does, and get people to surf. What more do you want? Nothing. Island water sports, seal of approval. Boom! [01:03:37] Aden: Surfing’s weird because it’s like one of the only sports where everyone who Surfs, they love it, but they don’t want anyone else to do it. [01:03:43] Aden: You know, in an ideal world, you would have the break completely to yourself and nobody else out there. It’s always funny when we paddle out to a lineup and you hear people, like, talking shit about FIU Surf, or, you know, oh, they’re going to ruin all the spots out there and stuff. And it’s like, if you want to keep the industry alive, you need more [01:04:00] people into surfing. [01:04:01] Aden: You know, if you don’t want people to get into surfing, then all the old heads who like to surf are going to die out, and then And then what? What new generation is going to want to learn how to surf from everyone? [01:04:10] Scott: It’s just selfish people because if you’re not selfish you just know how much surfing is brought to you and you recognize that there’s a group of people that are trying to get other people to feel that same thing. [01:04:23] Aden: Yeah. [01:04:23] Scott: Um, the best thing that ever happened to most people Why, why wouldn’t you want other people to feel that? I just, it makes no sense to me, that’s why I don’t, I It is a [01:04:33] Daniel: crazy [01:04:33] Scott: feeling [01:04:33] Daniel: when someone’s like, you changed my life with like, this club. Or like, I was like, doing so shit like mentally and stuff before this club and like I met all you guys and it’s like, just a 180 and it’s like, it gives you goosebumps. [01:04:45] Daniel: Yeah. It’s like, [01:04:46] Taylor: damn. That’s amazing. And, in a more selfish way, you could turn around after you cut away and be like, you saw that? You saw that? Yeah. That was sick. [01:04:54] Scott: Yeah, you got that? People ask me what my best move was, and I told them it’s the look back. And they’re [01:05:00] like, what’s the look back? And I say, after I do something, I look [01:05:03] Brad: back. [01:05:04] Taylor: Classic. [01:05:06] Brad: I think we need a podcast episode. Alright. Alrighty. Let’s go back to it. I’m Brad Wells from Thank You Surfing. I got with me, [01:05:16] Scott: Scott, Island Water Sports, Miami, Tim McGuard, FIU [01:05:20] Brad: Surf, [01:05:21] Scott: Theo, [01:05:22] Daniel: FIU Surf, Aidan, FIU Surf, Daniel, also FIU [01:05:27] Brad: Surf. Thank Island Water Sports and Scott for having us here again. It was a little emotional earlier, but yeah, it was. [01:05:35] Brad: We were [01:05:35] Scott: talking about old times. It’s [01:05:38] Brad: good to have you back. It’s good. It’s good to be here. God bless Chris. And, uh, we’ll catch you next time. Yeah. See you. Yeah. [01:05:47] Sponsors: Today’s episode was brought to you by BryteBox Marketing for design, architecture, and hospitality. IMAIM Capital Experts in revitalizing Miami’s urban [01:06:00] multifamily real estate. [01:06:01] Sponsors: And Team Key Aquatics, fostering growth and excellence in aquatic sports. [01:06:10] Intro-Outro: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Thank You Surfing Podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and comment to stay updated and let us know your thoughts. Catch you next time and keep surfing.