Atlantic Bodyboarding Association

Event #1 @ Kitty Hawk, NC

June 3-4, 2006

(Friday, 6/2)

After getting up early and running around, franticly tr
ying to mow down a massive "to-do list," I finally got on
t he road to the OBX by 1:30pm. The weather for the drive e
as t was miserable. At one point during my drive, there was
he avy thunder and lightening with torrential rains. Makin
g th ings even more hectic, there was hail the size of marb
les a nd the steam rising off of the interstate pavement wa
s so t hick that the road was completely obscured from sigh
t. I fe lt like I was driving through a cloud. Visibility w
as so po or, that even at 30 mph in a 70 mph zone, I was to
tally whi te-knuckling the steering wheel. Crazy weather.

Five and a half hours on the road brought me to Ryan Rh
odes’ house in Kill Devil Hills, NC, where I would be stay
i ng for the weekend. I parked across the street, and heade
d indoors. I ran out to the supermarket, shortly thereafter
, to buy some food and returned to the house. We grilled up
s ome dinner…I had a grilled honey-jerk tuna steak with lo
ng grain rice and grilled zucchini sticks…mmm, good stuff!
A b unch of us ate, watched the NBA playoffs, and eventuall
y cr ashed out for the night.

Saturday, 6/3

I was woken up by the sound of Ryan’s dog, Farrah, bark
ing at 5:30am when TJ Bonanno and a few others crept in to
crash out for the morning. Since I was up, I decided to do
some stretches and got my things together for the day. Rho
d es came downstairs to brew up some coffee. After downing
so me caffeine, I got showered up and threw on my boardies.
Ry an and I loaded up everything needed for the contest in
to h is truck, and rolled out.

Up at the contest site, the waves were really small, li
ke 1-2ft. As competitors gathered, the debate over whether
or not to run the contest today, carried on. With heavy ra
i n and severe thunder and lightening in the forecast for t
he day, the decision was made to postpone the event until S
un day. After the call was made, most of us hung out on the
be ach for a short while. I talked to Bitzer and Beta (Rob
erta Pinheiro, Brazil) for a bit. I was introduced to Justi
ne R enzi (Ocean City, Maryland). I got to catch up with Sh
ea (L indon…Wilmington, NC). Ricky Miller (Virginia Beach,
VA) ar rived with Brandon Foster (South Africa). I was stok
ed to m eet ODB! Brandon is practically a legend, renowned
in our s port for his world travels and drop-knee talent. I
, also, g ot to meet a bunch of guys from the FBA (Florida
Bodyboardi ng Association). A few of them I had met last fa
ll at the J enks Pro in New Jersey, but most of them I was
meeting for the first time. There was, definitely, a solid
crew for thi s weekend’s competition.

As our little crowd dispersed, a bunch of us decided to
head south to check some other spots. I stopped for gas, t
hen followed Bitzer and Beta down to Oregon Inlet. When we
got down there, we met up with a few others to check it. T
h e surf seemed smaller down that way, and there seemed to
be an excessively larg amount of dolphins in the water, spl
as hing around and chasing fish. We decided to head back up
Hi ghway 12 and go back to the contest site at Kitty Hawk.
Bit zer and Beta left, while I stayed behind to talk to Ju
stine for a few minutes. I followed her and Shea back to Ki
tty H awk.

When we arrived back at Kitty Hawk bath house, Bitzer a
nd Beta were nowhere to be found. The 3/2 fullsuit Bitzer
h ad brought down from New Jersey for me to use was still i
n his car. So, while everyone was hitting the water with fu
ll wetsuits on, I jumped in with nothing but board shorts a
nd a rash guard on. In the past 24 hours, the water temp ha
d dropped about ten degrees, down to around 53 degrees fahr
en heit. I pretty much froze my ass off for half an hour. O
h w ell, I didn’t mind so much. I was just happy to be back
out in the water, and have the chance to try out my new cu
stom -shaped T&C board. Appropriately enough, Bitzer an
d Bet a rolled up just as I was getting out of the water.

I got changed, threw on my windbreaker, and stood on th
e beach in the rain watching everyone else ride for a whil
e . Bitzer got out after just a few waves, and sat on the b
ea ch talking with me. His fiance, Beta, was killing the sm
all waves and riding better than anyone else out in the wat
er. After everyone wrapped up their session, most of us rol
led back to Bitzer’s "pimp house" in Corolla. This place wa
s c razy…ten bedrooms, an elevator, a jacuzzi, swimming poo
l, b ig screen TV upstairs! As we all rolled up to the "pim
p hou se," Colin (Herlihy…Delaware) was heading out to go c
heck t he surf for himself. The rest of us cruised inside.
Most ev eryone ate and then crashed out. Justine was cool e
nough to make a couple of burritos for the two of us. We sp
ent the next couple hours talking about her trip to Costa R
ica, wit h Manny Vargas’ Costa Freak Fest crew, as well as
delving i nto an assortment of other topics. This girl is w
ay cool. T he sport of bodyboarding needs more people like
this to be involved! Anyway, I enjoyed the conversation, an
d Justine m akes a killer burrito.

A bunch of us went downstairs and watched bodyboarding
videos. A couple of the guys decided to go check the surf a
gain. Justine decided to crash out. I was going to crash o
u t, myself, before remembering I needed to go make photoco
pi es of the 2006 T&C Bodyboards line. I drove around f
or what seemed like forever looking for a place to make cop
ies . Every copy place in the Outer Banks is closed on the
week end?!? Rhodes’ girlfriend, Ida, stepped in and helped
me bi g time. She brought me over to the school she works a
t and let me use the photocopier. With that taken care of,
my tho ughts turned to food. I wanted seafood…real, fresh s
eafood! Being landlocked in Charlotte, NC (three hours from
the ne arest beach) the area’s idea of seafood is catfish.
CATFISH IS NOT SEAFOOD! It’s a dirty fish reeled from mudd
y creeks ! You can keep that. Anyway, me and Rhode’s friend
, Kal, we nt to Awful Arthur’s and stuffed ourselves silly
on shrimp, flounder, crabcakes, softshell crab and more. We
went back to the house and watch ‘A Blank Canvas with Ryan
and Brand on. I crashed out around midnight and slept well
, after all that.

(Sunday, 6/4)

I was up, again, at around 5:30am. Coffee, shower, help
ed Ryan and Ricky and Brandon load up equipment, then we a
l l drove to Kitty Hawk bath house to set up. The increase
in wave size that we had hoped for never came. The waves we
re only about one foot. We decided to give it a go anyway.
Wi th everything set up, sign-ups began and the day was und
erw ay. Despite the lack of surf, it was a very fun day han
ging out on the beach. There was an insightful political co
nver sation with ODB about what it was like growing up in S
outh Africa. There was a "Flipper Run" in which I busted my
ass. Everyone got a good laugh watching me fall head over
heels and eat sand. It’s all good. I spent most of the day
takin g photos of everyone. It was a good time. I got 2nd P
lace in the "Old School" division (age 30 and over), b ut t
he competition wasn’t even my primary concern. I was ha vin
g so much fun hanging with friends, being back on the be ac
h and in the water, and meeting new people that it didn’t m
atter if I finished first or last.

After the event wrapped for the day, I helped Ryan and
Ricky load up. We rolled back to Rhodes’ place and unloaded
. We had a couple of Coronas, ordered some Thai food, and
c hilled for the night. Ricky and Brandon headed back to Vi
rg inia Beach. Me, Ryan and Ida watched The Sopranos and Bi
g L ove before calling it a night. I decided to crash out o
n th e couch rather than try driving back to Charlotte. I h
ate d riving at night.

(Monday, 6/5)

I took my time getting going. I was in no rush, whatsoe
ver, to head back to Charlotte. I got cleaned up, had a cu
p of coffee, and checked email. Eric (Drexler…OBX) came ove
r and he, along with Ryan and myself, watched a bodyboardin
g video and hung out. After he left, I went to get photos d
e veloped. An hour later, I had pics from the weekend in ha
nd . I, also, had them burned onto CD so that Rhodes could
use them to put up on the ABA website. With that taken care
of , it was time to go. Another five and a half hours on t
he r oad brought me back to Charlotte. I hated to see my tr
ip co me to an end, but at least it was fun while it lasted
. I en joyed the time I had out there. Good friends, good f
ood, an d good times. The waves may not have been there for
us, but it was an amazing weekend nonetheless. I can’t wai
t for th e next trip.