Sunday, November 13, 2005

Post #3


BACK TO PUERTO RICO AND BEYOND 


I read an article in the San Juan Star about a couple of people Surfing. Since I was into water sports at the time it sparked my interest. I never could find any information about surfing beyond that article. 

I was sent to San Diego for a school and guess what, San Diego was the home of surfing in the United States. I really got stoked as they say.

When I got out of the Navy the first thing I did when I got back to Florida was look for a surfboard to buy. I went to Indialantic, FL and found a surf shop owned by, Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy. I ordered a custom board and started surfing the minute my board was completed. I promptly wiped out and broke my nose.

That didn't stop me though, I surfed for the next fifteen years. I surfed in such places as Rincon, Puerto Rico; Out Islands of the Bahamas; Virginia Beach, VA; Gilgo Beach, NY; all up and down the East Coast of Florida; Okinawa, and Hawaii. 

My cousin and I opened a surf shop in Orlando in the mid 60's. It was called the "Central Florida Surf Shop" and we were located on Orange Avenue by Lake Ivanhoe. We got the majority of our merchandise from Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach as well as from Pat O'hare of O'hare surfboards of Cocoa Beach. 

This was right after Ron Jon moved to Florida from New Jersey. Ron Jon was a small little surf shop at that time. Now the Ron Jon Shop in Cocoa Beach is almost a whole block long. Ron Jon also has a shop in Orlando now. 

My cousin and I sold the surf shop just before I went to Okinawa in 1968. My experiences in Okinawa are a whole different story, that was during the Vietnam War. When I got back from Okinawa I continued to surf until about 1975.

In the meantime Frank Shorter won the Gold Medal for the marathon and that sparked my interest in running again. I bought two books, Kenneth Cooper's "Aerobics" and Bill Bowerman's "Jogging" and I was off and running.

The time frame for this entry was 1962 to 1975 

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