8/28/2023 0 Comments Yes in surfer lingo![]() ![]() But as high as he got, he lacked that certain something to make him No. In 1991, he was rookie of the year on the world tour. Now, according to Surfer magazine, he makes between $200,000 and $350,000 a year, a figure he calls accurate.Īndino, whose father played congas in the Doors, was the nation's top high school surfer at 18 while growing up in Southern California. By the time he was 11, the secret was out about his talent, and the sponsors came calling. Irons grew up in Hawaii and gave up boogie boards for surfboards when he was 8. Though, in Africa, he did go to a wildlife park. ![]() "We pretty much stick to the shoreline," he says. He's seen a lot of the world and yet he hasn't. Irons is trying to win a spot on the world tour, but, thanks to his sponsors, he's already been to France, Indonesia, Africa and Germany, where he surfed in a wave pool. Rock music blares out at the waves an announcer reads off the results of each heat. Or, if they do, they have learned how to do so in an attractive manner. Other surfers huddle under a tent, awaiting their turns to hit the waves or get a free massage from a physical therapist. The beach is full of spectators-mainly teenage girls who are almost wearing bikinis and sporting temporary tattoos on their buttocks. There are teens and a few women competing here, but pro surfing is a sport dominated by 18- to 35-year-old white males. If the top-ranked men at this level reach a certain total, they qualify for the world tour. By placing well at each contest on the tour, surfers amass points. In each round, surfers have 20 minutes on the ocean to catch waves they are judged on their top three rides, scored like figure skaters by five judges. The contest lasts four days-Thursday through yesterday-with several preliminary heats. The Virginia Beach competition is the last stop of four on a six-month tour sponsored by Panasonic. East Coast surfers hone their backside 360s and cutbacks on 3- to 5-foot Atlantic "peelers," then take their skills-like hopeful actors descending on Hollywood-to Ground Zero of American surfing, San Clemente, Calif., where many of the major sponsors are headquartered and most surfing magazines are based. One might even think of Vietnam: Robert Duvall's American officer in "Apocalypse Now," seeking out the best Southeast Asian waves, unafraid of the Viet Cong because, as he says, "Charlie don't surf!"īut surfing activities from Long Island to Delaware to Florida account for about 30 percent of all surf-related sales. Or perhaps you hear the theme to "Hawaii Five-O" and envision the famed pipeline. Think of surfing, and the head instantly fills with Beach Boys songs, Jan and Dean riffs and the crashing waves of Southern California. "East Coast surfing" sounds like an oxymoron. Consider Irons and Andino, the stars of the latest remake of "A Star Is Born": two people, same career, entirely opposite trajectories. But, like any career, once you choose it, it either carries you or sinks you. A trivial, utterly self-centered pursuit. To most, surfing looks like a no-worries life of leisure, a career devoted to perfecting showy, if nontransferable, skills. I could learn a skill that would help them." "I'd like to end up working for a sponsor," says Andino, a green-eyed, close-cropped blond. "All you gotta do is surf," said Irons-a tanned, shaggy blond-with a shrug. For Irons, the future is hardly a thought. Andino is here because he'd like to win, sure, and get his sponsors some exposure, yes, but mostly to seed the ground for the next 40 years of his life. Irons, who often doesn't perform well in contests (but grabs sick air-surfer lingo for maximum altitude-in eye-popping surfer magazine photos), is here because his corporate sponsor told him to attend. They have come here, along with about 250 other surfers, to ply the knee-high waves of the 37th Annual East Coast Surfing Championships.īut they come for very different reasons. The two men anchor opposite ends of the arc of a pro surfer's career. It hardly matters he makes a healthy six-figure income simply because of the jaw-dropping style with which he rips the ocean. He may someday be a national champion he may not. He is a phenom with a natural, beautiful talent for riding waves and little else, it seems. Next door is Bruce Irons, the Next Big Thing. He surfs to support his wife and two children. national champion surfer and now an elder of the sport. In Room 221 is Dino Andino, once the U.S. Rooms 221 and 222 at the oceanfront Ramada Inn encapsulate American surfing culture. ![]()
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