"The
Glide" newsletter archive
Spring 2010
Everyone had a super time on our safari to Cocoa Beach last weekend. Unfortunately only four members Lucky, Hal Jamie & I attended the club function but the comrade was great. We caravanned down I-95 with former charter CCSC member Mike Spencer of Spencer Surfboards and longtime surfer / shaper / surf marketer Robert Parker. Mike and Robert had a booth @ the Expo where they where they were selling Wyland Surfboards http://www.bluewatersurfboards.com/wylandsurfboards/ and introducing and marketing Mike and Hal’s Alaia Boards http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNFfs40xGhE The booth was a real hit at the show – Mike & Hal did several interviews with trade publications and local media. We visited the show both days after getting early AM sessions. Saturday the surf was waist-to-chest and Sunday AM it cleaned up but dropped to thigh-to-occasional waist.
We visited the East Coast Surf Museum, East Coast Hall of Fame, Balsa Bill’s Surf Shop and The Longboard House. Saturday night we were the guest of CCSC’s gracious Florida connection Will and Karen Lucas. Edgar Eltrich and former member Bryant Hungerford were in town and joined us for an evening of great food, libations, BS stories and of course Hal’s jokes.
Keep surfing,
Tom
Spring 2009
Happy New Year, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and all other holidays
I missed. I apologize to all for not authoring “The Glide”
for over 6 months.
To catch up on some business I’d like to thank Susan Radley and
Sally Price for their hard work in organizing the float decorating and
preparation for the Christmas Parade. Thanks to Andy Benke for making
the trip to the beach everyday to post the surf report and Bill Coleman
and Hal Coste for making sure the annual Oyster Roast was a success. Susan
also a big thanks to you for continuing to arrange & coordinate our
monthly Socializin' Surfers events. I understand that we have 2 finalists
as candidates for the 1st CCSC College Scholarship and the winner will
be awarded on May 15th - thank you Tim Askins, Keith Farley and Bill Zorn
for your efforts.
Thanks to our CCSC Web Cam sponsors; Charleston Water Sports, Seels on
Sullivan’s, Sottile and Hopkins & Island Reality and welcome
Kia Dilling’s Sol Surfers Surf Camp to the page.
This winter was the coldest in a number of years and the small surf was
really a downer. It’s bad enough to be forced to put up with cold
water and rubber but to have so few good days for almost _ a year drains
your enthusiasm. I admire your commitment to stay stoked!
Ten club members and two guests made the annual Costa Rican Safari. The
surf was good size as you can tell from Andy’s picture when you
login to CCSC. Delta Airlines is the “anti-surfer” airline.
For those of you who don’t know they are charging $600 round trip
per board. This meant that most everyone on the trip made @ least two
attempts to rent boards they could “get wired”. It ate up
almost a full day of water time searching the 4 surf shops for rental
boards. - I personally have chosen to boycott them and urge everyone to
do so when possible. You have to endure connections no matter your choice
of airlines out of CHS. You will find most connection cities are less
congested than Atlanta!
Finally it’s great to hear our good friend form the old days, Kenny
Kirchner, is recovering and is expected to be back in the line-up this
summer with his new heart valve.
My forecast is for better than usual summer surf because of the lack of
winter swell. I look forward to seeing y’all in the line-up, your
help with our summer surf and community service events and of course at
the monthly Socializin' Surfers get togethers. You will receive information
on the annual meeting and dinner in the next few months.
Keep surfing,
Tom
Sept.
2008
Once again the Annual Meeting & Reunion signals another summer is
history. I figured what better time to thank everyone in the club for
a GREAT YEAR while I’m hunkered down in Houston awaiting “IKE’s”
visit.
It was a pleasure letting all the club members & their guest know how much we had accomplished & the highlights thus far of 2008. For those of you that couldn’t attend the meeting I am going to update you here:
It started in late 2007 with our 1st entry in the East Cooper Christmas
Parade. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Sally Price & Susan Radley
for co-chairing the committee and for everyone’s hard work. All
had a great time & the club got a lot of exposure! I hear they are
looking for volunteers to help w/ this year’s float. Please contact
Sally Price if you are
interested.
We all congratulated & applauded Will & Karen Lucas and Dickey
& Beth Hopkins on their 2008 marriages. I was very proud to recognized
Dire Askins, our Eastern Surfing Association representative, for taking
1st Place in the 2007/2008 Menehumne Longboard Division.
All on hand expressed thanks to Susan Radley for organizing the Socializing
Surfer Monthly Get-togethers that have been very well attended. She
is working on October’s venue – it will be posted on the
Website soon. I hear the ladies’ “Grunt & Groan”
exercise class and “ladies only” morning surf-abouts have
attracted a good following. Please feel comfortable contacting Susan
if you are interested in participating in these events.
Hal Coste thanked Will Lucas for including several of the founding club
members in his latest East Coast Surf Documentary “Board Shorts”.
All club members are urged to contact Will
or Hal if you are interested
in purchasing a copy of Board Shorts or Will’s other productions.
(The club has several copies in-stock) Hal also had the honor of presenting
awards to Nicholas Sottile, Stephen Sottile, Nancy Price, Sally Price,
Keith Farley, Dire Askins, Amiee Jette, Jim Radley & Susan Radley
for continuing to improve their surfing skills & pushing to be the
best!
Nick Sottile used his humorous side to present his Treasurer’s
Report. Our membership continues to grow (over 80 members in good standing)
plus The IOP Surf Cam allows us to contribute to & support many
surfing oriented community events. We are indebted to the The Sea Cabins
for allowing us to erect the CAM & to our sponsors; Seel’s
on Sullivan’s, Charleston Watersport, Sottile & Hopkins, LLC
& Island Reality! There are still several spots available if you
know anyone interested in placing an Ad.
The Surfer Healing event was well represented & financially supported
by CCSC as well as members of CCSC alike. This is a national program
that allows Autistic children to experience to fun of surfing &
a day @ the beach. A special thanks to Tim Askins for getting us involved
w/ the event and to Sparky, Sally, Nancy & Susan for their participation
@ the beach.
For the 2nd year in a row CCSC was honored to be an Ariel Sponsor for
the SC Governor’s Cup of Surfing held on Folly Beach. Thanks to
Keith, Mike, Hal, Sparky, Dire & Tim for representing the club on
the beach & in the water.
Everyone is excited about the CCSC Scholarship that will be awarded
to a senior from BE, Wando or high school attended by club members.
Tim Askins volunteered to chair the committee - immediately Keith Farley
& Billy Zorn offered to serve. Please contact Tim
Askins if you are so inclined to serve on this all-important committee.
Nick Sottile’s & Gill Guerry’s terms on The Board of
Directors expires this year. I’d like to express my thanks &
that of the club for your service, guidance & hard work. I am proud
to announce that Bill Coleman volunteered to take Nick’s position
as Treasurer & Bob Dodson volunteered to take Gill’s position
as Secretary. Thanks guys!
IKE’s winds are starting to pick up so I must end. Once again
thanks to everyone in the club for your help, support & for attending
our functions. We are making a difference in the community, having a
good time & passing a great tradition on to the next generation
of surfers. What could be better!
Keep Surfing,
Tom
June
2008
It's almost mid-year 2008 and this means that things will really start
picking up. The water is in the low 70s so your rubber is a thing of
the past. The summer season is finally here! Everyone knows that summer
on the East Coast is not going to be a wave magnet, but we all have
a little more time to be at the beach. A knee-high Saturday in June
tends to be a lot more crowded than knee-high Saturday in January.
Twelve of us kicked off the season with a February trip to Nosara, Costa
Rica. The surf was chest to double overhead for 8 days. The food was
great, and the time spent together was a real treat. I understand, in
addition to Costa Rica, we will be looking at surfing adventures in
El Salvador, Panama, Peru, or Portugal for our 2008 adventure. I encourage
all members and friends to consider going with us!
Special thanks go to Jim and Susan Radley for starting our very successful
Socializin' Surfers Happy Hour. (see above)
I look
forward to seeing you in the water and hope you will be joining us for
all the planned events this summer. Don't forget our Annual Reunion
and Club Meeting scheduled over Labor Day Weekend.
Keep surfing,
Tom
January 2008
Happy New Year to
all & my wish is 2008 will be your best & most prosperous year
yet. 2007 was a fantastic year for Carolina Coast Surf Club. It presented
our club with a number of 1st; a lot of comradery as well as some very
influential members of the surfing community joining CCSC.
On behalf of your board of directors I’d like to thank everyone
that attended the 1st annual Oyster Roast held in February. It was a
great success & we hope to see you all on March 8th 2008 for the
2nd annual “shucking”.
Our gratitude goes out to all who participated in both the Adopt -a-
Hiway clean up program & spring Surf Get-togethers. Our thanks especially
goes out to Hal for his innovative way of preparing our Continental
Breakfast @ the events - on an ironing board. Not any ironing board
but the very ironing board he claims he uses on overhead days because
it is so FAST off the bottom. (he even showed it off in the Christmas
Parade – see the photos)
Robert August, “Wingnut” Weaver & Sam August were in
town promoting RA’s latest film release as part of a benefit put
on @ The Windjammer by our Web Cam Sponsor Charleston Water Sports.
Hal, Nick & I met the trio the following day and they accepted our
invitation to join CCSC. You can see their membership forms & a
picture of us welcoming them to the club below.
As part of our effort to support & promote surfing - CCSC for the
1st time was one of the elite sponsors the South Carolina Governors
Cup of Surfing. The Eastern Surfing Association contest was held in
August on Folly Beach. I am proud of our club members that competed
& placed in the event. It was great exposure for our club!
The jewel of the year was the Annual Meeting & Reunion. Club members,
family & friends joined us for the best surf ever in what turned
into a 3-day event. Will Lucas, Director / Producer of three East Coast
Documentaries & member of CCSC was kind enough to present a pre-release
showing of “Board Shorts” @ the annual dinner. The documentary
features interviews w/ charter members of CCSC: Lucy Price, Hal Coste,
Mike Spence & me.
The year ended w/ the club’s biggest 1st of 2007 & hopefully
what will continue to be an annual event - The Mt. Pleasant Christmas
Parade. Sally Price & Susan Radley co-chair'd the production &
did a super job in planning & coordinating the event THANKS LADIES!!!
Everyone was really impressed w/ Nick’s “parade float hot-dogging”
however I understand several of his clients are a little concerned that
he might show up for their next court appearance in his wetsuit.
We look forward to your participation & attendance @ the events
planned for 2008.
Keep surfing,
Tom
May
2007
Late winter and spring 2007 has produced some pretty good days here;
however, the surf continues to be unpredictable at best in the Northern
Hemisphere. Believe me, the IOP surf conditions are not unique in this
respect. I was welcomed by lousy surf at Huntington Beach and San Diego,
CA for 5 days in January (knee to waist mush). Costa Rica, of course,
held predictable with shoulder to slightly overhead waves for 6 days
in February. The Texas Gulf Coast blew me away with atypically consistent
waist to chest sets for 3 straight weekends in March. April, normally
known for fair to good waves was a bust, but May is starting off with
a lot of promise. The Nor’easter on May 7-8 kicked up chest to
head high peaks at the pier. I hope this is the signal for a good summer.
I’m stoked because now I can get up at daybreak and see what the
surf is doing without having to drive to the pier and check it out.
I just login to our SurfCam and voila! The CCSC Surf Cam is LIVE and
well thanks to Gill Guerry’s hard work. I urge you to thank Gill
personally as well as your Board members and our sponsors. We also ask
that you patronize our sponsors.
There is still work to do on the CCSC site. Soon links to buoy, weather
and marine forecasts will be available. Links will be established with
other Surfcams and surfing-related sites. We urgently need several volunteers
to help with posting the daily Surf Report on the site. Please contact
Andy Benke if you would like to help.
This newsletter provides Information about a number of activities planned
for this summer and fall. The club needs YOUR help in planning and organizing
events and trips. Your Board is running out of ideas. Please contact
any Board member with ideas. Of greatest importance is your participation
at club activities and functions! Make an effort to attend at least
2 functions this summer.
I look forward to seeing you in the water this summer and catching a
few waves together.
Keep surfing,
Tom