Who had surfing parents?

Nope--my oldest brother (9yrs older) did. He had a Velzy pop-out surfboard I started on when I was 10.
My father was on his boat all the time, fishing. My mom was off birding somewhere along the beach reefs.....

 

Nope.

 

My parents warned me I'd put my eye out, it was forbidden. I was never a good listener.

 

not me

 

I think most of us here are your surfing daddys

 

My parents didn't surf. My dad was the photographer taking pictures of all his friends and his brother/my uncle surfing. So i was around it. Yet they weren't the ones that pushed me into it.

My mom, her best friend, her best friends two kids (crazy good swimmers. Even at a young age), and I went to the beach one day. They had a board. I gave it a whirl. Stood up on my first wave. 3 months later my mom bought me a board. She was super supportive and encouraging. She taught me what surf etiquette was. Brought me down to the beach all summer.

So no they didn't surf. But they were close enough to it to be in the know and were able to point me I the right direction

 

Not me. I never did want my daughter to surf. Get hooked up with surfing morons?? Losers??
Naw. I knew better.

 

Not mine, my dad was a basketball star playing college, army and semi pro. He just turned 79 and could still beat most white guys half his age. They actually didn't like that I surfed and have only seen me do it once or twice in 42 years. We surfed because we had nothing else. Blazing hot summers, no air conditioning meant spending every day 7am to sunset on the beach. We surfed, spearfished, snorkled the jetties, chased girls, bummed smokes and beers and just plain had fun. Surfing was just a part of that rotation. Nobody taught surfing, encouraged it or supported it. Surfing just became a part of life like waking up and brushing your teeth. It wasn't planned it just was.

 

Nope.

Best friend growing up had a surfing dad though.

Met my friend paddling out on his dad's big log--probably from the 70's. We called it the cheese board. Dad never surfed with us though. Had a pretty serious drinking problem.

 

My dad hated me from the moment i told him, no more football, baseball, basketball, i am a surfer. Hate. For 30 years. Since age 15.
Of course i deserved it. I was a total moron. I don't think he ever got over it, though, nor ever forgave me, for 35 years, and took it to his grave.

 

not me. Every summer, my parents rented a house on orange beach, alabama. Dad was an avid deep sea fisherman...but spent most of his time baking on the beach with a cooler full of beer. I got sea-sick every time I went out with him, so that turned me off to fishing. Step-mom was cool in her own way, but essentially was a rich ***** who spent most of her time indoors, smoking cigs, obsessing over her appearance and talking on the phone.

I was already an obsessed skateboarder. At about 11 yo, I saw a bunch of people surfing chop at alabama point and, soon after, asked my neighbor to borrow a surfboard I saw through their window. It was a beautiful, apparently brand new, little red Hobie twin-fin...I was surprised they let me borrow it (their son, the owner, was out of town). I was so stoked on it, I didn't give the board back until a couple weeks later (even then, they had to actually ask for it back).

 

My Dad was a career military man. He thought it was neat that I surfed when I was 10-13, but when I quit the football team in '84 on a September afternoon when the waves were firing from a hurricane, he lost his sh!t.
Hated every bit of it and never supported it until I was in my 20's and traveling all over the world to exotic locations surfing world class waves.
The media hype aka Kelly Slater phenomena and social acceptance in the 2000's helped with his change of mind.
My step mother would constantly get on my sh!t saying surfing was for losers and drug addicts. She always condescendingly asked , "What are you gonna do with your life? Search for the perfect wave?"
God I hated her.

 

I had a "cheese board"... That you Sammy?

 

Most people I know don't understand surfing at all.

 

moms used to ride a surf mat and bodysurf - does that count?

 

I had a girlfriend same one with the high cut bikinis I hated so much. She hated surfing and surfers. She used to say it was time to grow up and become an adult and stop surfing. Near the end of the relationship, hurricane Gloria cleanup day I was at her house when I saw the wind go west and got up to leave. She said you leave and it's over, I left. In the end chubby married a golf pro. Now tell me what is more childish, risking life and limb for the thrill of the drop or chasing a little white ball around wearing a plaid vest and smoking a cigar.

 

Me neither.

YES my dad surfs. Started in Squan and moved to Cali in the 70's when he was around 21.
He's 73, bout to be 74 in a couple of months. Obsessed with fitness. He paddles in the Delaware river to maintain paddle power when not surfing. Locals white trash kids and fishermen think he's off his rocker when asks if the "surfs up"?

If fact about 2-3 weeks ago we had a nice little session in Deal. Nice little waist high peelers. Long rides on his long board. Perfect for him. He was super stoked no doubt. Living not near the beach his water time is few and far between (basically when he comes to see me or heads to LBI for a week's vaca).

Thought more would have surfing parents.....

 

Later on in life I had a conversation with my pops about when he hated me surfing and how he wanted me to be a footballer.
Obviously I didn't want to be a surf 'bum' and was/am successful in a couple different professions and how I designed my life to work to live and not live to work like so many people do who we all know used to be active in high school and are now out of shape and older physically than they really are, and how the surfing lifestyle keeps you young and active.
And so I asked my dad how many people he knew that still play foot ball.
He said none.
I don't think he ever truly really got it, but I could tell his brain was swirling a bit from a lack of life perspective that was outside of his military trained mind.