On The Edge|by Peter Pan

On January 15th, 2010 South Kingstown’s Sue Lloyd Hogan was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Orlando Convention Center in Central Florida. It had been a long time coming. I originally submitted her name and resume over a decade ago to the nominating committee. Hall of Fame politics being as it may, it took this long to get her what she rightfully deserves, to be included in the history of East Coast surfing as one of the top female surfers of all time.

I remember the first time I saw Susan surfing. It was on a hot steamy summer day in a crowded line-up at the Narragansett Town Beach. This was during the height of popularity of the new sport in the summer of 1966. She was the only female in the water riding the formitable 3-5 foot surf. Surfboards were big and heavy and you really had to be in shape just to carry one, never mind surf on it. Susan was absolutely stunning in the water….a well toned muscular athlete.  She would take off on wave after wave, gracefully bottom turning into the left sections and casually walking and trimming across the open faces. It was obvious that she was by far the best surfer in the water.

Susan was very fortunate to have had a family that lived close to the Narragansett Town Beach and parents who supported her obsession with the sport. They bought her and her sister their first surfboard in the summer of 1964. She had already had a season of surfing under her belt borrowing boards the previous summer. “I caught the bug in the 7th grade when I was 13 years old,” said Sue in an interview this past week. “My parents took me and my sister to the Gob Shop in Wakefield (current location of Town Meats) and bought me a Velzy 9′4″ stock single fin that seemed to weight 100 pounds. I spent the first couple of summers surfing with Charlie Johnson, Pat McNulty, and Frankie Garceau. I was the only girl surfing in Narragansett during those first years.”

Susan became the first female athlete in Rhode Island to be asked to join a nationally sponsored surf team when she signed on with the Surfboards Hawaii Team.  She quickly became a force to be reckoned with on the highly competitve Northeast contest circuit. Although this was truly the heyday of surfing competition only a small handful of female surfers had the ability and physical capabilty to handle the big heavy longboards of that era. She won or placed in just about every major contest in the northeast during the mid-60’s competing against the likes of Florence French, Donna Johnson, Janice Chronley, Karen and Kathy Adams, Liz Herd, Stephanie Katz, and Donna Snodgrass

Susan dropped out of the contest scene during the transition from long to shortboard surfing. “Most of the longboarders I surfed against in the mid-60’s stopped surfing entirely when the shortboards came out,” said Sue. “I worked hard to drop down, first from a 9′4″ Surfboards Hawaii log to an 8′ V-Bottom. I continued to go smaller until I found a comfortable size and weight.” By 1976, she ahd brought her level of shortboarding to the same heights that she had gone in the longboard era. Every day I watched her surfing I felt the urge to convince her to start competing again. As the New England Director of the Eastern Surfing Association I knew that her level of surfing was as high if not higher than her East Coast peers. I finally convinced her to surf in one event which she easily won. By the end of the season she was undefeated in New England competition.

In the early 1970’s, there were no professional contests. The Eastern Surfing Association hosted the big events and the surfers who placed at the Eastern Championships were considered the professionals of that era. Most of the top surfers who competed and won at the ESA events of that era are now members of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame. The stage was set for an upset when Sue Lloyd Hogan showed up at Cape Hatteras for the 1977 East Coast Surfing Championships as the top representative from New England. She had been out of the circuit since the mid-60’s and no one from New York to Sebastian Inlet knew who she was or took her seriously. The surf was big and gnarly for her division with thick hollow left barrels grinding off the 2nd Jetty at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Sue put on quite a show at that event as she charged the big lefts that seemed like they were made just for her goofy foot style. Needless to say that after devastating the competition (including a field of very hot Floridian women) everyone on the beach knew her name when she was announced as the new East Coast Women’s Champion.

Armed with a new Hobie surfboard that she had earned from winning the Easterns, Sue traveled to Texas for the United States Championships. Again, there were big waves and tough competition from the East Coast, the Gulf Coast, the West Coast, and Hawaii. Surfing in her first national contest ever, she took an impressive 3rd place in the Open Women’s Final.

After taking a year off from competition, Sue again went undefeated in New England contests and was invited to the 1979 East Coast Championships to represent the area. Again there were big waves for the event but the field of competitors were completely different. Surfing against a new group of hot women competitors, Sue again dominated the left groin peak and wiped out the field in perhaps her greatest victory ever. She won the coveted East Coast Women’s title for the second time in three years

Winning a major title once is tough enough but twice is magic. Only a handful of surfers in the world excelled in both the longboard era and the shortboard era and Susan was one of those few. Her body and surfing ability has changed very little in the past 40 years. She is physically fit and still rips it up whenever she paddles out for a surf. It is great to see her finally get what she deserves… to be inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of  Fame.

Photo©2010 Joe McGovern

On The Edge|by Peter Pan

The 2010 edition of the Surfrider Foundation Blue Water Task Force ocean water testing cycle began two weeks ago in relatively calm seas off the local coastline. On January 23, volunteer surfers braved the frigid air and water temperatures to collect their samples at 12 of the area’s premier surfing breaks. Despite the fact that there had been no major storm activity, there was some evidence of water pollution found in the results that were released yesterday. Several groups of bacteria species are used to indicate the presence of human sewage and associated pathogens or disease causing organisms. In Rhode Island two groups are monitored in order to protect human health-fecal coliforms and enterococci.

The highest pollution readings came at the same two problem spots. Both K-39 and the Weekapaug Breechway tested at 41 and 42 enterococci per 100 mL of water samples. The Rhode Island Department of Health standard for recreational contact (swimming and surfing) is 35 enterococci per 100 mL. or less. This means that there were increased risks of contracting gastrointestinal illnesses from water contact at those two surf spots. Although the criteria for marine waters is higher at 104 enterococci per 100 mL. this does not mean that the ocean water was clean by any standards. Local surfers are advised to avoid swallowing ocean water and covering up the ears when surfing these areas. It is also wise not to surf with an open cut or sore. All other surf breaks showed an average of 10 enterococci per 100 mL. which was passable and clean by Rhode Island Department of Health standards.

In the other water test involving fecal coliforms the Scarborough Beach South area showed the highest pollution content at 13 fecal coliform per 100 mL. Both Conant Avenue and First Beach in Newport had readings of 10 fecal coliforms per 100 mL. The standard for pollution alert is 14 fecal coliforms per 100 mL. so while both surf spots are just under the minimum requirements for pollution it is advisable not to surf without covering the ears and avoiding swallowing the ocean water at both locations.

Some volunteers felt that if the heavy rains that followed the water testing had occurred earlier the pollution levels probably would have been substantially higher at all the breaks. Blue Water Task Force coordinator Lauren Russo of Charlestown said that she was very pleased at the first turnout of volunteer water testers and appreciated the fact that all the testers had to paddle out in the water early in the morning to get the samples on the 23rd. The next test will take place on February 6th. For more information on volunteering to collect the samples, interested participants are asked to email Lauren at lsrusso@gmail.com.

I love Vampire Weekends’ eponymous debut album and their latest effort Contra has been out for about a month now. It is definitely making the playlist rounds on both my iPhone and on iTunes… check it out!

www.vampireweekend.com

It was a pretty lonely Super Bowl Sunday at Nobadeer with just Mark and Neil catching some nice lefts. I went down on the beach and took a couple of snaps since I was drydocked and couldn’t stand missing the waves. That didn’t last long as my gloved fingers went pretty numb way too quickly. Since I haven’t shot a surf photo since September stayed and fired off a few more from the warmth of the car and then went home. Looked like fun little Nantucket winter session for those guys…

Get your ass over to the  Get In The Van website (don’t forget to bookmark it) and check out all the surfy media goodness that the NE surf visual cartel of Carter, LaVecchia, and Nevins are churning out. Video webisodes, photo journals and surf smut for every taste. With surf porn ranging from New England to far off exotic locales, these yankees are sharing their surfaris with all of us! Thanks guys, you make me want to go surfing!

www.getinthevan.com

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The latest video episode is Van Rides with Joe Carter: Hurricane Bill Episode 3

The latest photo journal is Nick LaVecchia’s Bahamian Jewel Day 4

Damn you Girl Scouts of America for showing up at my door this afternoon with a wheel barrel full of cookies! I’m powerless to resist the call of Samoas…

Liquid Dreams Surf owner Mark Anastas didn’t let last weeks cold snap get him down… he got wet! Strapping a Go Hero Pro cam to one of his stand up paddle boards Mark hit up some small kine yet fun looking waves in the cold water surf environs of Maine. Check out the three videos he made on three different days.

I like the the image and the weird trance inducing visuals from the surfing that his camera creates. The super wide angle lens kind of brings the rider (Mark) forward and then compresses the background making the waves look a lot smaller than they actually are. Thanks Mark makes me want to go out and surf, I mean SUP! Check out the

Maine Winter SUP Video #1 January 9th, 2010

Maine Winter SUP Video #2 January 27th, 2010

Maine Winter SUP Video #3 January 29th, 2010

This is the first fully rated contest of the new ESA competition season, and will be on call for Friday night, February 19th. Interested participants can call the ESA contest hotline at 401.789.1954 after 6 PM for updates. The contest is scheduled to start with beach sign-ups from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM on February 20th, in the beach parking lot. Entry fee is $20.00 and surfers must be members of the ESA to participate. Non-members can join the ESA on the beach.
This contest is being sponsored by the Gansett Juice Surf Shop of Narragansett, Rhode Island and the only real East Coast wetsuit company, Hyperflex Wetsuits of Millville, New Jersey. All finalists will receive a pair of Hyperflex 6mm Oven Mitt winter wetsuit mitts for their efforts. For more information regarding this contest, surfers can contact the ESA South New England District by email at bicsurf@hotmail.com.

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That certain fruity California company led by the messianic Steve Jobs is set to make a major product announcement in about 13 hours (1pm EST). The rumor mill has had the tech and standard press abuzz about this phantom device for quite a while now. I really don’t want a tablet, but once Jobs and his Reality Distortion Field take the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts later today I’m sure that I’ll be lusting after it…

…and remember kids, in the immortal words of Jobs himself, “It’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy.”