July 1966

Another old photo sent in by Greg Westnege on 6/26/09.

(original) L-R Ricky Haulk, Greg Westnedge, Tommy McRoberts, Terry Cobb, Ray Cobb

(color restored by D)

Surf Contest at the Pier - 1965

This photo was sent in by Greg Westnege. Thanks for the memories Greg!

Sent to us on 6/1/09 - stay tuned for more!

Cocoa Beach Trivia 70's and 80's

This is a pretty classic walk down memory lane - or Brevard Avenue / Minuteman-etc. Lots of Surfing history oozing out of Cocoa Beach.. Going all the way back to Gary Propper, Codgen, Tabeling, Loehr, Munson, Wolfe. It's become a wild fire that all started with a spark of inspiration.

Gary Propper lived right up the street from me. I came across GP cleaning wax off his board in his yard when I was 12 years old. I didn't know who he really was but when he showed me all the photos and trophies on his garage / bedroom wall it was really an inspiration to me.

Amazing all the board building that went on in those days. From Dave and Sam of D & S surfboards, to Scott Busbey of Contact surfboards. All pretty contemporary boards coming out of the garages of Convair Cove. All this also inspired me and my brothers to get in the game and make our own custom boards.

Dick Catri was building boards out of the back of Primo surfshop and gave me a job sweeping floors. Primo surf shop was a very inspirational shop with all sorts of contemporary new & used boards to look over. My first brand new legit foam fibreglass board was a Dick Brewer knee-board that my Mom bought me from Primo. Back then it was hard to come across good kid boards that were small enough. So little kids would have to opt to buy knee-boards if they wanted a board that fit their size scale. I also bought a Plastic Fantastic knee-board from Tabeling at Surfing World.

Little Hawaii was a great shop, Bill Volmur was a very fair business man that just loved the surfing lifestyle. He also had great boards and his son Alan became part of the 3rd Street Islander Hut Surf Klan.

Gary Propper opened Lightning Bolt East at the end of Minuteman with the wild looking and inspiring DCB custom shaped Bolt boards. DCB was way ahead of his years in shaping creativity.

(It would be really cool to see a list of all the surfshops that have come and gone in the Cocoa Beach area. All many thanks to these guys.)

And of course the Salick brothers. Richard and Phil Salick with Salick Surfshop became mentors and sponsored me and some of my best friends and all the best surfers in Cocoa Beach area. The Salick brothers gave me the hope that Pro surfing really could become a reality.

My first trip in the back of the Datsun pick-up truck to Sebastian Inlet was the first of a life long love affair to the Inlet. The Inlet is a more unique and powerful wave that was hollow, wedging, and allowed for a even higher energy and closeness to all the surfing stars. From that point on I had to rob many of piggy banks to scrape up coins for gasoline. Jim McClaren was always down to take me to the Inlet in his old Impala.

All these tales, talents, and energy are all worthy of a book! All this a synergy that has lead on to multi World Titles to come out of Brevard County and other countys here on the Florida coast.

Cocoa Beach, what's really in that water?

- Matt Kechele - 12/25/08