Outside the Green Room: These Walls Talk

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Outside the Green Room: These Walls Talk
DBCC's Robert De Corah drops some knowledge on the raddest bunch of surfers this side of Ponce Inlet
2005-10-19
Article Written by: Bryan Munson

Anyone who’s surfed Daytona knows that there probably hasn’t ever been a wave big enough to curl over top of a rider, save for that one incredibly rare wave, in an incredibly rare set, birthed from an offshore storm and producing incredibly rare (yet surfable!) conditions devoid of the washing machine-like soup we normally get.

So instead, the Green Room around here has become sort of a pipe-dream, a metaphor for what every surfer aspires to feel – encapsulated by the water, solely dependent upon themselves in their battle with nature’s most beautiful and deadly element and free from the intrusion of the outside world.

WHD found Robert De Corah just outside that metaphor and chatted with him about a few local college kids who, like him, are constantly in search of that feeling.

The Beginning (Again), he says…

The dream never died, but in 2005, it has been revived. If you locals recall, Daytona Beach Community College once had a dominant team in the 1990’s, and it’s been De Corah’s mission, along with Team Captain Todd Kinsey, to bring that glory back to surfside, A1A.

“There was a team for 6 or 7 years, back in the 90’s,” De Corah said. “But I guess there wasn’t a good quality of surfers who wanted to do it anymore when that era of surfers moved on to other things. So our objective was to put together a team that, as it stands now, is probably the best on the East Coast. Todd was the team captain of the Eastern Surfing Association All-Stars, which comprises the best of the east coast in that particular circuit. I mean, the guy is a 5-time ESA champ, and in 2003, he was first nation in the National Scholastic Surfing Association in longboarding.

“Everyone else has ranks in the ESA, which is what we all used to compete in before switching to the NSSA (which handles scholastic competitions). Six out of nine on our competition squad are ranked best of the East in the ESA. If it looks like we’re stacked, we are. What most people don’t realize, though, is that Florida produces some of the top pro surfers out there. Kelly Slater is from Cocoa. Some people come here and think that our surf is terrible, but for us, it only makes us better. We have to work to get a good wave, and work so the ride is a good one. When we go places and compete where it’s big, we simply step up, and usually, perform well.”

Trial by Water

De Corah, Treasurer on the team, and Kinsey held an open tryout a little over a month ago. The duo recruited two certified ESA judges to help them determine who should be on the team, and chose the top nine from the thirty hopefuls. They have six male shortboarders, one male longboarder, one female shortboarder and a bodyboarder. More than happy with the caliber of talent on the team, they got some even better news two weeks ago – DBCC reinstated them as an official team, privileged to school funds, and also, reinstated the surf club. For a group that competes against giants like UF, FSU and UCF (which has four squads—A, B, C and D!), that does several things for the team.

“You have to have a club to have a team, so first, we have a pool of back-ups,” De Corah said. “Surfing is like any other sport – it’s a competition. And in those competitions, some people have good and bad days. We all have to prove to one another that we deserve our spot on the team, and we work hard. But if for whatever reason, one person is unable to compete or seems to be falling behind, we have other people who can step up and fill in.

“Second, it shows the school and community that we’re serious about surfing. Like I said, we used to have a really great team here, one of the best on the East Coast, and the school saw that. Wherever the team went, people knew us – there were magazines, newspapers, photographers, television crews – they would come to the events and it was a big deal. Those teams got great reviews and created publicity for the school, so we want to do the same thing. DBCC sees that, so they support us. And of course, we feel it from the community, too. People have offered to make us T-shirts for the team, donate money at our events, all kinds of things. We feel it from everywhere.”

Support for the Critique

Sponsorship is nothing new to sports, but in collegiate athletics, it’s watched very carefully. Surfing, though, is a sport driven by sponsors, so it’s not unusual (or illegal) that most of the DBCC surf team has individual sponsors. Collectively, though, the team just picked up a new energy drink, called Lift-Off, and hope that by doing well, everyone benefits.

So then, how does a competitor do well? How do these competitions work? If you’ve only seen surfing sitting on the beach or sitting on your couch, it may not look all that difficult. However, judges scrutinize everything about a rider, from the selection of a wave to their personality on the wave to, of course, what he or she actually DOES on the wave. Judges look for “the most radical maneuver at the most critical part” of the wave – right in front of where it’s breaking.

“For the shortboard,” De Corah says, “it would be up at the top of the wave, snap cutting back down, maybe getting air if the surfer is good enough, and of course, to get inside the barrel. Judges are pretty scrupulous, picking on your wave selection (how long you wait to catch a wave), and the length of the ride. Most rides are only 10 seconds or so, so if you stay on it as long as you can, that’s a bonus. If you were on a longboard, nose-riding gets you the most points.

“Of course, as is a big part of surfing and the culture, how you look is real important, too. The riders’ particular style and balance come into play, and they’ll take away for flailing of the arms. Basically, they want you to look natural. If you look like a robot or fish out of water, you won’t get a good score.”

Green Room Dreamin’

Surfers, by nature, are a different bunch. They’re rather laid back on land, almost in an attempt to blend in. Life simply becomes the minutes until they can get back into the water and put everything on pause. But unfortunately, they don’t blend in – they seem to stick out because that vibe, that island charisma, is a dead characteristic to many of us. So when we see it, it’s something special.

If talking to De Corah and processing his thoughts regarding the rest of the DBCC team are any indication, he’s no different. There’s been surfers of advancing years who’ve been much more poetic about the curl, but there’s no less pride or attention to detail when De Corah talks about what he loves to do.

“You go out there and you feel free,” he says, a bit slower, the hint of a smirk in his voice. “You don’t worry about anything. I’ve seen little two-year olds in life jackets behind held up by their dads out there, trying to get them involved. It’s physical, it’s emotional, it’s challenging. And it’s definitely special. I go out there when I’m sick sometimes. As long as I’m out there, to be truthful, I don’t feel sick. It’s just a good time when nothing else matters.”

The real prize—washing over toes and ultimate ride in solitude—may prove elusive for some, but as this team begins its quest for a championship, it’s clear the dream of both is within reach.

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Outside the Green Room: These Walls Talk