{"id":32853,"date":"2017-12-19T00:30:49","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T06:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/?p=32853"},"modified":"2019-03-02T10:41:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T16:41:24","slug":"remembering-the-early-days-at-witchs-rock-surf-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/remembering-the-early-days-at-witchs-rock-surf-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Early Days at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Danny Mitchell<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week we lost a surfing icon. Bruce Brown brought surfing in far away places right into your living room. \u00a0I remember going to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to watch Endless Summer with Bruce narrating. \u00a0What a great movie!!<\/span><\/p>\n

I grew up in Hermosa Beach, California in the early 60\u2019s.\u00a0 Hermosa Beach was the original surf city in the 60\u2019s. \u00a0All the major surfboard shops were there, Bing, Jacobs, Greg Noll and Weber to name a few. \u00a0Some of the best surfers called it home, Nuuhiwa, Doyle, Purpus. \u00a0It was a great place to grow up.\u00a0 Even Robert August was born in Hermosa Beach. \u00a0Surfing was my life until I graduated from high school in 1967.\u00a0 Then, my mom informed my two younger brothers and I that we were moving to Texas, six hours away from the ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our new home, the town of Grapevine, Texas was a farming community of 4500 people. \u00a0Boy was I a lost soul for the next 37 years!! Surfing had mostly faded from my thoughts except for a few dreams. \u00a0In 2004, a friend told me he was a surfer and I acknowledged that I used to surf. \u00a0His reaction was \u201cYeah right.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

He had been to Witch\u2019s Rock Surf Camp in Costa Rica the year before, once again made famous by Endless Summer II. \u00a0So we decided to plan a surf trip for the fall of 2004 (210 days and a wake up). \u00a0\u00a0We lived by a lake so we started paddling our surfboards 5 or 6 days a week to get ready for our surf trip.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We headed out with four other friends that didn\u2019t surf. \u00a0We arrived to an open air terminal with a grass roof. \u00a0Our shuttle driver was waiting for us. \u00a0There were nine people and luggage in this reconditioned van. \u00a0The road to Tamarindo was dirt with holes the size of truck tires. \u00a0It took a minimum of two hours to get to Witch\u2019s Rock Surf Camp. \u00a0It was one of the bumpiest rides of my life. \u00a0We all checked in and then my surfer friend, Mike and I headed to the board cage. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"I was both anxious and nervous. \u00a0I knew I could paddle but it had been 37 years since I had stood on a surfboard. \u00a0As we paddled out I could see all levels of surfers so I positioned myself away to my little spot. \u00a0Suddenly I could see it heading straight for me. \u00a0I turned old \u201cBig Red,\u201d a 10\u20192\u201d log, and before I knew it I was on the wave!! \u00a0I rode down the wave till it closed out and rode the white water to shore. \u00a0It was a moment I will never forget. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All my friends were on the shore clapping and waving. \u00a0The next day my buddy Mike and I were set to go to the legendary Ollie\u2019s Point and Witch\u2019s Rock, made famous by Endless Summer II. \u00a0Ollie\u2019s was going off with overhead outside sets. \u00a0I met two surfers from Long Island who were in the shuttle the day before. \u00a0We hit it off instantly and set up the remaining days surfing together.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For the last 14 years John \u201cRico\u201d Petrocelli, Ray Elihow and myself meet once a year at WSRC. \u00a0We have added a few more friends over the years from all over the US, Steve Kuhn from Oceanside, California, Jim and Danell Lytell from Florida and most recently Thomas Maltman from Long Island. \u00a0Our yearly surf trip is the only time we see each other during the year. \u00a0This one week out of the year is filled with laughs, drinks, new stories and old. \u00a0All friendships formed from the shared love of surfing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"I have many great memories from WSRC. I recall going with Joe (the owner of WRSC) in his little zodiac searching for waves and almost capsizing. \u00a0There was an incident were two guys thought I was Robert August. \u00a0They bought me drinks and took pictures. \u00a0I told Robert and we had a good laugh about it. \u00a0Another time we had a van load of people coming back from Nosara when we were stopped by the federal police. \u00a0Myself and one other person were the only people with copies of our passports. \u00a0We were detained for well over an hour before WRSC convinced them to let us go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most memorable are all the friendships and families that I have seen grow over the years. Being part of the WRSC family has immensely enriched my life. As soon as you get out of the shuttle everyone is delighted to see you. \u00a0Witch\u2019s Rock Surf Camp will always be my happy place!! \u00a0It\u2019s where my life was jump-started through surfing again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelly Slater was right. \u00a0Once you\u2019re a surfer you\u2019re done.<\/span><\/p>\n

RIP Bruce Brown.\u00a0<\/span>Pura Vida! Danny Mitchell<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Danny Mitchell Last week we lost a surfing icon. Bruce Brown brought surfing in far away places right into your living room. \u00a0I remember going to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to watch Endless Summer with Bruce narrating. \u00a0What a great movie!! I grew up in Hermosa Beach, California in the early 60\u2019s.\u00a0 Hermosa Beach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":32854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-stories","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}