The waves are crashing onto the beach in endless sets, big enough to obscure the buoys in the background. The wind is blowing the rain sideways so hard it stings the skin, and the beaches are closed – there is not a lifeguard in sight – but the waters aren’t empty.
A five-hour drive, closed beaches, cops, mobs of people: just another surf trip for Danny Gonzalez.
Asked how many hurricanes he surfed this year, Gonzalez replies, “Every single one of them.”
While most Floridians are seeking shelter and high ground, Gonzalez and countless other courageous, perhaps slightly insane, individuals across the state are breaking out the surf wax and wetsuits. They must have some saltwater flowing through their veins, or a longing for the ocean that cannot be satisfied by Florida’s clear blue skies and warm surf. An insatiable, almost primal, lust that keeps them endlessly searching for the ultimate ride. And not in some cheesy “Point Break” type of way – these daredevils are searching for that one ride that will test their limits and allow them to embrace their inner adrenaline fiend.
Gonzalez doesn’t even own a long board used for smaller waves. In fact, Gonzalez doesn’t even bother to surf if he can’t use his short board. Unless the surf is up – way up – it’s just not worth the drive or the time. He loves his big waves.
“We drove down to Miami during that big one that closed down I-95 in places,” Gonzalez says, referring to Hurricane Ivan. “All the beaches were closed so we had to paddle across the intercoastal to get out to the waves.”
Gonzalez makes it sound so simple: just another mile extra drive to the beach, a 100-yard dash down to the water – surfboard in hand – and into the water. Not done yet, Gonzalez had to tackle roughly 50 yards of paddling, scramble onto the jetty and finally, swim out to the break. Oh yeah, and did he mention the police?
“The cops were out on the beach with their loudspeakers, trying to get everyone to come out of the water.”
At age 24, Gonzalez has been surfing for the past 11 years. His local break is just off Deerfield Beach, but Gonzalez makes it a point to travel wherever the best surf is located. Having practically traveled the entire eastern coast of Florida, from Jacksonville to St. Augustine to areas of South Florida, Gonzalez has had a busy year.
But Gonzalez isn’t alone. If you were to travel the world, you would find surfers of every shape, size and color. Every break in the world has its own local surf culture, something unique to their little corner of the globe. Florida is no different. While California and Hawaii are the traditional backdrops for an American surf story, Florida surfers are by no means forgotten, even in the upper echelons of the surf world.
Florida is known for its warm water and typically smaller, cleaner waves. However, that doesn’t stop every Florida surfer – Gonzalez included – from dreaming about what it would be like to ride the North Shore waves of Oahu. Big surf has always encouraged big dreams, but in Florida big surf doesn’t come with sunny skies. No, in Florida, big surf usually requires a big storm. And what’s better than a hurricane for stirring up some mighty swell?
And while there certainly are risks associated with taking on these hurricane-induced waves, the groups of surfers that these waves attract are by no means newbies.
At it for years, Gonzalez knows the inherent dangers of storm surfing. But it’s not the storms that cause him to worry about safety so much as it is the other people.
“We saw some boards get broken. But the biggest danger was definitely the crowds,” he says.
Gonzalez recalls that while surfing in Miami there were at least 500 people in the water at the same time, not exactly a recipe for safety. With so many people trying to catch the same waves, the chance for injury rises exponentially.
“There were so many people dropping in on the same waves, it was out of control,” he says. “People were getting run over and running into each other all over the place.”
He says he feels lucky, though. Not a single scratch, Gonzalez and his friends walked away unscathed. And, notes Gonzalez, he never saw anyone take serious physical injury. Egos, however, got deflated left and right.
“It really surprised me to see the number of people out,” he says. “Everyone with a board and no idea what was going on, was out there.”
Gonzalez admits that his cause for excitement – hurricane surf – was cause for concern for most people across nearly the entire state.
“It’s unfortunate that a lot of people were negatively affected by [the hurricanes]. I definitely feel bad for them,” he says, adding, “but we were lucky and it was awesome to be out there.”
Ostensibly to continue his education, Gonzalez plans to move to Australia in the spring of 2005. However, wherever Gonzalez goes, his surfboard is never far behind.