By: Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum 3 Comments
The Cocoa Beach Surf Museum sure has grown up this past year, and it’s a good time to reflect on how we arrived at this point and who helped us along the way. Some dedicated people missed a few surf sessions so we could enjoy the final outcome.
Back in 1999, local surfer Sean O’Hare founded the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum as a way to preserve the area’s rich surfing heritage. This year, the surf community found out that we are stuck with him for life. The CBSM board named Sean President Emeritus. The legendary Duke once said, “It’s a good thing.” Okay, I made that up, but it is a good thing for us as a surf community. At any local event, surfing or not, you can find Sean and his family helping support the cause.
Tony Sasso has been there nearly since the museum’s inception working with Sean. Tony serves as the executive director of the board. We recently had to share Tony with the rest of Florida as he was the area’s State Representative in Tallahassee. Tony is so intertwined in everything surf-museum related, you can find him in every nook and cranny. And his wife, Athena, keeps everyone updated with the latest information in the CBSM’s online newsletter, “Wave Lengths.”
Two of the museum’s most tireless volunteers are John and Marie Hughes, who were recipients of the East Coast Paddleboard Association’s inaugural Tom Blake Award in 2009. They run the Florida State Paddleboard Championship over the Easter holiday weekend and the Causeway-to-Causeway 22-mile paddleboard race in the fall. John was recently elected president of the board and Marie is membership and merchandise coordinator.
Bill Tweedie, our marketing director, brings needed funds from unlikely places, and along with Bill Yerkes, puts on the Annual Balsa Bill and Ocean Natural Paddleboard Challenge. Melody DeCarlo, the museum’s newest board member, is by far the board’s best surfer (sorry guys) and she’s ready to make every event run smoothly.
One of the biggest improvements this year has been catching up with the digital age. CBSM now has an awesome music and video system to provide our visitors with a great experience, and Jeff Cranston has developed a website to reach interested surfers across the world’s oceans. Jeff’s work has expanded our reach and brought the world’s surf communities to our fingertips.
So many people to thank for such a great year. Matt Bellina for directing the 2009 Waterman’s Challenge, CBSM’s biggest fundraiser and one of the best surf contests in the state. Shore-tip and Dr. Diana and Debbie Tweedie for all the photography. Regular and occasional contributors to the newsletter, including Tom Fucigna, John Hughes, Jim Dale, Doc Stewart, and Athena Sasso. Dave Miller, the Aquanuts, and the Banana River Band for all the music. Jim Dale for our new docent program. Sharon Wolfe-Cranston for the museum’s lecture series. Dennis Bennett for his work toward developing an archive program.
Mahalo to all the members and volunteers, so many that we can’t mention you all by name. It takes every one of you, and whether on the beach or at the museum, you’re all a part of this great surf community. We’re looking forward to another great year in 2010.
The Cocoa Beach Surf Museum is located at 4275 N. Atlantic Ave. (in the Ron Jon Watersports building), Cocoa Beach. Contact them at 258-8217, or visit www.cocoabeachsurfmuseum.org
Potentially Related posts:
- Surf Art
- Surfrider Foundation – April
- Surfrider News and Events: September ’09
- A Fluid Situation
- Build It and They Will Come
• Issue 10, Volume 5, December 2009
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Good job Sean. I haven’t seen you in a while. Sounds like you are doing fine. I’ll try to locate you the next time I’m in the area, to say hey.
Sean, I met you a few years ago thru Craig (worked for Kabran AC) and the colonel,they had a longboard made for me and your dad shaped it for me at Stricklands place. I grew up in La Jolla, Ca. and started surfing on a balsa board by Alan Nelson. (he’s in the first Surfer mag)at 10 yrs old. At 11 years old , myself and a few friends took 2×4′s and nailed metal roller skates onto the 2×4′s,creating the first skateboards.This was in 1957.In 1959 us kids were in 8th grade and had woodshop. We then took one inch thick hardwood and shaped it and screwed metal skates onto it. One day we were riding our skateboards in downtown San Diego and was stopped by a photographer for the San Diego Evening Tribune. He had never seen skateboards before and photographed us for an article in the paper. I have the article and beleive this is the earliest documentation of skateboards being made and used.I am 64 yrs. old today. It is my contention that myself and a few others from La Jolla invented the skateboard around 53 years ago and have actual documentation for 51 years ago, 1959. Is this piece of skateboard history something you might be interested in for the museum? If so let me know and I will send this to you. Thanx from an old time goofy foot, Danny Stephens
I wonder if any of the top name surfers of the past years ever came to Surfeside Theater in Cocoa Beach to watch the surfing movies that I showed back in the seventies. And, did they get the inspiration for learning the sport from watching those fantastic shows?