Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
Footprints By Lani Mucha About an hour before sunset last Sunday afternoon, I spent some time walking on the beach with my friends Jacqueline and Don. The crowds were leaving the beach, the condos casting shadows, when I noticed among the deserted sand castles thousands of footprints left behind. I looked at my friends and said, “God must have had a busy day!” I later thought a lot about those footprints. How many surfers have left they’re footprints in the sand since the surf... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
COCOA BEACH SURF MUSEUM Surf to speak of… By Lani Mucha The sun was out on November 7, at the A1A split just a few blocks north of downtown Cocoa Beach. There were many familiar faces and some faces unfamiliar to me, all of whom have been witness to Kelly Slater’s 30-plus years of surfing. Car honks could be heard, while some just silently passed by with a friendly wave or thumbs up. It was Kelly Slater Day in Cocoa Beach and the unveiling of the new statue honoring his contribution... [Read more...]
Tony Sasso
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
More Fun in 2011 By Tony Sasso What does it take to be “in” the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum? This past year, dozens of talented museum members contributed to building the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum into one of the preëminent surf museums in the country. What we currently lack in actual space, we make up for in substance. In 2010, we produced four major exhibits: Florida Women of the Waves, the Dick Catri exhibit, Surf Art exhibit, and The Big Board Show (over 70 rare boards!). We also offered... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
Somewhere is Cocoa Beach By Lani Mucha With Hurricane Tomas throwing its wind and waves, punchy head-high-plus right-handers peeled across the reef at Middles. In the water, Brazil’s Adriano de Souza and Cocoa Beach’s very own Kelly Slater battled in the quarterfinals of the Rip Curl Pro Search. With the sound of the horn and Kelly lifting his arms after winning the heat, his unprecedented 10th ASP World Title was now at hand. It was Somewhere, Puerto Rico. Kelly said after his win... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
COCOA BEACH SURF MUSEUM Crossing Currents By Lani Mucha The westward journey of Hurricane Earl took a northward turn just east of Puerto Rico. Here along the sand of Cocoa Beach, we began to see hints of Earl’s arrival day one, out of the southeast. As Earl’s march north continued, we felt the full force of his eight- to ten-foot swells directly out of the east. The surf was huge, but the eastward direction of the swell closed things out for the most part. On the third day, we began... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
Credit: 2nd Light COCOA BEACH SURF MUSEUM Help us capture the past By Lani Mucha Outside my living room window the banana leaves lay still. The squirrels are back to running circles high up in the palms. After five days of stiff onshore winds, Igor and Julia have finally moved northward. The storms brought waves 6- to 12-feet high, but the winds really made much of it unsurfable. I was able to hit up a secret spot for two sessions of head-high waves protected from the winds. Of course, during... [Read more...]
COCOA BEACH SURF MUSEUM Oral history project at CBSM • Lani Mucha • “In their rememberings are the truths.” — Studs Terkel “I never felt the bite. The teeth were so sharp I thought a turtle had hit my foot. I let out a really short scream. When I laid back down on my board and looked back, there was just blood, so of course I knew it was a shark. The two guys who came to help me out said it was definitely a shark. They saw the dorsal fin behind me.” Those were the... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
Leah Dawson New exhibit opens at CBSM By Lani Mucha On a July Saturday morning just south of Lori Wilson Park, head-high sets made their way onto the shore, and on this stretch of beach, several dozen women had the local sand bar all to themselves. The Cocoa Beach Surf Museum’s Women’s Surfing Social was just one of the activities in a full weekend opening the new exhibit, “Florida Women of the Waves.” The weekend had begun the previous evening with a full house at the Cocoa... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun • Lani Mucha • Reports of the first swell of the season got me up at sunrise. Standing there at the Johnson Street crossover, I could see three silhouettes bobbing in the surf. You can find the same three local girls most mornings, in the same spot, sharing a good time catching waves. I’ve always felt a better vibe out in the lineup when women were out surfing. They seemed to make us guys forget about the mano-a-mano battles for waves, if even for a moment. But... [Read more...]
Lani Mucha
Article Category: C.B. Surf Museum
Paipo expression session … progression … at CBSM’s Waterman’s Challenge • Lani Mucha • “But a diversion the most common is upon the Water, where there is a very great Sea, and surf breaking on the Shore. The Men sometimes 20 or 30 go without the Swell of the Surf, & lay themselves flat upon an oval piece of plank about their size and breadth, they keep their legs close on top of it, & their arms are us’d to guide the plank, they wait the time for the greatest... [Read more...]
