Surf Culture of Volusia County.
Today we received a clean swell at Ponce inlet. There were groms, legends, new school surfers, among other locals scoring some waves and sharing good vibes.
I hope you guys enjoy the gallery, feel free to share with your friends. Thanks.
Ethan Harbinson, born in Key West, adopted surfing as a lifestyle 4 years ago in the East Coast’s most consistent wave and hometown: New Smyrna Beach.
He is a true champion and has an aggressive spirit of competition. When we asked him about his professional career, we were impressed at his answer: “I have won 4 East Coast titles, last year I won Rip Curl Grom Search and USA Surfing Prime I placed 6th overall. I love competing in local surf contests as well. Contest season is just getting fired up again and I have my goals set high.”
Ethan has surfed all over California, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Atlantic City, the Outer Banks, Florida and Virginia Beach. He would like to going surfing Costa Rica some time soon; and if he had the choice of going surfing anywhere, it would be the Maldives or Indo.
When we asked Ethan what he has learned about his hometown spot, New Smyrna Beach, he said: ” I see sharks all the time in New Smyrna. When I learned to surf I learned from the locals and they taught me how to be careful and aware in the water. Ya know, drag your feet walking out and don’t dangle your drumsticks in the water as my mom would say!”
“The best wave is Frisco in the Outer Banks. After being there last week surfing perfect hurricane swell, its all I can think about! The most consistently good wave is Trestles for sure. My favorite spot to surf is Middles in Puerto Rico. I am lucky enough to get to go to Puerto Rico a couple of times per year to surf.” replied Ethan when he was asked about his favorite waves and experiences.
He then continued, “There is always some fear riding big waves… but you just have to go for it. Make the drop and ride. The biggest wave I have ever surfed is probably 8-foot faces at Wilderness in Puerto Rico. It was during an NSSA contest there last year. Totally insane.”
“Any experience you want to recall about the influence of your parents in your surfing career?”, we asked.
“When I had first started surfing my dad would send me out to surf in the winter and he would drive down the beach in the car to keep an eye on me because of the drift. I would want to come in cold and he only let me come in to warm up as we drove back down to the starting spot. Back then I didn’t understand what he was trying to teach me, but now he can’t keep me out of the water year round! My dad is my coach, photographer and travel bro. My mom handles everything behind the scenes including all our travel plans and taking care of my brother and sister when were out of town.”, Ethan replied with excitement.
The message Ethan wants to leave to the audience is: “I love surfing and I love the beach. I think that everyone who uses the beach should clean up after themselves and leave the beach like they found it. I hate to see people trashing the beach and leaving garbage everywhere. “
You can follow Ethan’s career follwing this link: @ethanharbinson
Photography is the one constant hobby that I never outgrew! It has even surpassed Volleyball. I grew up on a 100 acre farm in Indiana, by the age of 10 I had a camera in my hand. That’s where I fell in love with nature, animals, and capturing magic.
Life happens …. moved to Florida at 14 and through high school I balanced Photography, school, working part-time, volleyball and boys. Took a nature photography class & Learned B/W developing in a tiny darkroom and knew I had a future in Photography.
Life happens…. Started college for business and accounting, married at 20 and had my daughter Rachael 13 days before I turned 21. My lil angel developed arthritis at the age of 3 and I juggled jobs, hospitals, and zero time for Photography.
Life happens…. My daughter and my lil family fought back and beat arthritis, it was in remission by 6 years old and medically doctors couldn’t explain how. She started T-ball and I got my camera back out. I was now a single mom.
Life happens… Lost my job, and bought a camera on ebay & I started my own Ebay business before it was a thing… created my career for 12 years.
Life happens…. My daughter got married, moved to Missouri and gave me 2 beautiful grand babies. I got an opportunity to go to work for Brown & Brown, changed careers at 42 and relocated to East Coast Fl. Started working out at the gym and playing beach volleyball again.
Life happens…. Helped a friend , rescued cat #2 , ended up in emergency surgery for a cat bite. No more volleyball , so my best friend said get up and come watch him play. I did. You know him as Kia.
My Life Changed Forever. I took a few photos with my phone and it immediately started stirring up my fire for Photography again. I bought a D3400 Nikon camera that I knew nothing about.
Then Hurricane Matthew came through & I went out adventuring in the debris for photos and ended back up in ER with a leg injury.
Got pretty depressed and my friend said come out and take photos, my sunsets and sunrises took off on social media. I taught myself to use that camera.
Another hurricane came through and I called Spectrum out, I met a serviceman who saw me working on photos and mentioned he surfed with his son on his back.
Life happens… almost 6 months later I took a staycation and contacted him to photograph him and his son… you know them as Jorge and Gabe.
THE REST IS HISTORY. Surf photography was just a perfect fit. Friendship, Surfing, Missions, and Purpose.
I was out shooting Jorge and took some photos of Matt Dayton, I reached out to contact him. A few weeks later I was part of a church called RealLife, and I was planning to go on a surfing missions trip to El Salvador with lots of Surf, sutfers, many challenges, and found a whole lot of focus and purpose for this crazy love I have for Photography, Action , Nature and capturing the magic of People .
I came back pretty sick, with a lot of sleepless nights to think, it was there that I decided to do #52weeks #52fundraisers. Volunteering for everything that I am passionate about: child advocacy & adoption, autism awareness, cancer fighting & research, animal advocacy, pet rescue, Make a wish foundation, Community events, Recycling, and more. I am almost halfway through my year & looking forward to my next adventure. I have met 1,000s of beautiful inspiring people, made lifetime friendships, and without a doubt know that I am on the right Path!
“Connecting the dots , one pixel at a time”
So when Life happens, grab your camera, a smile, and embrace the journey! Love and hugs – Joleen. JustABlink Photography
Contact : 941 315 1525
FB: Joleen Skerk
FB: JUSTABLINK Photography
INSTAGRAM: @JUSTABLINK_PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography is my lifelong hobby. I am the Market Security Coordinator and Analyst for Brown & Brown.
I do limited private sessions for Surf, Family, Pet, Special Occasions, Engagement, Maternity, and all things to celebrate Baby and Children. I also love to capture lifestyle photos on vacations & family reunions. I love Corporate events. Kia is my licensed FAA drone Pilot for aerial photography and real estate. I do very select weddings. I volunteer my Photography services for a nonprofit or community program once a week.
Pictures and Article written by Joleen Skerk.
My name is Harold Zunino, I am 24 years old, I was born in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela , a city with magical tourist destinations, and incredible beaches to practice this wonderful sport.
I started surfing when I was 9 years old approximately. I used to go to the beach every afternoon after doing my school work. My childhood friends and my mom (who never let me go alone) always were my companion at the beach.
I started with a bodyboard; but I was curious about those boards made of fiberglass. On weekends we sat on the shore from the beach to watch “Los Valencianos” surfing (that is how we called any surfer we didn’t know hahaha); and when they came out of their heat, we asked for the boards, many said no; however, there were always some that lent us their boards. One day Rugby Colmenares took the initiative to gift some boards to many kids from the town where I live “EL PALITO”, also known by surfers as “PALIFORNIA”. There I had my first board. I could not believe it. I think I could not sleep for three days because of how excited I was haha.
One year later, Rugby helped me to shape a board for me. It lasted a long time until my dogs ate it hahaha. Then a friend of mine, Gustavo Castillo “MININGO”, did his magic and fixed my board…
In 2011, Miningo and Rugby helped me get my first surfboard sponsor: Quality Surfboards (Daniel Amaro & Carlos Lopez). During that same year, I managed to be part of the team of Venezuela for the ISA World Junior Surfing Games held in Punta Hermosa – Peru. I could not participate because of an accident I had during the warm-up sessions. I fell on the rocks and had foot injuries, the coach decided that I was not in the best condition to come up with a good score.
Since then, I became part of the junior team in 2012 and 2013. In 2015, I went to the ISA World Cup in Nicaragua with Carlos Perez (Carlacho) without any kind of financial support from the government.
In December of 2018 I traveled again with the team of Venezuela to the Panamerican Surfing games, where I met again with old friends that I did not see for many years as Derek Gomes and Jose Lopez. In this event Francisco “Lolo” Bellorin was the champion. A very rewarding experience to see someone from my country winning the event.
Most of the boys that start in this sport here in Venezuela, do not have surfboards; and most of the times, they do they same I did when I was a kid: ask for surfboards to ride some waves.
I wish I had at least ten surfboards in good condition and donate them to those children that like the sport. This can help them to take their minds away from all this nightmare that we live in Venezuela as of today; and focus on education and sports.
As of today, I continue surfing and training. I have won several regional events and a national event so far this year. Also, I do everything possible to raise money to attend events out of the local area and keep doing what I love to do, train, surf and work.
You can follow my sufing career on my personal Instagram: instagram.com/haroldzunino
Tobey Purvis, a 14-year old local grom from Volusia county, riding a set wave on September 1st, 2019 at Ponce Inlet.
Tobey is one of the best groms in the local area and enjoys surfing Ponce Inlet Everyday.
Jacob Purvis, local surfer and Tobey’s brother, also is an extremely talented surfer who enjoyed Dorian’s swell.
He is 16 years old and enjoys surfing Ponce Inlet every day after school.
Both, Jacob and Tobey agreed that their best waves were in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica. Also, both of them are sponsored by Mad Dog Surf Shop and DSR Clothing; and love spending time fishing and skating.
Sunglow Surf