**if you know me, you’ve probably heard this story before. but somebody asked me the recently which was my most memorable photo ever published. this is it…
my brother-in-law tony moniz took me to backdoor for my first time in 1990. those days, it was super heavy. guys like dane kealoha, perry dane, michael ho, and other heavy locals ruled the spot. i used to sit in the inside taking anything i could get, mostly closeouts. tony used to always tell me to go, and when he did, i went no matter what. this was one of those times. there was a 6’+ wave coming in at backdoor and nobody wanted it. tony told me to go so i paddled in on my 6’3 dennis pang and pulled in. before i got pounded and almost drowned, i guess a photographer snapped a shot. two months later, my sister called me from local motion where she used to work and told me that i got a shot in the new 1990 Surfer Magazine Calendar. I will never forget that day. I thought she was joking. i got in my car and headed to foodland because it was the closest store where they sold magazines. i found the calendar and when i opened it up and saw this photo, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. i got chills. back then, there was only 2 surfing magazines so getting into one was huge. and a calendar? no way? that year in august, i saw that calendar hanging all over the place in hawaii. i was super stoked to become surfer calendars “unidentified surfer”. yeah, they wrote “unidentified surfer” because they didn’t know who i was. i didn’t care. it’s all good. that photo was taken almost 20 years ago and that trips me out that i still surf out there. i loved backdoor after i caught my first wave out there over 20 years ago and love it even more now. can’t wait for this winter season….
