About an hour into our first session on the island of Trinidad, I noticed this local kid making his way out to the line up with a piece of wood under his arm that resembled more of what use to be part of a staircase than a surfboard. To my surprise, he was actually able to belly ride waves on it. I made my way over to him and asked if he wanted to learn to surf? His eyes lit up so large I barely noticed him grab my board right out of my hands in excitement. I spent the next hour or so pushing "Landon" into waves. He asked me when I was going to be back down at the beach so he could coordinate his schedule.ha Sure enough, when I made my way back down that evening for another session he and a few of his other boys we there, frothing at the mouth to go back out on my board. I told them that I was going to go warm up for a little bit and I would get them a few before I left the beach that night. As badly as they wanted to get out there, they were stoked with that and waited patiently on the beach for me to come in after every wave...Needless to say, throughout the rest of our stay landon and a whole crew of other groms were trading off on all of our boards. It was pretty hilarious, we all were put into a situation wear we had to borrow our own boards back, just to ride during out heats.haha
Here are a couple shots from the first day I met Landon. It was really inspiring stuff, seeing how excited he got about something so many of us surfers take such advantage of. Take a closer look at his board, complete with holes that were once created by a hammer and nail. Remember this photo when you go to complain about your stick!!