Every surfer has a story and this is the latest installment of our Surf ATL Community Spotlight series where we will feature surfers and those part of the surf culture in the Atlanta area. Check out our previous spotlights on Thomas Roginsky, Spencer Broome, Anthony Kennedy, Nick Bramwell, the Merlo Family, Mike Dobbs, Kristian Erik Bjerke, Jamie Eichler, Doug Paul, Brandon Spivia, Robert Hanson, Liam Spoon, Eric Ilustrisimo, Susan Bond, Jason Smith, Garrett Gilfillan, Silvia Saey, Scott Mennicke, Tammie Dalrymple, Wes Espinosa, Peter Gudbrandsen, Kelby Graham, Kayvon Nazarian, Abigail Pierce, Clark Campbell, Katy Harrison, Sam Burrafato, Maggie Maziarz, and Erik Barron.
Introduce yourself!
Hi, my name is Erin, and I’ve been into water sports since I was a child. It was sort of a rite of passage to learn how to water ski as a young girl at my grandparents' lakehouse. There we skied on anything we can get our hands on, kneeboard, saucer, scurf board, wakeboard, hydrofoil.
How did you get into surfing? In Atlanta or somewhere else?
It was when I moved to Miami I made a friend that had built the cable park down there, I was introduced to wake surfing. I’ve been dying to wake surf at any chance that I get!
Where and how often do you surf?
I did catch my first ocean wave in Bali, Indonesia 3 years ago. Yay! Also where I met my husband, Phil. He is from Australia and has lived his whole life riding good waves until he moved to Atlanta to be with me. As you guys know it’s kind of hard to get to the coast last minute when there’s a swell.
What is your favorite thing about surfing?
I love the energetic push of the waves that keep the momentum of your board going when you wake surf as opposed to being dragged behind a boat.
What are your hopes for the Atlanta surfing community in the future?
We have had somewhat of a hard time finding like-minded people in Atlanta, that enjoy doing water sports. I think joining this community would be a great outlet for us being so landlocked, even though we try to get out on Lanier as much as possible with our 19’ center console and fish for striper and bass.
Hoping we will be able to come to some of your gatherings!
