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, Erik Barron, Erin Keith, Jenny Serwitz, and Adam Hunter.
Introduce yourself!
My name is Joyce Strellner and we are a wake surfing family on West Point Lake in Lagrange, GA!
Do you ocean surf, wake surf, river surf, paddle surf? Any or all of the above?
We only wake surf, unless you count the time we tried to wake surf a paddleboard behind our Centurion Fi23….was no fault of the wave for the less than stellar results.
How did you get into surfing?
Mack got into wake surfing about five years ago and started out on an Axis T23. I met Mack shortly after and he amazed me with his passion for wake surfing…..some call it an addiction but I prefer passion! I had never tried water sports before but Mack’s enthusiasm is contagious and I jumped right in with him.
Some of our grown children, teenagers, and now our four-year-old grandson have also gotten on board so it is a great family sport for us.
Where and how often do you surf?
We live on West Point Lake just a couple of hours south of Lake Lanier and surf every day possible! We have spring suits and full wetsuits to extend our season as long as possible. We have surfed several times at Lake Lanier with the Boat Shop At Lake Lanier when demoing boats, Lake Allatoona, Lake Blue Ridge, and Hyco Lake in North Carolina. Our favorite boards are Soulcraft, Mack currently rides a Superfly and I ride a unicorn aka my custom Honu!
What is your favorite thing about surfing?
Mack’s favorite thing about surfing is that as a landlocked West Georgian he gets to experience the feeling of being on the wave. My favorite thing about surfing is the community, I have never come across such a friendly open group of people from all walks of life coming together and cheering each other on. It’s really astounding how many surfers we have pulled up, from people who have never heard of wake surfing to World ranked pros and they all have this fantastic joy and energy that is amazing to see. We were able to host a North American Championship module this summer and had people from both coasts as well as Dubai participate, we have made lifelong friends through this sport!
What do you do to advance your surfing?
We both compete in the Master’s division of the CWSA and love it. Mack has been invited to World’s the last two years running and I hope to get in there next year. We have had lessons from Keenan Flegel and Evan Feierabend among a few and they are amazing at what they do. We usually each set a goal of new tricks to learn at the beginning of the season in March and work towards it. We both wanted a stall 360 last season and finally got it for the latest comp, I am currently chasing the elusive Alley Oop while Mack is determined to get a 720.
