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, and Peter Gudbrandsen.
Introduce yourself! Do you ocean surf, wake surf, river surf, paddle surf? Any or all of the above?
My name is Kelby Graham, and I wake surf in Lake Lanier.
How did you get into surfing? In Atlanta or somewhere else?
I got into surfing by doing Pull Watersport’s Thursday night surf night about three years ago. I found out about them one day when we needed a life jacket and we then realized how much they really sell in their pro shop. We then found out that every Thursday they do something called surf night. We wanted to learn more about surfing so we emailed them asking if they had room on that Thursday and they said yes. We did the surf nights for about a year before we bought our Tigé from them.
What is your favorite thing about surfing/What do you do to advance your surfing?
I try to surf five times per week and my favorite part of surfing is finding a new trick and trying to do it.
I have recently learned the 360, and now I am trying to learn a pop-shuvit and crossing to the other side of the wave.
What are your hopes for the Atlanta surfing community in the future?
I hope Atlanta gets a surfing team so it can be a hangout for the surfers of Atlanta and the more experienced can teach the less experienced. We can also try out other boards and learn what really works best for us.
