Everyone 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 the first spotlight on Thomas Roginsky here.
If you love riding waves or know someone who does, message us via one of our social media channels or reach out via the contact page on our website. It doesn’t matter your skill level or if you are a wake surfer, ocean surfer, paddleboarder, or river surfer. We want to put the spotlight on you!
Introduce yourself!
I’m Spencer Broome. I grew up in Florida and South Carolina but have been living in Atlanta for 10 years.
Do you wake surf, river surf, ocean surf, paddle surf? Any or all of the above?
I started surfing in the ocean and then was introduced later to wake surfing and paddleboarding (which I do less of). I’ve never truly river surfed but I’d love to. Anything in the water, I am in.
How did you get into surfing in Atlanta?
I started surfing when I was 12 along the coast and I was addicted from the start and did everything I could to surf as much as possible. I moved to Atlanta in my mid-20s — it was a life/career-driven decision and not a surfing-driven one. But I was introduced to wake surfing here in Atlanta and that has kept the fire stoked.
Where and how often do you surf?
I still take a handful of trips each year to surf in places like Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, California, or Hawaii and get back to the coast where my parents live a few times per year but in the Atlanta area, I typically wake surf at Lake Oconee.
What do you do to advance your surfing?
The best way to get better at something is to do it so I make time as much as possible to surf throughout the year and during the summer. But also just staying in shape and reading/watching other people’s surfing keeps the body and mind psyched and ready to go. The beautiful part about surfing is that you can continue to advance for a long time.
What are your hopes for the Atlanta surfing community in the future?
The surf community has really exploded with wake surfing and I can’t wait to see the surf culture in Atlanta continue to evolve and grow via new technologies and advancement, introducing the joy of surfing to a larger population. We are only scratching the surface and the future is bright.
