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Yesterday was more than just another day in the water for New Jersey grom Carter Doorley. It marked 150 straight days in a row that he’s surfed. In March, Carter bet he could get 100 days in the water before school started, a goal he met in early September. But he didn’t stop there, his Instagram account @cartercatcheswaves (managed by mom, Dawn Doorley) lists today as his 151st day of surfing in a row. His next goal? 400 days.
Carter’s got a ways to go if he wants to challenge the current world record holder of the most days surfed in a row. Dale Webster, the ‘Daily Wavester’ caught at least three waves a day from 1975 to 2015, surfing 14,642 days in a row. Some records weren’t meant to be broken, but Carter does have an early start! 151 days down, 14,491 to go.
Dawn admits she was at first skeptical of the challenge, assuming Carter’s ADHD would soon win out and Carter would lose interest. “But this has really stuck with him,” she said. “Before we knew it, it was like day 50 and I’m like ‘he may actually do this’ and then he just hasn’t given up. Even on rainy days he’s like ‘let’s go, I’m ready to go.’”
Carter hasn’t let the big or small days stand in his way, finding windows of surfable waves with help from his parents during even the biggest of hurricane surf (which the East Coast has seen a lot of this year) and keeping the stoke alive on the smaller days in between. Yesterday, his 150th day, was on the smaller side, but Carter still came out of the water glowing. “Very fun,” Carter reported on the waves. “Maybe a foot or two, but very long”.
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As another big milestone, Carter also competed in his second local surf comp in August, the Brigantine Surf Jam, becoming the youngest surfer to win the Super Heat, the final event of the competition. “He didn’t even catch a wave last year, he went out so far people couldn’t even see him,” Dawn said. “And then the turnaround this year, to win the entire thing, was insane. He cried, it was very emotional.”
Along the way, he’s had support from New Jersey legend Ben Gravy (who knows a thing or two about keeping the stoke alive through long-term surfing challenges) as well as local surf shops. “It’s just amazing how many people are now invested in what Carter’s doing — a 9 year old,” Dawn said. “They’ve been super amazing, like these tough surfer guys, pushing Carter. It’s just been awesome.”
Yeah Carter! Seeing so much stoke and determination at such a young age is an inspiration for all of us to keep getting out there. And, above all else, keep having fun.
