Admittedly, I haven’t really immersed myself in researching Texas surf culture. I remember watching the tanker surfing segment of Step Into Liquid about a dozen years ago. It looked kind of cool in a “good for them” sense, but I can’t say I was chomping at the bit to partake. In a matter of months Austin will be home to the newest Wavegarden surf park, a solid 200 miles away from the coast. And I do know the Chorpus Christi area has its own little budding community of surfers, but I’d be lying if I said those Gulf tanker dudes from more than a decade ago still weren’t more or less my summation of the Lone Star State’s surfing experience.
With all that said, I assumed none of my flights through Texas would require a board bag fee until NLand surf park opens next spring. And then I watched this. It’s not that Port A is puking out 8 foot screamers. And I’ll tell you right now you’re not going to witness anybody getting spat out of head high cylindrical perfection. But don’t let that distract you from the truth: these dudes make surfing in Texas look fun as hell. A nice day with a longboard on some waist high waves that peel evenly, long enough to allow for some general hot dogging, is still about as fun as surfing will ever get. And for that I’ll make an effort to stop assuming all surfing in Texas requires piling into a motorized skiff and chasing after an oil tanker. Either way, I guess surfing in Texas really sounds fun no matter how you dissect it.
