Tow Controversy: Equal Time with Vince Broglio & Ed Guzman

Shortly after the Moss Landing interview with Doug Kasunich appeared on Surfermag.com, I got an e-mail from Vince Broglio of Santa Cruz. He said that he wished we would have contacted some of those named (or not named) in Doug’s interview for a response before posting the interview. I replied that we wanted to give him a chance to respond via an interview like Kasunich did, and he graciously obliged. Though he was also more than a little pissed at the initial interview, Ken “Skindog” Collins gave us some phone time, as did Ed Guzman, who is Don Curry’s tow partner. Their very interesting responses will appear on Surfermag.com in the next couple of days. Vince Broglio is a 45-year-old glasser from Santa Cruz. He’s been surfing since age 11 and grew up surfing the whole Monterey Bay. He said he doesn’t usually paddle out at Moss anymore, but generally goes out there when it’s big with his Jet Ski. He said categorically that he had never come close to hitting anyone with his personal watercraft, and that what Doug Kasunich failed to mention in his interview was that (Vince made this fact very clear) he and Doug both ended up agreeing that Vince did not come close to hitting anyone.

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SURFERMAG.COM: Vince, are there a lot of guys at Moss who have problems with you guys towing?

VINCE BROGLIO: No, there are less than a handful of guys complaining. There is one group of guys who call in complaints, even if they just see guys out towing.

SURFERMAG.COM: Ken Collins said there is a crew of guys who are just grumpy locals who hassle anyone who surfs at Moss Landing, tow-in or paddle.

VINCE BROGLIO: Personally, I’ve never had any problems when I go and paddle out there. But there are guys who have hassled guys when they go out surfing.

SURFERMAG.COM: So there’s no reason that these guys call the authorities on you guys when you tow?

VINCE BROGLIO: No. They call the authorities just because.

SURFERMAG.COM: What’s your history with your accuser?

VINCE BROGLIO: I glassed Doug’s boards over ten years ago. I’ve known him a long time. We had a meeting down at Elkhorn Sloughs a couple of years ago: Me, Adam [Replogle], Pete Mel, Alastair Craft. Doug pretended he didn’t even know me. Looked right through me. He did the same thing to Ed Guzman. That passed and the following October, Alastair and me were down at Moss on a 5- to 6-foot day. I went out surfing and one of Al’s team riders was there and we said, “We’ll tow you into a couple.” Later, Doug and his buddy came down on the beach and he shook my hand and introduced himself. I said, “I know you, Doug.” He was squeezing my hand and looking at me like he wanted to kick my ass. He stared at me and said, “Leave the beach.” I said, “We’re not harming anybody.” He kind of went on this rant and his buddy got into it. He was like, “You have such bad karma.” I said, “Well, Om me out, buddy.” From what I’ve read, Doug tries to make it out like he’s a really mellow guy, but it’s the exact opposite. So that’s what led up to the last thing with Doug at the dock. I was talking to Rich Schmidt about it today. Rich read the interview and he said to me, “Wait, he went off on you before you even did anything.” Doug saw three of us on the dock and said a ski with three people almost ran over him. There was no one even out with three on a ski. So I yelled at him. Just laid into him. Grabbed his shoulder and turned him and grabbed his hand and shook it, and said, “Doug, do you remember me on the beach?” That very same day another guy who had been very anti-ski came down and thanked us for staying out of the way.

SURFERMAG.COM: It’s not a tiny stretch of beach.

VINCE BROGLIO: No, we’re talking miles of beach. And look, our whole thing, and Rich Schmidt is adamant about this -- we stay 200 yards away. And if we do get close -- like, Rich got this one wave that went over a hundred yards down the beach and got kind of close to some paddle guys. Even if we’re still outside the legal limit of distance, we still say we’re sorry and head off. The other thing -- when we head out of the harbor, we try to tell everyone: Don’t cut across. Go around and give the surfers at the jetties respect. I’m not saying everyone does that -- I’m sure sometimes things happen. On that day I got into it with Doug, there were a couple of guys who got close to the paddle-surfers and we waved ’em down and told them to stay up the beach. I mean, we don’t want to get shut down. We’ve got plenty invested in these things. They ain’t cheap.

SURFERMAG.COM: Do you think a certification process for Jet Skis and tow-surfers would help matters?

VINCE BROGLIO: I have no problem with that. I’m not too much of a government guy, but if that’s how it has to go, okay. Because there definitely are a couple of guys who are bad apples. If someone’s messing up, give them a ticket. It only wrecks it for all of us.

SURFERMAG.COM: It doesn’t take much of an episode to wreck it either.

VINCE BROGLIO: A couple of years ago, some Moss guys got skis and were saying, “We can go wherever we want.” I was like, “Yeah, go ahead and do it, but don’t cry when you get shut down.”

SURFERMAG.COM: So you guys are self-policing.

VINCE BROGLIO: There are days when other dudes are out. I mean we’re not there all the time to see everything that goes on. But the water doesn’t get crowded with skis. Of the three or four years I’ve been doing this, the most skis I’ve ever seen out has been six. Usually it’s two or three.