THE SURFER INTERVIEW: WINGNUT
WINGNUT: Take a lesson from the Samurai. They never judged the sword. They judged the man. Longboards don't make people assholes. An asshole is born that way.
SURFER: What about your take on modern longboarding?
WINGNUT: I have a very harsh opinion of "progressive" longboarding. I just feel that longboards and shortboards should be surfed differently. You can struggle through the maneuvers but that's what shortboards are for. I'm not nostalgic, I just believe in the music. Shortboards are rock 'n' roll; longboards are classical. That's it.
SURFER: What is your take on the state of surfing right now?
WINGNUT: I think surfing is in one of its most exciting phases, because there's a full appreciation of the evolution of surfing. For the first time, none of the past is being looked upon negatively. It's all being cherry-picked for what was bitchin' about it. And I think people are realizing they're not Kelly Slater and that they can't ride his boards. So they're looking for alternative designs that will maximize their experience. This is the most exciting era for me as well because we've got the best designs still being made by the best craftsmen. This is the last magic window of time where the true pioneers are still among us. Lance Carson, Robert August, Skip Frye. I mean surfing with them is like shagging fly balls for Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. This era is the last of it. The golden age.
SURFER: What is your favorite moment on a wave?
WINGNUT: Up on your palms, fading into a wave. It's just that excitement, that expectation and thrill of that open canvas in front of you and what's about to happen.
SURFER: Probably a good a time as any to segue into the MS topic.
WINGNUT: Two months after my son Cameron was born, I just fell down in the hallway for no apparent reason and my best friend carried me to the hospital. I was having dizzy spells before that and after a battery of tests, I was diagnosed with MS.
SURFER: How did it affect you physically?
WINGNUT: Loss of coordination, equilibrium and balance. The very three things you don't need to surf (laughs). I ended up with a leg drag. Every 10th step I had to wait for my right leg to catch up. I remember I was in Japan once and I was standing next to Robert August and I felt something coming on. So I asked him to hold my beer. Then I fell to the ground. Robert looked at me and said, "You should probably get that checked out." But it's usually just a short episode. It comes in waves, pardon the pun, and not too often.There's no known cause of it. It just happens. You just live with it. It has different presentations. You can go blind or lose the ability to speak, so I consider myself lucky. Right after Japan, I had to go to Europe to help with the Surf Academy. I spent two months just pushing kids into waves. I was on what I called Heineken therapy. It seemed to help.
SURFER: Apart from that, how are you treating it now?
WINGNUT: Well, there are tons of things you can do, drug therapy and all, but I find a positive attitude works best. That and the healing power of surfing, the joy of it. That and lots of sun. The latest MS research is taking a good look at Vitamin D because MS never occurs in the tropics. Ever.
SURFER: You sure laugh about it easily enough, but when does it get you down?
WINGNUT: That time at the surf academy was the hardest. In that first year, about four months after I was diagnosed, I was trying to surf and couldn't. I'd stand up and just collapse. And what scared me the most was I might not be able to take my son into the water safely. So when things cleared up a bit and I got back on my feet, the first thing I did was take Cameron surfing in Puerto Vallarta. It really put everything in perspective. I believe you should start an end your life on a longboard and broaden all the alternatives in between.
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