Celebrating 45 Years of Christian Surfers
Part 1: Scraping Together the Cash
Being one of the founding members of Christian Surfers South Africa, or Son Surf as it was known in South Africa back then, I had a deep desire to attend the first ever Christian Surfers gathering in Hawaii. The problem was, as a student studying to be a pastor, living in a caravan without any real form of income, my acces to finances was limited. To add insult to injury, my parents had taken early retirement, packed up the house and were traversing the world in search of waves. Still, regardless of my less than ideal circumstances, I felt God was calling me to step-out in faith and get to this gathering of Christian Surfers on the otherside of the globe.
Over the subsequent months, I went into a full on ‘scrape together the cash’ mode. I did anything and everything to make and save money; I became an avid door-to-door salesman, selling grass baskets I’d bought in rural South Africa and I flogged what music equipment I owned. Somehow I managed to save enough pennies to buy a flight to England. Once in the UK, my plan was to peddle four boards Des Sawyer shaped me and use that money to get to Hawaii. It was an audacious scheme, filled to the brim with unknowns, but I was full of faith, serving a God who provides miraculously!
Part 2: Lost in England
So I arrived in London, six boards in tow, four to sell for profit and two of my own, hoping, praying, that God would guide me to the right people. And He did. I got connected with Christian Surfers UK and even went to the Christian Surfers contest in Croyde, but no matter what I did, I could not get these boards sold. I became despondent. Wondering if God had led me here, by faith, only to turn me around and send me back home. Did I hear God correctly? The seeds of doubt began to cloud my mind. With five weeks down, one week to go and still no boards sold I ended up at a prayer meeting and God gave me scripture, Isaiah 42:12: “Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.” And I thought to myself, “Wow! That’s exactly what I feel called to do!” Filled with a renewed zeal, and with less than seven days to go, I managed to sell my two surfboards, which meant all the money was mine! Enroute to buy the ticket, I also managed to sell my big puffy Billabong jacket to acquire the remaining 40 pounds! I literally sold the jacket off my back to purchase my ticket, and God knew, I no longer needed a puffy jacket, because I was island bound!
Part 3: Take me to the North Shore
I bought the ticket straight out of a TNT magazine. It was pre-internet days, the term ‘social media’ didn’t exist and travel agencies were too expensive. I really had no idea what I was doing and had never traveled internationally be myself before. Turns out, the cheapest ticket I could find also afforded me an unwelcome overnight in Los Angeles. So there I was, penniless, shelterless and alone in a city I didn’t know. But God was with me! In this city of millions of people, I somehow randomly bumped into a South African who happened to be working at a backpacker. He took me to the backpackers, provided me with free accommodation and even paid for my taxi ride back to LAX.
I landed in Hawaii knowing two things; Eric Arakawa and the North Shore. I had registered for the conference and that was the extent of my organising. Nobody knew where I was, nobody knew when I was arriving nobody even knew if I was still coming. Armed with my abundant knowledge, I approached an unlikely fellow traveler loading a board bag and gently inquired about a lift. The local Hawaiian dude looked at me like I was trying to peddle him drugs and asked,, “Where are you going?” And I responded, “The North Shore.” He must’ve felt pity for this hopelessly lost soul because he promptly loaded me in the back of his pickup and off we went. While driving on the freeway, he turns to me and says, “Where should I drop you?” I literally knew nothing about the North Shore and so simply said: “The only name I know is Eric Arakawa do you know him?” the guy was like, “Oh Eric, I know Eric, I make decals for him, I’ll drop you at his house.”
I arrived at Eric’s house to the complete bafflement of the conference organisational crew. Nobody had heard from me in six weeks! The next day at the conference I came across a board with all the names of the conference attendees on it. The board detailed when each person was arriving, where they were coming from and what airline they were flying on. Under my name, the only information was: Lost in England!
The conference was an absolutely amazing time! It was Andy Pitt and myself from South Africa and we connected with the Christian Surfers crew from across the globe. It was such a spirit-filled time. Andy Pitt and I pitched the idea of having the next conference in South Africa because I didn’t want to travel, and the crew looked at us like we were completely bonkers! I’m sure at the time they were thinking something like, “Africa!? There’s nothing happening there!” How amazing to see how God changed hearts towards us, so much so that Roy Harley is the international director running things from Jeffreys Bay!