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“I was bad at it the first time I surfed these waves,” Mincher says. “It takes a lot
of learning and just understanding the situations. You take off on bad waves and
you get worked. You have to start from the bottom and work your way up.”
After he got the hang of the waves the North Shore was his for the taking. There,
Mincher has every opportunity to learn new tricks and experiment with style and
maneuvers. The waves are a platform on which to build skills. You can go as big as
you want, Mincher explains, it just depends on how big you want to go. But even
after five years, Mincher admits he is still learning Oahu’s waves.
“You can’t go to Hawaii … just in
one year and know it,” Brown says. “It
takes your whole life. There are people
who have been going out there for 50
years and still don’t know it. It is a
never-ending learning experience.”
The waves on the North Shore
present perfect conditions for up-andcoming
“You take off
on bad waves
and you get
worked. You
have to start
from the bottom
and work your
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
professional surfers to be seen
and surf alongside the world’s best.
However, it is not the exposure that
draws Brown, Yonkers and Mincher to
Hawaii. Although Mincher, an amateur,
way up.”
now stays in a house provided by his
sponsor, Volcom, the spirit of his travels
with Brown and Yonkers remains the same.
“They showed me the ropes ... going out there ... why we do it,” Mincher says of
Brown, sponsored by Ergo Clothing, and Yonkers, sponsored by Electric Eyewear.
“We go because we want to get bigger and better waves than we have ever caught,
not necessarily for the exposure. That comes secondary. We are out there to do it
for ourselves.”
The wave conditions at the Seven-Mile Miracle experience extreme volatility.
Wave height can measure six feet in the morning, then ramp up to 30 feet only a
From left to right: Rob Brown smacks the lip. Stacked surf boards (top) hold a coveted
position at the make-shift camp where Mark Yonkers, Ben Capron, Rob Brown, Jonathan
Mincher (standing), Barrett Folk sleep in tents (bottom). Jon Mincher sizes up the barrel.