Dylan Kowalski
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WBM: How would you say growing up at Wrightsville Beach
nurtured your surfing and kind of your current life?
J B : Wrightsville Beach is a good-place-to-grow-up beach. There is
good surf, but it’s still a learner-friendly place. You can progress,
from when it isn’t good to when it is good. And I think it helped
me surfing with a lot of people I knew because everyone’s going to
see what you’re doing. — Matt Corpening Jack Brandon
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WBM august 2013
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Jack Brandon returned from a month in
San Clemente, California, in early July.
He says not a lot has changed since he
was featured in WBM in 2005.
J B : I’m hanging out still and go surfing. I still love it just as much
as I did then, maybe more.
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Dylan Kowalski will compete in a few more
junior pro contests, including the east coast
surfing championships, until he ages out of the
division when he turns 20 in October.
DK: I still love surfing but I obviously can’t do it my whole life and support
myself from it. I’ll always surf, but I’m gonna have to, you know, find something
else. I guess starting college is a good first step.
WBM: How do you think being around WB as a young kid influenced your
interest in surfing?
DK: Pretty much right when I moved here I didn’t even know there was an
ocean or anything. I wasn’t expecting to get into surfing, but my father was a
surfer so he kinda wanted me to get in the water and whatnot, kinda started me
there and kinda just grew off my other friends, like the other guys from the
original 2005 story. We all grew up together, surfed together, you know, pushed
each other. I guess there was a little rivalry you know, but a good, healthy rivalry.
WBM: What do you want to say concerning your relationship with surfing now, as compared to then?
DK: It’s really hard to make a career out of surfing. You have to be one of the top guys. Definitely my views have changed. Then, yeah I
wanted to be a pro surfer but now it’s kinda more.
WBM: Eight years from now how would you expect this interview to go, or what do you expect to be doing?
DK: I expect to at least have a degree, not quite sure yet. Maybe I’ll go into marketing or maybe the film industry, but at least be graduated
from college. I’m still having fun right now, but I know I need to buckle down. I don’t know if I’ll still be in Wilmington, but, we’ll see.
WBM: Wrightsville Beach is a pretty close-knit community, growing up here you know everybody. Do you think that had any effect
on you?
DK: If anything, everything from WB has been a positive influence on me, as far as who I am, and surfing and yeah, you do pretty much
know everyone in town. And everyone has helped me in some way or another, from tips to surf leashes, you know just every little thing
helped me become the surfer I am right now. It’s all because of Wrightsville, I started surfing here you know. I wouldn’t want to grow up
anywhere else. I’ve lived in Hawaii and California, but I still like Wrightsville the best. Obviously the waves aren’t the best but you know,
I love the people, the whole community, everyone knows each other. I definitely call this place home. — Alex Constantinou