S H O R T S H O R T S • •
The image appeared in the readers’ photos section of the
August 1967 issue. It shows a blond surfer on a decent wave.
“It’s probably the very first, and might even be the only,
photo of Wrightsville Beach published in Surfer magazine,”
Robert Parker says.
Parker is the young man featured in the photo. He and Charlie
Davis, who took the photo, were two of the pioneers who helped
make surfing popular at Wrightsville Beach in the ‘60s.
“Charlie developed a water housing for his camera, and swam
out while we were surfing at the end of Columbia Street,” Parker
says. “I never knew he had done it until I saw the magazine.”
Parker is now 72 and still surfing.
“Probably the biggest change in the last 50 years is the board itself,” he says. “That board in the photo weighed about 45 pounds.
Competition boards today weigh 10-17 pounds. They’re super light and super short.” — Simon Gonzalez
PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT PARKER
A photo of Robert Parker surfing a wave at Wrightsville Beach appeared
in the August 1967 issue of Surfer magazine.
BOAT SHOW TURNS TWO THE ANALYTICS strongly indicated that the first in-water
Wilmington Boat Show should be a success.
Still, show organizer Jacqui Bomar couldn’t help but
be a little nervous.
“We worked three years on the show,” she says. “We didn’t
want it to be like throwing a party and no one shows up.”
She needn’t have worried. The 2016 show attracted at least
12,000 people to the north end of downtown over its three days.
“It was phenomenal for a first-year show,” says Bomar, presi-dent
and owner of JBM & Associates. “I’ve been doing boat shows
for 17 years, and that was the most incredible for a first year.”
This year’s show is scheduled for September 8-10. The show-case
will again be the in-water portion at Port City Marina,
where patrons can see the latest offerings from boat vendors.
Other venues with displays, seminars and vendor booths
are the Wilmington Convention Center, the Riverwalk, and
Battleship Park.
Most of last year’s vendors are back, along with some new ones.
“We’re sold out, and trying to add space,” Bomar says. “The
Wilmington show has become the biggest between Annapolis,
Maryland, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The location is critical
because of where it is on the Eastern Seaboard.”
— Simon Gonzalez
17
SURFING PHOTO TURNS 50 FIFTY YEARS AGO, the worldwide surfing community
became aware of a small group of enthusiasts on the
Carolina coast when Surfer magazine published a photo
of a young man catching a wave at Wrightsville Beach.
The 2016 in-water Wilmington Boat Show.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
PHOTO COURTESY OF JBM & ASSOCIATES