Tony Caramancio is one interesting guy.
The surfer/artist/surfboard maker/traveler has devoted his life to surfing and has been able to make a successful career out it. He's traveled just about everywhere in the world that a surfable swell exists, has won major competitions in surfing that lead to his own brand of popular surfboards and kept all of his adventures in journals, which he now shares with the world in the form of art.
The mysterious mentality of true surfers always intrigues. What is it about surfing that changes people? What is it about standing up on a wave that makes people so happy? I can think of no other sport where the passion digs so deep into the human soul. That takes over people who let it take over them. Some describe surfing as "dancing with God" and wake up every day to feel the salt water around their bodies and hit a wave. Caramancio has a unique ability to give insight into this world, sitting at his house in Montauk, which he has called home for decades.
"I've been living here since 1971. I first came out surfing to Montauk in 1965 with some friends on Long Island. When I graduated college I moved here. In 71 I started the Albatross Surf Shop and I did that for 7 years. Then after that I worked for Peter Beard for 7 years. A lot of people were working for him out at his estate. He housed us there on beach. It was amazing."
Working for the famous photographer at his home gave Caramancio the opportunity to surf the waves in Montauk every day. He got very, very good at it.
"I ended up doing really well in surfing in the 90s and I created my own surfboard brand. I won a lot of major competitions and things started to really take off."
From there, it was clear that Montauk was home for Caramancio. "The quality of life out here is incredible. Coming out here, to be able to live a nice cool lifestyle, have good surf and then for it to shut down in the winter and have all that free time and hopefully a little bit of money to go surfing has been my life pattern for a long time now."
Surfing has been the root of all of his success in life. It's the only true thing that Caramancio has followed, it's been his compass the whole time. Today, he is always busy, running a professional surf instruction course to anybody that wants it on whatever beach he happens to be on. He also is a respected artist, having his artwork shown across galleries in New York City and in St. Barts for a renowned gallery named Click Gallery. "I do the professional surf instruction year round and am always very busy with that. I don't have a school or anything like that, I'm just a private instructor."
The last time Tony surfed was this morning, and the last time he taught somebody how to surf was in Costa Rica, which he just came from after spending the winter there with his wife.
I asked Tony, whole-heartedly, if he could describe what it is about surfing that is so important. Why does a sport where you literally stand up on a wave on a board, become an identity, why does it become such a force in life? His answer was interesting to say the least. "That's an amazing question and it's hard to put into words but I'll try. Surfing is a passion; it's like being an artist or a musician. It sort of just takes over you and directs you. My life has been the life of a surfer, and I've been able to do it almost every day of my life. At a certain point in surfing besides going out with your friends and doing it for the heck of it, once you get good at it, surfing becomes a form of self-expression. It's like when you learn how to play an instrument and then when you really get it, it becomes an extension of who you are. Surfing has been able to take me all over the world, it's dangerous which makes it exciting and it's very rewarding. It's instant gratification when you get up on your board. The whole experience of battling and being out on the waves and then to ride the wave, it puts you in the moment, away from all the daily drama in life and it just makes you happy. I think that's what everyone is looking for." |
