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August 31, 2002
The original Blue Crush girl Brigantines Linda Davoli blazed path for female surfersBy G. PATRICK PAWLING For The Press, (609) 272-7210Most newspaper corrections are stuck in a corner somewhere. Not this one. A few weeks ago, I wrote about pro surfers from the area. I've since learned I left somebody out - somebody who, some 25 years before, climbed about as high as you can go in competitive surfing. And guess what? She still rips. Her name is Linda Davoli. She's from Brigantine. She's thin as a tucked rail, strong as a northeaster, determined as the tide and one of the pioneers of professional surfing. Don't take my word for it. Ask the folks in Florida this weekend, where she's being inducted into the East Coast Surf Legends Hall of Fame. Davoli was going over the falls at Sunset when today's "Blue Crush" girls were twinkles of moonlight on a glassy evening wave. She was the first from the East Coast - male or female - to win a national amateur title and the first to win a major professional event. She was a female big-wave go-getter, considering her early days in Indonesia's G-Land, where the lefts are said to be like subway tunnels in size and danger. Consistency? She finished in the top five during each of the five years she competed on the tour, 1977-1981. To read the stories now you'd think females have just discovered surfing, but here's another correction - this one for the newspapers climbing all over the "Blue Crush" wave to write about women surfers: You're late. Back when Davoli was learning, she wasn't alone. Plenty of girls surfed. But Davoli stood out. In case you've gotten the idea that she's retired and sitting in a rocking chair as the youngsters run around her front yard, well, no. At age 46 she's in great shape, looking - in a bikini and board shorts - like she could be her 19-year-old daughter's sister. It has all come 360 degrees for Davoli. She grew up in Brigantine and started surfing on one of those old canvas rafts, gleefully running over tourists. For a long time, the closest she could get to real surfboards was paddling them back out to the guys who had lost them - they didn't use leashes in those days. "That was the big thrill, just paddling the boards back out," she said. Yes, she remembers her first-ever wave. Some guy told her to get on his board, he pushed her into the wave and she stood right up and rode it all the way to the beach. She was 11. When she finally convinced her parents to let her have a new board, it sat in her bedroom all winter until, unable to stand it any more, she slipped a nylon windbreaker over a bathing suit and paddled out at Easter, in 49-degree water. When she wasn't surfing, she was standing in front of her bedroom mirror, posing her hands just so. The next summer, she entered her first contest at age 13 and won. On weekends, she and her friends would walk two miles to the inlet, paddle across it, surf Atlantic City's States Avenue all day, eat their peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches and then do the whole thing to get home. In 1971, she won the East Coast Championship at Cape Hatteras. The next year, she won the East Coasts again. She went again the third year, finishing second but still winning a trip to the nationals - which she won in Malibu, Calif., making her one of the best female surfers in the country at age 17. In 1975, she said she was invited to the first major women's pro surfing event, held in Malibu. She finished third and used the prize money to buy an airplane ticket to Hawaii for another contest, at the infamous Sunset Beach - where a helicopter from ABC's "Wide World of Sports" literally blew her off a wave. Some locals still laugh about the way the TV people pronounced Davoli's town - BriganTYNE. But professional surfing was on its way and Davoli was standing in its tube, getting free airplane rides, boxes of clothing and wetsuits, signing autographs and having more fun than she ever imagined. She'd stay in Indonesia for six weeks, then hit California and Hawaii before finally landing back in Brigantine to make some money. During those years, coming home broke her heart. It wasn't the place, it was the pollution. "The water was brown," she said. "I was afraid to go into the water." By 1981, the world tour was well developed and Davoli was on top. With only the last two events to go, she was a lock to be world champion, needing to finish only eighth or so in the last two events. Then, quick as a summer at the New Jersey shore, it was over. She tore ligaments in her knee surfing, and it was like the planets shifted. She came back to Brigantine, met a guy, got married, got pregnant and life just changed. In a lot of ways, it felt good. Despite the fame and the fun, pro surfing was a tough life. There wasn't much money in it back then, so she'd sleep on people's couches and eat Campbell's soup over rice. Back in Brigantine, she had her own car, her own house. To the people on the tour, it was a mystery. One year she was the best until her knee broke, and the next she was gone. But she didn't really go anywhere. She's been surfing most of this time, taking care of her parents (her father died in 1999) and becoming a kind of den mother to the young, promising surfers in the area - finding them sponsorships with her old connections, encouraging them, taking money out of her own pocket to get them to contests all over the world. In 1997, she fell off a ladder painting her parents' house. The doctor told her she'd never surf again. Two months later, after neck surgery, she paddled out on her 7-foot-6 fun board - taking it easy - and had a great time. And ever since, she's been realizing what she knew all along: She loves it and she's still good. Don't count her out. One of the most remarkable things she's done occurred last year, when she went back to the East Coast championships in Cape Hatteras and won a third time (women's masters), 30 years after her first victory there. "I'm having fun," she said. "All I can say is I feel like I'm surfing better than I ever did." And if not? Maybe Australia, some day. Davoli loves it there. "Give me a fishing pole, a surfboard and a tropical beach and I'm happy," she said. This is On The Water - a summertime column about the bays, ocean, rivers and lakes of southern New Jersey and the people who enjoy them. To reach Pat Pawling, call (609) 398-6593 or e-mail: onthewater@pawling.net |
