Alex Coolman
Some of Cody Simpkins' best teachers have been two-dimensional.
The 21-year-old Newport Beach resident, a graduate of Newport Harbor
High and Orange Coast College, spent countless hours of his youth
watching old surfing videos. He studied the way longboarders from the
'60s held their bodies, the way they kept their poise in the curl.
"That's how we learned," he said on a recent afternoon. "We watched
their footsteps."
The time in front of the television didn't turn Simpkins' brain to
mush; on the contrary, it inspired him to become what he is today -- one
of the best pro longboarders around.
Simpkins has dedicated just one year to full-time pro competition, but
the old-school finesse he brings to his act has earned him strong
results.
He was recently ranked seventh in the nation on the Panasonic
Shockwave surfing tour after competing in places like San Clemente, Santa
Cruz and Virginia Beach, Va. His competition longboards bristle with
stickers from sponsors like Island Style, Kayak Surf Shop, DSO
Sunglasses, Toes on the Nose and Quality Wetsuits.
Longboarding, which is the term used for surfing on boards 9 feet or
longer, is not the standard style adopted by Southern California kids
when they take to the water. Most young surfers tend to ride boards that
are about 6 feet long, preferring the radical maneuverability that
shortboards allow.
But longboarding got an injection of youth chic in the 1990s, said
Bill Sharp, editorial director for the monthly surfing magazine Surf
News. The presence of Joel Tudor, a fresh-faced Del Mar surfer with
impeccable style, did much, he said, "to make longboarding popular with a
new generation of guys."
Tudor made "hanging 10" appear vastly cooler than trying to slash a
wave to pieces, and he also made it clear that riding longboards wasn't
just a sport for the geriatric set.
Longboarding enjoyed a similar boost in popularity when another
Newport Harbor High alum, Robert "Wingnut" Weaver, rode one on the silver
screen in the 1994 movie, "Endless Summer II."
"Those guys broke away from regular longboarding," Simpkins said.
"It's time for us to break away, the younger crew."
When Simpkins stands up on a wave, the look is distinct. But it's also
traditional in some ways, says Jim Knost, a 51-year-old Newport Beach
resident who has known Simpkins for about the last five years and surfs
with him regularly.
"A lot of surfers have a set pattern of moves that they do on every
