This 13-Year-Old Surfing Slabs With Style Definitely Won’t Make You Hate Yourself

In my 24 years, I’ve seen a plethora of talented east coast groms. Tons from Florida, none from Georgia, several from the Carolinas and Virginia, one or two from Maryland, a handful from NY/NJ, and, well, not many from the true Northeast. The states of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine have a wild coastline that, while indescribably beautiful, is not the easiest place to begin life as a surfer. With tricky waves and eight months of relative frigidity, I can see how a 5-to-7-year-old northeasterner wouldn’t want to surf on a regular basis. That, of course, being the age where a superstar might have to begin his daily training.

Enter Robbie Goodwin, a kid I’d never heard of until this morning who might just break the Northeast mold. According to his Rip Curl team profile, Robbie, who is 13-and-a-half, splits his time between Flagler Beach, Florida and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Normally I’d assume that a surfer of Robbie’s caliber would have spent the majority of his life in Florida, but after seeing the way he handles MA’s stepping reefs, I’m convinced this kid is a northerner through and through. No 13-year-old Floridian I’ve ever known could handle those ledges with such maturity and poise. 

Except, shit! Did his buddy Ryan Huckabee just prove me wrong in the very same video?

Dammit, Florida. You win again.