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Imagine for a moment that instead of clocking into your 9-5 tomorrow, you were waiting to find out if a swell in Tahiti was happening, and then whether you could get on a stand-by flight in the next 12 hours. This is Alex Grays reality chasing after big waves all around the world, and often packing at a moments notice.
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Starting Young
as a 10-year-old kid growing up in palos Verdes, gray was thrilled to catch his first wave at torrance Beach. i could barely carry the board, and i didnt even make it past the shore break, says gray. im in the shore break, crying, with the worst rash of my life from this old foam board from the 70s. But i think my dad pushed me and i got one wave that i stood up on. that was it. i just remember that moment. that was the best thing i ever felt in my life. it was grays older brother who, as a Junior lifeguard, came home one day and announced that he went surfing for the first time, and that he was now officially a surfer. as the younger brother, gray was constantly looking for ways to best his older brother in sports. although they did some skateboarding and snowboarding, surfing was obviously right in their backyard something they could do before and after school, and this made it the perfect, accessible sport. from that moment of him telling me he was a surfer, that was it, says gray. wed wake up in the morning and surf before school, and then instantly get to the beach as soon as possible after school. at 12 years old, gray got his first surfing sponsor, and its been fast forward ever since. he knew from that young age that he wanted to be a professional surfer, and he followed his occupational dream through high school despite a lack of encouragement from teachers. he considers himself fortunate for the support he received along the way from his parents and older brother, and mentors like Jim miller, greg Browning, and Joe Bark.
i was angry my attitude toward surfing changed, says gray. i lost the love and the fun. luckily, i have such great sponsors who basically came to me at the end of the year and said, hey, stop, take a break. everyone could see i just wasnt happy, i wasnt myself. they were like, just go do something new. gray realizes now that it took that frustrating setback for him to realize that competitive surfing is not what he was ultimately meant to be doing. now, i basically chase swells around the world, along with trips for magazine articles, and advertisements for my sponsors, he says. im typically living out of my suitcase nine months out of the year, and coming home when all my surfboards break. i come home, get new surfboards, maybe wash my clothes, and then get back on the road again.
A Turn of Events
gray was entering approximately 25 contests per year up until about two years ago, when he caught a bacterial infection in hawaii. after a long recuperation period, he attempted to enter a local surfing contest and found out that due to a surfing membership snafu, all of his points had been taken away. he went through a selfdescribed tough year where he had to start over completely by entering lower contests in order to gain entry into the higher ones.
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