Local Surfing Hero Heads Home - Patch.com
The pressure is on for Point Lookout native Balaram Stack, who will head back to the barrier island this weekend — and not just to visit friends and family.
Stack will participate in the Quicksilver Pro New York surfing competition in Long Beach. The 19-year-old was named an automatic wildcard for the event that will be staged on the same beach where he grew up surfing.
Since he was 12, Stack has been a professional surfer and has taken part in local competitions, such as the Unsound Pro, hosted by Stack's sponsor and local business, Unsound Surf. He was raised in Point Lookout and attended Long Beach High School until his junior year, when he left to follow his surfing career and was homeschooled.
Stack is one of a few young professional surfers to come out of Long Beach. Will Skudin and T.J. Gumiela also hail from the barrier island.
While competing in Peru recently, Stack took some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for Patch about his upcoming appearance in Long Beach.
Patch: How often do you get back home to the barrier island?
Balaram Stack: I've been traveling a lot since I've been out of school. I'd say about three months [out] of the year.
How does it feel to compete in an event of this caliber on your home turf?
Well being in an event this big would be amazing anywhere in the world, but to have it in New York is just a dream come true.
How is this different from other events that you've participated in Long Beach?
Well it's the biggest contest in history, with the best surfers in the world, so it's quite a bit different and bigger scale than anything I've done here before.
Do you think being from Long Beach gives you an edge over the other competitors?
Yes, sure it does. Knowing where to sit off the jetty, knowing what the waves might do more than any of them.
What do you think your presence back home will do for young Long Beach surfers?
Hopefully it will inspire them to keep at it and become the next big names in the surf world from New York.
02 Sep, 2011--
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