4. Cocoa Beach is the East Coast Surf Capital.
No one knows exactly who ascribed the title “East Coast Surf Capital” to Cocoa Beach, but Cocoa Beach has been known for its surfing activities since the 1960s and the nickname has stuck.
Another name you need to know to be “in the know” on East Coast surf history is Dick Catri. Without his influence, it's likely surfing may not have flourished as it did here.
In his day, Catri rode for legendary surfboard shaper Hobie, surfed in several U.S. Championship as well as the 1967 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational in Hawaii, he represented the United States at the 1968 World Contest and is a Surfing Hall of Fame inductee. But what Catri is remembered most for is being the spark to legitimize Florida as a player in the international surfing world.
This included hosting surf competitions at the Cocoa Beach Pier as well as forming a youth surf team with local surf standouts Todd Holland, David Speir, Sean Slater, and Sean's little brother, Kelly Slater.
Catri pioneered advanced coaching methods, hosted weekly team workouts and filmed the team surfing to go over footage later that day. This allowed the team to focus on what their body was doing while they were surfing and become hyper aware. As we all know, his student, Kelly Slater, would go on to win an unprecedented 11 world titles and become the greatest competitive surfer the world has ever seen.
When you drive into Cocoa Beach on the A1A, you will see a statue in Slater’s honor in the median where the A1A splits into North Atlantic Avenue and North Orlando Avenue.