|
On the magazine cover, Darryl "Flea" Virostko is barely a speck amid the black, raging walls of waves and white avalanche of break
By JULIE JAG
Sentinel Staff Writer
SANTA CRUZ ? On the magazine cover, Darryl "Flea" Virostko is barely a speck amid the black, raging walls of waves and white avalanche of break. You have to look closely to see him, bare footed, legs sprawling, suspended in mid air as the locomotive of whitewater steamrolls his board.
Things look bad for the Santa Cruz big wave surfer, very bad. If this were a comic book, a bubble coming from Virostko?s mouth would say "Gulp" or, more characteristically "!%&*#$!"
Yet, Virostko isn?t backing down from his inevitable fall any more than he would from an out-of-towner trying to cut ahead in the surfing lineup at his home break. Flea radiates defiance, not dread. He is the embodiment of his tiny, black nickname-sake preparing to leap onto the inky back of the largest, meanest fang-toothed Rotweiller on the block.
It?s the second time in one day that this Hawaiian break has shoved Flea around. The first time, it held his head and body under its current while sucking his contestant jersey up above his head. He couldn?t let well enough alone after that. Not Flea. He would stare down this break if it killed him.
"A lot of people say that he?s crazy," Flea?s mother, Marilyn Trimble, said. "I think he really enjoys the big waves because ... he?s got the balls to do it, that?s what they say. It?s true because he?s fearless. How many people are going to get on waves the size of those waves?"
Many try, but few do it with such abandon.
Not counting his life, Flea pulled two souvenirs from the froth of that plunge at the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Challenge in Waimea Bay, Hawaii, last December ? the last time he surfed in a contest. One was a severely bruised right knee. The other, a photo that would become this month?s cover of Surfing magazine. By all accounts he should be happy, he got off easy. Instead, he?s incensed he got hurt at all.
"One of the first things I thought about," said Flea, ?was how am I going to surf Maverick?s?"
He may not. At Maverick?s, one of the biggest, most wretched cold-water breaks in the world, Flea is lord. He has won three titles at the Maverick?s Surf Contest which will be held today at the craggy reef break a half mile from Half Moon Bay ? one for each year it?s been held. But Tuesday, Flea said he wouldn?t be back for a fourth title this year. He said he?d heard reports that the waves would be small enough to tarnish the event?s "Super Bowl of Big Wave Surfing" reputation, and accused organizers of holding the contest to appease their sponsors and the media.
"They just want to do it for the media," he said, adding that his knee is healthy enough to allow him to compete. "I have more integrity than that."
Later Tuesday, Flea said he would decide in the morning. Whether he competes or not, it?s bound to be a virtual Flea circus out there. There will be talk of Flea?s protest, Flea?s possible title sweep, Flea?s injured knee, Flea?s chances for fending off surfer Peter Mel for another year, Flea?s maverick surfing style, and Flea?s out-of-the-water antics and lifestyle ? which caused Vanity Fair magazine to tag him the "Tommy Lee" of surfing. It?s enough to make the guarded surfer feel like he?s at the bottom of another Waimea Bay wave.
To keep from drowning in the water or the attention, the 33-year-old Virostko keeps a firm hold on who he really is.
"My friends," he says quietly when asked, "call me Darryl."
Rare Air
Darryl Virostko can?t catch his breath.
The young boy is sitting on the couch in the living room of his parents? house in the Santa Cruz Circles neighborhood, gasping for air. In front of him, his older brother, Troy, and a pack of their friends ? including future big wave surfers Shawn Barron and Josh Loya ? continue to breakdance to his mother?s Jazzercise music. Virostko had made just a few spins before his asthma had begun clutching his lungs, forcing him to the sidelines.
Virostko loathes sitting out. It?s almost as bad as being told he can?t do something because he?s too little. Or, having his friends tease him because his little legs can?t always keep up. Those things gnaw at him, eating him up inside. He wants to prove he can do anything they can do, and maybe do it better. So, he gets used to pushing himself past the pain of aching lungs and scraped knees.
"He was pretty tough when he was a little boy," Trimble said. "He would fall down and have blood on his arms and get up like nothing happened."
The little Darryl Virostko could keep up when he was in the water. As a toddler, Virostko used to hold his breath in the bathtub while his mother counted off the seconds. After his father, Steve Virostko, introduced Troy and Darryl, then ages 5 and 4, to surfing at Cowell Beach, they couldn?t stay away. As the years passed, the brothers marked their growth in age and ability by surfing their way from Cowell?s to Indicator?s to Steamer Lane. When they could, they would beg tips off the pro surfers, such as Brad Gerlach, who would come and stay with the Virostkos during the annual Cold Water Classic.
Virostko?s physical growth paled to his surfing growth. When he caught one of his first big waves at Steamer Lane?s Middle Peak as a Branciforte Junior High eighth grader, he stood just 4-foot-8 and barely had enough meat on his body to keep him on his board. When longtime Westside surfer Vince Collier saw Virostko riding the large wave, he joked that the kid looked like nothing but a tiny flea on the back of a big dog.
To Virostko?s chagrin, the nickname stuck.
"I didn?t like it at first," admitted Virostko, who now stands 5-foot-10 ("He finally caught up with his mouth," Barron would say.).
In time, though, the nickname proved fitting. Like the minuscule ankle-biter, young Darryl Virostko turned into Flea, a determined, resilient and hungry surfer. He learned to throw sweet aerials and long board with the best, but nothing matched the excitement of riding the big waves.
"It was this scary thing, but then it got fun," Virostko said. "The raw power of the waves, you could just feel it."
Problem was, surfing became Virostko?s life, and that didn?t sit well with his family.
"I was coming home, eating my Cheerios, then going down and going surfing. Then, I came home and went to bed," Virostko recalled. "My mom and dad and grandma started saying ?What are you going to do with your life?? I didn?t know. All I knew was that I wanted to get the hell out of high school. They said if you?re going to do it (surfing), you should do it all the way."
So after graduating, Virostko did, effectively releasing a big-wave shark into the wild.
Hold-down
Flea Virostko can?t catch his breath.
A Maverick?s wave has caught a hold of him and is pounding him against the reef, cutting through his wet suit and turning his skin into ground beef. One wave of 15-foot whitewash passes over. He struggles, trying to seize a gulp of air before another wave thunders through and slams him against the reef again. No luck. There?s no air, and there?s a good chance no one is coming to save him. It?s too dangerous, too risky and he?s not the most popular person in the water.
This recent trip was scary. For Virostko, though, it was familiar.
He thinks back to those days on his parents? couch, tries to relax, then pushes his way to the surface, to safety, to air.
"That?s what?s weird," Barron said. "Maybe his lack of breathing on land helps him hold his breath even longer. He?s been in situations like that, he knows what to do. And he still gets scared, everybody gets scared. But he?s got something that will get him through the hump."
Virostko says it?s not his asthma-acclimated lungs, but his family and friends.
In life, Virostko?s taken his share of bumps, bruises and slams, and not all have been delivered by waves. The scrappy little boy grew up into a brazen young man who lives as recklessly as he surfs. He curses, parties and calls things like he sees them. And somehow, he usually manages to sidestep the repercussions.
Some examples:
The night before competing in last year?s Cold Water Classic, someone stepped on the tip of Virostko?s thumb, breaking it, while he was partying at the Catalyst night club. But in true Flea style, he competed the next day anyway, and took second.
On occasion, after a night of drinking, Flea said he and his friends might form a circle for a game of slap. The friends will pair off and exchange slaps to the face as hard as they can without using the palm. Sometimes, they switch positions in the circle to increase the number of friends they get to slap. No one ever gets seriously injured, but Flea said the slaps can hurt.
"Sometimes you get a swollen lip or something," he said.
Up-and-coming big-wave surfer Anthony Tashnick said he can remember several times when Flea came to blows with someone not willing to wait his turn in the surfers? lineup. For that matter, Tashnick can remember a couple of times when his friend?s none-too-kind words were for him.
"I could see people reading him wrong, or maybe they deserve it," Tashnick said. "He would never necessarily go out of his way to mess with somebody, but he?s not afraid to say what?s on his mind."
"He?s got a lot of venom in what he?s doing. It?s almost like he takes his aggressions out in the water," Trimble agreed. "But he?s a lover, he?s just the sweetest guy."
For his nasty streak, Flea is making no apologies. He?s well aware that his bad boy reputation has brought him some extra attention, and he has no plans to temper it anytime soon.
"I?m pretty tame ? nah," he joked. "I have a wild side, but it?s a fun side. There?s always going to be a wild side."
For the friends who stick around long enough to know him as Darryl, though, the reward is unwavering loyalty. He has backed them up in brawls. He?s helped them out when they couldn?t afford to travel to a contest or buy a new board. He?s hung out with other surfers? kids at after-parties.
For all those reasons, Darryl Virostko will be the one man everyone wants to see in the icy water today at the Maverick?s Big Wave contest. But, whether he competes or not, Flea Virostko?s the one they?ll get.
"I?m not even going to feel good about the event if he?s not in it," said Santa Cruz?s Peter Mel, who finished second the past two contests. "You didn?t win the event if you didn?t surf against Flea."
|
