For two South Strand boys, separate routes to surfing success

When Trip Chandler began surfing at age 3, his boards were just four feet long, “just like little pieces of fiberglass,” he said.

Now, Trip has graduated to a long board — and with it, wins in one of the top national competitions for amateurs.

Micha Cantor also was small when he began surfing. On the water today, he rips through large swells on a shortboard, mixing a more relaxed “old-school” style with “new school,” which focuses on swift twists and multi-foot jumps that could look at home in a skate park.

Trip, 16, of Pawleys Island, and Micha, 15, of Murrells Inlet, have both seen success in national surfing competitions this month, but arrived at the top of the pack through drastically different paths.

Trip, who rides both short and long boards, was surfing before he was strong enough to paddle out and catch a wave. His father, Tom Chandler, also grew up surfing, and lent his son a hand as he nurtured the habit.

“He was five, and he was a little teeny guy, and I’d have to get him out and I’d have to push him in, and he would ride the waves in,” Tom Chandler said.

At five, Trip Chandler won his first competition, which ended with the mayor of Pawleys Island presenting him with a trophy. It was the moment that began a lifelong competitive spirit.

“I was just like surfing, I wasn’t even really like into (the competition). But when I found out I won, I think I just knew I wanted to win every time after that,” he said.

Trip Chandler won the explorer division for longboard at this year’s National Scholastic Surf Association’s national competition, and came fourth in longboard for the open division. In each division, surfers have a limited amount of time to select and ride a wave — ranging from 20 to 25 minutes — that will garner them a high enough score to win.

Hoping for a good wave in a limited time period while floating far from shore is “the most stressful thing in the world,” Trip Chandler said.

“Sometimes you can hear it (the announcers) perfectly and you know exactly what you need and you know exactly where you stand,” he said. “Other times you can’t hear anything and you’re just coming in clueless.”

To get to nationals, Trip Chandler won a regional competition for the east coast in Florida this April. However, competing at a regional and national level requires extensive travel. Trip Chandler said he’s traveling to catch bigger waves at least once a month — the shape of the continental shelf in North Carolina often blocks larger surges from reaching the Grand Strand, giving surfers who grow up in California, Hawaii or the Caribbean a significant advantage.

Tom Chandler says this fact made Trip’s win all the sweeter. “It was especially great for an East Coast kid to bring some fame over this way, cause it doesn’t usually come over here,” he said.

Micha, who placed third in NSSA’s open junior division, travels even more frequently. He returned from a recent surfing trip July 4 and plans to get back on a plane Sunday to fly to California.

While Trip Chandler attends Waccamaw High School, Micha has more flexibility in his surf schedule, because he is home-schooled. Micha’s mom, Tonya Moore, said it’s a common situation for competitive surfers.

“We run across it more and more now because a lot of people he surfs against, competes with, travels with, they’re home-schooled,” Moore said.

Micha has long been a sponsored surfer, picking up support from Billabong at 8 and then moving to a newer company, Vissla, at 13. The sponsorships include a monthly salary and money to help with travel, which can get expensive — in addition to plane fare and lodging, surfers have to pay to ship their boards safely.

And for Micha, traveling is not just a means to compete — it increases his profile, something Vissla encourages.

“They want you to go and see some good waves, because they believe that’s what’s going to make you better,” said Micha’s father, Stoney Cantor.

Micha Cantor is competitive, and his father, also a surfer, joked that he quit competing before Micha could surpass him. The competitions, however, are not a prime focus for Vissla.

“If you win something, they’re obviously gonna be happy that you won it,” Micha Cantor said. “But I would say that they put out more promotional (videos).”

Social media is also a crucial part of Micha Cantor’s burgeoning career. He has an active Instagram page, where he often posts shots of his surfing and content from Vissla.

Right now, he’s part of a competition sponsored by Quicksilver, where online followers can vote him into the next round of a tournament.

Micha Cantor says he has no problem with his passion becoming his career early in life. While his mom hopes he goes to college as a backup plan, Micha said he’s focusing on going pro. He just made the Surfing America USA Team this year, one step in that process.

For Trip Chandler, the decision to go pro or focus on a more traditional career is still a few years away. He does plan to go to college, however, and he’s interested in Marine Biology. Trip liked Pepperdine University during a recent tour, when he was in California to practice for NSSA.

Wherever he goes, though, it will be close to be beach “for sure.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 4:14 PM with the headline "For two South Strand boys, separate routes to surfing success."