A Surfer’s Tale

Artist and pro surfer Tony Caramanico turns his daily journaling hobby gleaned from his good friend Peter Beard into sought-after art, selling in galleries in NY and St. Barths, and inspiring us all by sharing his story of traveling the world and the characters he met along the journey.

A RECENT INDUCTEE of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame, Tony Caramanico is a longtime friend of Tradewind Aviation, having been sponsored by the airline for almost a decade. A Montauker since 1971, Caramanico was born and raised in Amityville, Long Island, moved out east to Montauk in his 20s and never left . . . other than to surf in global competitions from Japan to Costa Rica, spending stints in Indonesia, his house in Tobago and on St. Barths. He won his first surfing contest in 1969 in Jacksonville, Florida, and went on to win numerous surfing championships abroad. As he says, “Surfing is my life.”

Having spent the ’70s traveling the world and surfing, he was able to meet a variety of local surfers who showed him the local ways, and, as he explains, “If you’re good, then they let you in and all the doors open.” In 1980, he pitched the idea of an episode about traveling surfers to TV executives at ABC’s The American Sportsman. They filmed the episode in Grajagan, Indonesia, one of Caramanico’s favorite surf destinations, with U.S. surfing champions Ricky Rasmussen and Linda Davoli, along with surfer, TV and film star Gregory Harrison. The program was super successful, garnering an Emmy and showcasing to TV viewers the way surfers traveled the world and ventured to some of the most remote places in search of excellent surf.

In addition to competing and documenting the surfing world, Caramanico also made surfboards, having learned under Greg Noll. In fact, Greg Noll, along with Joel Tudor Surfboards, Channin, Surftech and Phoenix, have sold his model surfboard. He is also a collector and has an assembly of antique surfboards dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, including one that he had painted by Julian Schnabel, who he used to surf with in the ’90s. With so much skill and know-how, it’s no surprise Caramanico also became a soughtafter instructor, teaching in Montauk over the years as well as mentoring young surfers in ways of life both in and out of the water. He had clients follow him down to St. Barths and was often seen surfing the break down at Le Toiny (his favorite) with his VIP and VVIP clients alongside.

Today though, journaling and creating art from his previous daily journals demand much of his current focus. He had his first show at Le Clic gallery in 2008 in St. Barths, but he sold his first piece well before that in 2001. Each year has seen more and more interest in his work, with this past year being his best yet. His artwork chronicles the 45 years he spent traveling and surfing the globe. He reckons the current interest in surfing to be a huge driving force behind the appreciation for his work. As he notes, “Back in the ’70s and ’80s no one really cared about surfing, and then in the last decade it has taken off, and the industry has grown tremendously. I’ve sold limited-edition prints and some of my vintage surfboards due to the surge in interest. Surfing is here to stay.”

Caramanico credits his love of journaling to the seven years he spent living off and on with Peter Beard and his then-wife Cheryl Tiegs in Montauk. “He taught me a lot of artwork in the late ’70s until about ’84. With Peter, it was good observation to see how he moved through the world, how connected and how talented he was, and how you met everybody who was anybody through him. Most of all, I took away the artwork. We used to do journals together—stay up all night doing the preparations of the pages. I spent a lot of time with him in the creative process. Plus, he lived right on one of the best breaks on the East Coast in Montauk.” When met with responses to how fascinating his life has been, he muses, “I grew up in Long Island. I started working in a surf shop in ’63 and I’ve had several surf stores all my life. I just sort of evolved with the surfing thing. There was no course on how to live being a professional surfer since it barely even existed until the ’70s, though now guys are finally getting their due. I’ve been around the players since I was a youth. All the pioneers are my friends now.”

For Caramanico, what he does is simply an extension of what he’s been doing, and it’s exciting to be able to convert his daily habit of journaling with his love for surfing and surfboards into an artistic expression people appreciate. This past year he has started to make original collages from his original prints. The response has been extremely positive. In addition to St. Barths, he has had shows at New York’s ARC Fine Art Gallery, and his work is going to be featured in the windows of Ralph Lauren this summer in East Hampton. Of course, his longboard is never too far from reach; in fact, he has many stowed around the world, having forgone shuttling them back and forth. He even has one at Jimmy Buffett’s shack in St. Barths! Ever the humble surfer and artist, though, when asked what’s next for him, Caramanico bemusedly replies, “I just want to keep going and doing what I do.”