At The Bar With A World Champion Surfer

Last week, Julia and I were surprised to meet one of nicest professional surfers you will ever meet. Though the chance encounter was unexpected and certainly not planned, we were graceful enough to avoid embarrassment.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, and I had heard that Billabong’s new surf flick ‘Still Filthy’ was going to be premiering at a local watering hole in Jax Beach. I also heard that Mark Occhilupo (Occy) was in town earlier in the day, but I totally didn’t put two and two together that he would be at the premiere.

I certainly didn’t even think about when I was convincing Julia to go with me to the premiere. It just so happened that Nana was staying the night with us, so it was pretty much a no brainer. We hadn’t had a night out in quite some time, Nana was there to watch Donovan, we had cab money, and we had already eaten dinner; all things pointed us out for some drinks and a free movie premiere.

We got dressed and called our cab, and we were off. As soon as we got in the bar, we saw our friend Kelli at the end of the bar (she has pink hair, hard to miss). She said that she was just chilling with Occy. I was like WUT?!?!?! I glanced over, and sure enough, there he was. He wasn’t surrounded by anyone; he was just standing there sucking down a cold bottle of beer relaxing, when I asked him: “Occy! Can I get a picture with you?”

He obliged, but before we could get a shot, I thought to myself, “Julia would flip out if she knew Occ was here and ready for a photo.” I asked Occy if he would rather take a photo with my wife, explaining that my wife was/is much better looking than I. I pointed her out to him, and he quickly agreed.

I got Julia’s attention and motioned her toward us. She came over and her eyes lit up like big saucers and she grinned from ear to ear. Of course, for her pose, she showed her bashful side:

We goofed around with him and a bunch of other pro surfers for the rest of the night. It really was a fun night, one of the funnest nights out in a long, long time.