In September 1998, Andrew O’Riorden came to Princeton from SoCal with a vision of a Ivy League University where a select group of individual would take the sport of surfing to a new level. After a semester of no waves, O’Riorden was wondering if there was more to Princeton than Pre-meds, A capella groups, and the Tory. Luckily he teamed up with two of the east coast’s up-and-coming surfers, Danny Fuller and Paul Alexander. Fuller hailed from Pennsylvania of all places but had been known to be the only guy to paddle out in 30-foot blown-out Belmar. Paul hailed from Martha’s Vineyard where he was an established Abercrombie and Finch model. He started surfing in efforts to develop his “Hot guy” resume, but the allure of surfing overpowered his superficial intentions, and his natural ability in the water was obvious. Their triumvirate had some epic sessions since their conception.

The surf team grew with the entrance of O’Riorden’s homeboy Mark Herrema and Jersey’s own Kevin Weiner. Herrema’s top heavy frame is his driving force when he hits the lip at speeds approaching Mach 2. Weiner began too was captured by the beauty of waves, but his fixation came from the ripples of his junior high school swimming pool one day during practice during a kick board workout. That little bugger used to kick so hard he could ride the ripples Rick Cain style.

The following year the Haole Prodigy from Hawaii, Sean Vitousek or “Zack Barnes” as he is best known when he exploded into the world in the Hollywood blockbuster “Side Out” an underground 80’s beach volleyball flick.

The cast was set for the Princeton Surf Team.

From Left to Right: Paul Alexander, Mark Herrema, Sean Vitousek, Andrew O’Riorden, Danny Fuller.

…Please note the history of the surf team is for all intents and purposes humorous. The members of the surf team are real but the individual events accounted for this section are made up for the purposes of humor. So if you are offended… Lighten up, bro.