Vince Troniec: 50 years of Surfing & The Glory Days of The Jersey Shore
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We had the honor of sitting down with 50-year surfing veteran & close friend Vince Troniec a couple of weeks ago...on his 69th birthday no less! We talked about surfing in the early days of Asbury Park, mindsets of surfing and what it was like being friends with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
This interview is special to us, as Vince is one of our closest family friends and a total local legend on the Jersey Shore. We have found every late night or oceanside chat with Vince to be one of the best talks we have ever had and felt it was about time we share him.
Vince started competing in surf competitions at an early age, and by age 17, he was invited to participate in the World Trials in Puerto Rico.
In 1968 the Vietnam war was being fought, and Vince had just lost his father. Going out on a limb, he relocated his mother and sister to Newport Beach, California, hoping that it would improve his mother's health issues. Thus ensued a wildly fun time spent in pre-Woodstock and hippy centric, 1960's California.
Vince paints a vivid picture for us of a time when surfing culture was in its infancy, and the likes of Janice Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin were making musical history — and he even has the concert ticket stubs to prove it.
From watching Asbury park grow into the hipster enclave it is today, to being one of the first people to stock Quiksilver in his surf store, Vince has a colorful and storied past, but is also an extraordinarily down-to-earth and impressively humble human.
He shared with us his early venture of owning a lucrative surf shop and how he has been fortunate enough to make a career out of his favorite thing to do — ride the waves.
So sit back, get comfortable, and prepare to visualize the history of surfing in all of its glory, told through the eyes of the incredibly passionate and insanely talented surf legend, Vince Troniec.
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