Andy Gitaitis Interview

If surfing lives somewhere deep in your heart and controls your psyche, owning a surf shop would be a pretty cool job.  Andy Gitaitis has owned Sierra Moon Surf and Skate shop since age 18 along with business partner Grant Willis.   Born and raised in Delaware, he has been riding our local waters  for his entire life.  He is cool, he is nice and he can surf.    

   

Name: Andrew  Gitaitis

Nickname:  "Andy"

Age: 33 

Weight: 165lb

Stance: goofy

Home Town:  Middletown, DE

Home Break:  Used to be South Side when it was breaking, now, sad to say, North Side with everyone else.

Board: Just buckled it, but it’s a 6’2” McCrystal out of California

How did you get into riding waves?   Started when I was a grom bodyboarding with everyone else at South Side, and from there I guess when I was 15 or 16 yrs old started messing around with stand up a little bit and by 18 it was all surfing.

you have owned Sierra Moon for a long time, how old were you when you became owner ,was it hard to keep focus at such young age? We were young, I believe I was 18 and my business partner was 19 yrs old, it wasn't hard to focus, we were so excited about it, we worked under Dion Lamb and Carl Becker who were the previous owners, I worked 1 year for them and Grant worked 4 years for them so they kind of showed us the ropes, it was easy sailing.

what changes have you made to the store in the recent years and since you became owner?   We picked up a ton of new companies, and of course you would have to do that with any clothing business, the way companies come and go, we did a few small constructions of up keep and maintenance but other than that the store is pretty much the same.

are you open in the winter? yes, we have been open every winter since we took over

heard you started shaping and want to carry all the local shapers boards?  Yeah that was exciting, one of our local shapers Ryan from East surfboards, he has been shaping for a while around here and I was talking to him one day, he said why don't we get you a blank and give it a go, so I grabbed  a blank off of him and shapped a board and it was a lot of fun.  I want to continue doing it, that's the focus I want to take with all the boards in the store, I would love to have all local shapers in the shop.  Including Mike Hague.

It would help the surf community grow and support each other.   yeah absolutely,  I haven't discussed it too much with them but I'm sure they would be pretty excited about it.  

Where do you surf now that the beaches got dredged and the break is ruined out front?  Surfing Rehoboth was a lot fun, even a few years ago, but ever since they did the beach replenishment it kind of screwed us up a little bit.  Once in a while we can still find a little break in Rehoboth but its few and far between. North Side has kind of been the spot, Towers was were I buckled my board recently, it was a super fun, super hollow day, unfortunately it didn't have   a good out come (laughs)

did you get out much this summer?  I feel like my wave count this year has been  pretty low, specially with Earl, only two really good days out of  it, and for what I understand points south like Assateague and places like that were going off well before and well after.  I feel like I missed out and I feel like I missed out a little bit on Danielle too.  

but you travel  a lot in the winter  for surf, what are some of your favorite places?yeah I do, for the last years we have been going to Puerto Rico,we have been staying with a local Rehoboth couple, they take us in down there and it has been  awesome, we go for about 3 weeks roughly and it has been amazing, such good time.  The problem is that Puerto Rico spoils you!

your thoughts on the Delaware surf scene lately?   Its interesting to see how things have changed since 98', it seems like, and I hate to sound negative, but the water has been ridiculously crowded these days, and its tough, I was reading on a forum, a surfer being honest, was saying, its few far and between when we get good surf on the mid Atlantic region so when you do get it and there is a million people out it's frustrating, so yeah it frustrates you a little bit. I'm  sure that all the crowds are do to North Side being one of the only spots breaking right now so I take it you cram everyone from Rehoboth  that used to surf here, everyone form Dewey and a lot of the cars in the parking lot are from MD, so its going to be crowded but  surfing in general is a good clean sport, you don't really hear too many negative things about it.  (laughs)

So you are not a hater when it comes to the crowds?  no no, of course I much rather surf a less crowded area but that's coming soon with the fall and we get a lot less people in the area, it will get easier on all the surfers.  

a lot of people think if you surf you are a bum?  Yeah its not that way anymore,  in our industry seems like  a lot of the good surfers, do have connections which is good, but they go on to be surf reps, they go onto work in the industry and it really pays off for them. It's good, that's the way I feel too, if I didn't bodyboard  I would have never met Deon, and then we wouldn't of been on the level were he would have offered me a position at the shop, so it kind of help me out by being in the water with people, and I've met so many good people along the way, it like a big family. You may not get along with them all the time but you are still family.

your a hot successful local are you single? ( laughs) oh wow you are going to get me in trouble,( laughs) there has been a couple of dates going on recently.

perfect day? (laughs)  there are a few spots my buddies and I go in Puerto Rico, I think that's pretty much my perfect day, and if I could turn some of those spots into lefts that would be even better.  Going down there and hanging out, surfing, its a lot of fun.

biggest wipe out? In Rehoboth surfing off of one of the jetties years ago, and every part of my body was covered with neoprene except a small part of my face, and darn if the board didn't hit me square between the eyes ( laughs)  my buddies drove me to the hospital to get stitches and laughed at me while I got those stitches.  Scar still there, it hit me harder than I've ever been hit in football.

hows the skate scene changed over the years?  skate still is super strong, of course we have been selling a ton of longboards, I think your average person these days are looking for a cool  way of transportation and they can stow there board away somewhere, Sector 9 are doing awesome, we just pulled in Loaded which is a super high end board for us, and Never Summers are one of my favorite boards at the store, the skate scene is awesome, still strong, just is taking a little different turn right now, but you still have your hard core skater guys, one of our guys that works in the shop is always out with his buddies, Teague, and they are killin' it they are tearing it up.

do you guys sponsor riders?  We kind of have some of the people that work with us, that are heavily involved like Teague is one of the better skaters.  So we do a little, kind of like a mini team.

you are always coming up with great ideas, anything  you are working on now?  yeah but it has nothing to do with surfing (laughs) I can't tell you until I get the patent on it, but lets just say its involved with off roading a little bit, its a cool project, I just bought a welder so I'm all about making stuff. 

how cool is the Beach Paper for having a surf and skim column every week? Super exciting, you are doing a great job, I read your article all the time.  Its amazing I think it's really cool that they are doing it, it draws a different crowd to read the local paper.

anyone you would like to thank?  I feel super lucky if it wasn't for Dion Lamb and Carl Becker giving us the opportunity that they did, I may of never been in the position to have a business, I was applying for a financial position at a local bank when Dion ask me to work here.  So I would like to thank them for the opportunity, Grant Willis my business partner and our former and current employees.

Thanks for the interview Andy.  Sierra Moon Surf and Skate is located at 16 Rehoboth Ave, Rehoboth Beach. They are loaded with the latest clothing, surf /skate gear and accessories.