Corey Mahoney Interview

Corey Mahoney is a professional skimboarder  that has been leading the wave of new skimmers on the east coast.   He owns Alley Oop with his business partner and childhood friend Jason Wilson.  They both have contribute to changing the lives of many kids with their summer skim camps and clinics.   Corey has mad steez (style) on his board making huge waves seem effortless.  Summers in Delaware, winters in Florida,  Alley Oop is a way of life!   

Corey skimming North Side-  Photo by Gel Clemmer-

Name:  Corey T. Mahoney

Nickname:  There are a lot of those, but Ramon or “Moe-nee”, I forget why but Carter Schmidt threw that out there one time and I kinda accepted it and everyone else called me that from that point on.

Age: 29

Weight: from 180lb to 195lb

Stance: I’m regular

Home Town: Dewey Beach, DE

Home Break: South Side, DE

Board: My new exile

How long have you been skimming?  and how did you get into it?

Coming up on 20 years, I was friends with Jason (Wilson) and Joey (Vavala) growing up,    I tried Geoff Shupard’s  board, one of his old Sand Pipers from back in the day and just went on from there, kinda got hooked and started doing it and wanted to get better than them  although it will probably never happen!  (laughs)  my parents used to let me ride the Trolley to Dewey every day from Rehoboth and it just developed like that.

How would you describe your skimboard style?

I’m more of techy skimboarer for a big guy, my ideal wave is something that's about waist high, with a nice open face that I can bust a trick on, my favorite move to do is a front side slash,  that way I can put my whole big 6 foot frame into it.

Your thoughts on Grinching?  The greatest creation in the world!  Even though I haven’t gotten a gem of a wave on it .  It’s just so much fun the effortless work, its more of concentrating into riding a big wave than getting out to it, you lose a lot of your energy trying to get out to waves like that.   There are so many days where is a little to far out to  get to for skim and too close to the beach to surf, the grinch takes that out of the equation.  

Do you skim everyday? 

I try to, had a little injury, I’ve been rehabbing the knee, a dancing accident (laughs)

 Your best session ever?

probably the first time I won the east coast, I call it a session cause I was skimming with three of my best friends Geoff Shupard, Connor Schmidt and Jamie Celano, think it was 2004, just tyring to out do all my buddies.

worst wipeout?

L:Corey Mahoney and Jason Wilson checking the waves.

when I was 16 I cracked my head open, I was skimming with Greg Catts and Joey Vavala, who were not 16 yet, we were at South Side on this really big day, we were playing a game called suicide, you just throw your board down and slide into any wave that was coming, it doesn’t matter if it is a 6 foot wave slamming into the shore, when you are told to go you go.  The wave I went to, I timed it perfectly , I went up and I  was going wrap it but the board slipped out and I went under,  I came up, and though where is my board and boom on top of my head.  I came out of the water holding my head, it didn’t really hurt that bad, I was just holding it and looked down and there was blood running down my chest and I looked at my hands and they were covered in blood.  Called the lifeguards over, they were freaking me out, the one life guard says “woah” .  There are only a few ways to wrap your head, around your temple or like you have a tooth ache, they started to warp my head like I had a toothache, Greg and Joey lost it laughing. Life guard tells me I need to get to the hospital because if I lose a lot of blood I can pass out, then I started thinking I had to drive myself to the hospital because Joey and Greg didn’t have a license. Long story short, 4 staples in my head, you can still feel the bump on my head.

favorite trick?  Front side big spin! 

Favorite place to skim in the world? Cabo, lovers beach, its a cross between cabo and 

a place up towards Todos, I can’t name the beach, people wouldn't want me doing that. Nice reef break in the middle of nowhere.

Do you practice any other sports?  Skate a little bit, and my background I played La Cross all through college.

You are positive influence to a lot of skimmers, who were some of the people that influenced you while growing up?  My friends influenced me a lot and I looked up to George Bryan a little bit. Everybody was into the Beaker  and he is ridiculously good, but I’ve never picked the best person in the sport as my influence I look for different qualities, Goe is a big guy, I’m a big guy.....kinda just looked up to him a little bit more

How did alley oop come about? We had an idea, that basically nobody was getting taught how to skimboard, when I was in my senior year of high school I thought why isn’t anybody doing this.  No body was even giving a lesson, maybe people thought no one would pay for it.  I saw an opportunity and all it took was a poster and a flyer, skim lessons $20 a pop, and then the teaching aspect of it developed.  The name came from Jason (Wilson) we had the idea sitting around and pitched it to Harry, hoping that he would get the idea and run with it and I would work at it, but he flipped it on me saying “no I want you to do it, this is something you should do as your business”   We had all the tools, Dewey Beach, everybody skims the element is there, had the promotion for the store Dewey Surf and Sport and everybody around to be the counselors.  First year didn’t really get much attention, next year we got 18 kids,the first year was a sleep over camp.   It has eleven years now and now we are at 294 new campers for this year.  It has grown.

When did you guys open the FL alley oop and where is it ?  We opened last December,  because this is such seasonal town, and we want to do this as a main way to make a living that was the best place to do it.  Besides half of our online business was coming from FL.   It was more of a question  of  where not if we should do it.   Its in Lauderdale by the sea, Ft Lauderdale.  Another cool thing that has happened is that all of our employees were campers.  In 2002 Dave Grok came to camp and now he has been our head counselor for 2 years. It all comes full circle.

What are some of the most rewarding things that come from having the camps?  Getting the kids into something positive, showing them another way of life at the beach.  Spreading the passion for skimboarding, making it infectious.   

How was this years Championship Contest?  It was awesome. It was Jason and Harrys theory on how they could make this an amateur world championship pan out.  This year was the skimboard championships 30th year, and it started as an amateur event with 20 competitors.  Not having the pros there was a concern in the skimboarding community, that maybe it wouldn’t be as competitive but the fact that we kept the semi pros,  those guys that are in that division are driving the sport right now.  I was on the mic and there was a point in the super heat that I couldn't talk fast enough, it was wave after wave, John Weber, Sam McCoy, Sean Kenny.  The riding level has gone up so much that some of these riders should be going pro already.  The other aspects were having Joe Bonk come back for his last hurrah as an announcer and Harry's last year too.  We dedicated an award to Harry, the H-Dub Professional Volunteer award, there are people that go to all the contests and are there from the time you set up to  the time you break down, and that's what Harry does he is dedicating all  of his time to something he is not getting paid for , and being the main sponsor this year it was the culmination to something we have been trying to accomplish, trying to give back to the sport as much as we can.

What are some of the other events you guys will be hosting this year?

In Delaware we have the Coastal Clean Up ,September 17th, we invite everybody to come help out clean the beach, we are responsible for all of  Dewey, 9am-12pm  and we are doing our Halloween contest October 29th “ Sea Witch competition” , that one is always fun, seeing what everyone will come up with for costumes and if you win the costume contest you get to be on the Tshirt for next year, last year we had Kiss and those turned out sick and for this year we have the little rascals by Nate and Syd Phillips with their dog.  We'll possibly have some skateboarding things going on, working stuff out with Epworth church,  that's the church Jason and I attended, we have some good ties there.     Oh yeah and we have huge sale on Labor Day weekend!

What do the kids around here need to do to get sponsored?   Put media together, photos, videos, and hounding people like myself.    We find you, go skim have a positive attitude, if we feel like you can be a good representative to Alley Oop we will put you on the team.  It’s really a false since of what being sponsor really is, being sponsored is really all about representing a company, and that's the first thing you should ask yourself, how can I represent this company well, it's not just a sticker on your board.    Delaware kids have a lot of potential, they need to find a good wetsuit and skim year around. 

Thanks to?

Shout out to Jdub, Harry and the Wilson family, my parents for supporting me in everything that I do,  my friends, and all the counselors.  

Thanks for the interview Corey. Alley Oop is located on New Orleans St,  Dewey Beach Delaware