Quick word before we get into today's show. I am recovering from a cold. I've barely just regained the use of my voice.

Terrible sore throat. Couldn't even talk. But I've been meaning to get this episode out for the last few days and wasn't able to because I needed to record this intro and outro for the episode.

So bear with me as I struggle through it.

Brevard County may not be a well-known name outside of Florida, but its impact and influence to the surf world at large is vast.

Much of it is directly influenced by the aerospace industry.

In 1948, the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was opened, and in 1968, NASA's Kennedy Space Center was opened.

This industry recruited tens of thousands of the nation's brightest minds from a wide array of disciplines,

many of whom were young and just starting families.

So you see Florida's surf boom really start to happen with the kids being born in those next two generations,

Kelly Slater among them.

Canaveral Port services one of the largest cruise ports in the entire world,

and it brings in much of the goods that service Disney World's economy. The port has contributed

half a billion dollars annually to Brevard County's economy. The county deserves a very thorough telling of its surf history,

and I probably should do that, but on this trip I was only there for two days. As I spoke to

people, Matt Keckley, namely, he gave me a long list of important board builders, retail shop

owners, community leaders that I should be speaking with. I actually have a few more episodes

with different Brevard County personalities that I'll be releasing in the upcoming weeks. But I think

that Ricky Carroll is a great starting point. Firstly, because in much of his story, he pays

homage to Florida's founding figures, a real testament to Ricky's humility.

So that helps create a historical context. And then secondly, Ricky's a great starting point

because he has become an iconic figure in his own right. And the volumes of boards that he's built

in the past few decades has been fundamental in setting up a supply chain for board building materials

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