Plant City boy, 7, is a champion surfer

PLANT CITY, Fla. (AP) -- Joey Putnall may only be 7, but he has courted the waves since he was knee-high to a sand flea and the only thing dragging him down was a soggy diaper.

The second grader is ranked third nationally for his age group, which includes kids to age 12 -- a rare feat, according to the pros.

It helps that he has natural coordination, an undaunted attitude and a grandfather who also loves to surf.

"You either get this or you don't," says Bob Clark, Joey's granddad and mentor who started Joey on a boogie board when he was a toddler. "The coach can't swim alongside out there. This sport isn't like baseball or basketball, where if you fall down, your mom can get to you."

Joey recalls feeling a little nervous once at a surfing summer camp that took place just after a hurricane had passed, churning up the waves.

"I got into the biggest ones of the day," he says. "Yeah, there have been times I've just been annihilated.

"It sure wasn't the kind of summer camp where you sit around the campfire singing 'Kumbaya."'

Joey is an excellent student who gets his weekly schoolwork done as quickly as possible so he and his grandfather can hit the waves. He's also mature beyond his years, quick to offer a welcoming handshake and bid visitors a safe drive home.

"There is no doubt about it, Joey is going to be incredibly successful as a surfer and in life," says Duke Brouwer of Surftech, a Santa Cruz, Calif., surfboard maker that sponsors Joey and a passel of much older surfers. "His attitude for a child of his age is just so rare and enthusiastic.

"And he has a solid support system in his grandfather."

Clark's teen years in Mississippi were spent listening to the surf tunes of the '60s, back when the Beach Boys were king and Gidget didn't sell medicine for osteoporosis. A trip to California sealed the deal.

"The other kids in Mississippi loved country, but I liked the West Coast sound," Clark says. "I guess I was a misfit."

On weekends and when Joey has a day off school, Clark closes his auto repair business and the pair get on the computer. There, they peruse their favorite site, www.cflsurf.com, which has live video from beaches statewide, looking for the best conditions . Typically, they surf Cocoa Beach, but the Sebastian Inlet is Joey's favorite.

Joey's 4-year-old brother Kaden -- nicknamed Skeets -- hasn't shown much of an interest in surfing, says the boys' grandmother, Barb Clark, a hospice nurse.

Sometimes she and Skeets go along to enjoy the beach; Bob Clark calls his wife the "team nurse."

Joey needs one from time to time. Not long ago he fell off his board and scraped the side of his face along the bottom. Grisly-looking bruises are routine, and he once was stung by a jellyfish. It's not unusual for him to flip two or three times in the water when a wave tosses him from his board. After such incidents, he gets right back on.

"I've seen him get drilled -- absolutely drilled," his grandfather says. "Looking at him, you might not guess it, but he's a true athlete."

Clark says he used to jump into a pool with 15-month-old Joey in his arms. No floaties. They just teach kids to be afraid of the water, Clark says. If Joey lost his grip on his grandfather, Clark would leave him in the water for a second or two before pulling him up.

"I call those Bob's swimming lessons," he says.

Because they live in landlocked Plant City, Joey keeps in surf shape in a variety of ways. He balances on a device called an Indo Board, sometimes while he watches television and eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

He enjoys demonstrating how his grandmother flew up and then down as she attempted -- once -- to stand on the precarious board.

Joey also skateboards and practices balancing on his surfboard in his grandparents' pool.

A wetsuit keeps him from shivering -- not that he would notice.

Brouwer agrees Joey is fearless.

"Younger kids don't very often find themselves competing in the finals," he says, referring to Joey's third place in the AAU surfing championships in October. "The thing about Joey is, he doesn't know he shouldn't be there."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)