STATS Name:  Blair Cherico Nickname: C-Pit Age: Can I lie? Mentally I would be around 15 or 16, where I want to be is 25, but I’m going to turn 36 in August. Weight: 168 pounds Stance: Regular foot Hometown: I was born and raised in Wilmington, but spent my summers here (Dewey Beach) and now I live here. Home break: Out front…Dewey Beach. Carolina Street. Good ol’ Carpenter’s Jetty. Board: Grape Skimboard. The shaper was Paul Wade, one of the original shapers for Victoria skimboards. He kind of broke off years back.  After riding for Zap for nine years…maybe a little bit longer. I stopped competing and moved on to riding some different boards. Sponsors: Dewey Beach Surf Shop and Run Drop Slide with Steve Pullara. He takes care of me. Working with Freak…just little things, so I can get some free stuff.

How did you get the nickname C-Pit?
That’s a funny story. It started with Zap Skimboards. On their website they had professional riders’ profiles, under the nickname for mine it had C-Pit, and no one knew where it came from. No one had a clue. So one day I was sitting around with some of the younger kids and somebody was like: “What’s up, C-Pit?” I totally blew it off…had no idea what was going on. The next thing I know somebody came up to me and said: “What’s up with the nickname thing?”  I went home and looked at it, called Zap and asked where it came from. They said it must have been on the profile sheet I filled out, [laughs], but it was never on my profile paper. It just stuck.

How many years have you been skimboarding and where did you start?
I started on Salisbury Street in Dewey Beach, in 1983. That’s a long time, 27 years.

Your first board?  
My first board was a Sand Piper. Plastic, little handles, a stick together, big round nose and square end.  I think I had two of those and moved on from there.

Was there a defining moment when you went from just skimming around to seriously skimming?  
I think with any sport you get competitive, even with your friends. When you are growing up you skim with a guy in town and you are always trying to be competitive about it. But I think when it really hit home to me and got serious, was probably when I was 17 or 18, right after I graduated. Most of the guys I skimmed with bailed and it was just me and Jeff Dearie, and then he bailed so I was on my own. I decided I wasn’t going to stop skimming, I’ve been doing it forever, I love it! What else am I gonna do to progress and get better? I saw some videos of the guys from Laguna  and decided I was going to start traveling.

Do you do any other sports?
I’ve always been involved with sports, for the past three years Jiu Jitsu, Judo and Muay Thai have been a huge part of my life.

Does it keep you in shape for skimming?
Without a doubt, that is by far the best shape I’ve been in, when I was competing with that (Jiu Jitsu, Judo and Muay Thai) and when I was competing in skimboarding.  Great strength and great balance helps out in skimboarding.

Viewed by you, give a timeline of skimboarding in Delaware. 
That would be a long timeline. When I came on the scene it was around for a little while. There were some guys that were pretty hardcore. They weren’t too much into helping out any of the kids. We got pushed to the side, just watching, of course, kind of sneaking in and trying to claim our ground. As they got older, we moved on.  I have always seen skimboarding come up and go down. Right now, skimboarding is on a plateau…it isn’t up or down.  I remember at one point in time - this is one thing that sticks with me - the contest was super huge and we had TWA (airline) as a sponsor. They were giving away four continental U.S. airline tickets for the top four people in the super heat.  We didn’t have a professional division at that time and of course I got fifth, so I was bent but I ended up placing the next year. That winter we had a bunch of nor’easters and it took out the boardwalk, the beach and all kinds of stuff. The next year, for prizes, we were given dune grass.  That’s the rise and fall, and it seems that it has been that way constantly. Even then in the ‘80s or early ‘90s when that was going on with TWA, it was $6,000-$7,000 in a contest - it was huge for that time. The next year’s we had plain T-shirts with small sponsors on it…probably had $1,500 involved in the contest. [We were] literally given dune grass and planted it where the contest was that year.  

When do you think the skim scene became obvious in Dewey Beach?  
It was way before me. The skimboard blood goes deep in this town. Like Francis Walsh, his family lived here before I even thought about being here. I came here at 6 or 7 years old and skimboarding had already been here for a decade. Those guys were killin’ it. I think it is relevant that you come to this town and skim. It’s a shore break. It has exploded beyond Dewey Beach. Still funny to go on the beach and have people come up and ask you what kind of board you have. I makes you think it still hasn’t made it outside of here, but usually you find out those people are from the Midwest.

I know you like to travel around the world but especially to Chile. What makes it so good there?
My No. 1 reason for going there was the waves. Then when I showed up, it had nothing to do with the waves, not one bit. From the time I was there to the second time I went,  a lot of it had to do with the beautiful scenery, beautiful water, the people and the culture. The family side of it was so huge, it drove home to me. Growing up, my family always stuck together, always had dinner on the table, where everybody would converse. It was the same when I got to Chile. Everybody sat down, and at the end of the day everybody talked about the day. Didn’t hurt at all that it was a good nine-feet, on the beach the day I arrived (laughs). Monster swells, nailing on the beach in Algarrobo. I fell in love with that place. I would move there just for those hot dogs they sell with guacamole and tomatoes with ketchup. I want one of those things again. I love that stuff.

How do you describe your style of skimboarding?  
Powerful maybe? I’m not so graceful in my skimboarding. I wouldn’t say technical…just more powerful than anything else. I have an old-school technique with a bit of a progressive side ‘cause I’ve stayed in it for so long.  I tried my best to keep up with what is up and coming. You can only go so far with your body and what it gives you. The years catch up to you.

Where is the sport of skimboarding going?  
Given the years I have been involved and the years I’ve put in the surf shop, I hope there is something in the future for the sport, Where kids can find scholarships off it, make a living off it, even if is not some huge living but just the companies that are out there, like the larger surf companies would just hugely recognize it and make it part of their industry. We build from the ground up, surfing is such a huge thing, everybody can buy a board and paddle out, skimboarding becomes a little harder in trying to learn, that the surf industry shuts us down everywhere.  I think the only way it’s going to ever build up is if we build the empire and that the right people are involved in it, and not the people that have been doing it. It seems to be that most of them are involved for themselves in the upper side of this, where it is just a financial thing for them. It has nothing to do with building the sport, they are perfectly happy making the money that they make. They don’t care about were these kids end up.

Your favorite all time skimmer? Why?  
That’s a tough one. There are a bunch on that list at this point in time, because I know a lot of them very closely. Their personalities would cause me to say I like one more than the other, but just for skimboarding style: Noogie, Brandon Stevens, the guy is 5-foot-4 and slays some of the biggest stuff I have ever seen in my life and has the biggest heart on earth. The first time I met him he was crying on my shoulder [laughs]. I was like: “This guy is riding giants but tearing up over here.”  Beaker (Bill Bryan) and Paulo (Paulo Prietto), Geo (George Bryan) and all those guys have slayed  it for years  and its hard for me to pick one.

Biggest wipeout? 
I ate it pretty bad in Cabo (San Lucas, Mexico) one time. And you would think it was off something really big. I’ve been lucky when I’m riding the big stuff, I hold on for dear life. But I was running off to something, a sider came off the beach and I dropped my board. Something ate my board - at a full dead run - as fast as I can run. I dropped the board, stepped on it and it came out from underneath of me, on the driest sand on earth. I went face first and slid about 10 feet on my face and then got destroyed by some monster wave coming in and got pushed on the beach.  I was just lying there like a piece of seaweed. I didn’t budge for about five minutes. I just rolled there, caught my breath, collected thoughts in my head, about who I was, where I was, and making sure bones weren’t broken. That one I remember pretty well, but there have been some other bad ones.  That one might of caused permanent injury...mentally [laughs].

Best session in Delaware?  
That could never be answered. There was a sick session, a couple of seasons ago, in front of the old Nomad Village.  On fire liners, chest to head high, some over head sets were coming in and open barrels, but we get that so often around here, you end up having to be at the right place at the right time.  If you grow up here, you will get that once or twice a year.  I had epic liners out of North Side (Indian River Inlet). I’m going to claim North Side for the first time in probably 15 years, since that place got hit with a Northeastern. There used to be 10 feet of sand on that beach, and the slope was steep, and when the hurricanes would come in they would push the largest waves down the beach. At the Naval Jetty I’ve caught some great stuff. I think by far the best sessions come from North Shores. I say mile-long liners but at least 70-yard liners. South Side with its big lumpy barrels you can’t beat the fact that you can get inside something so hallow on the East Coast, I’ve never found a place on the East Coast like it.  I’ve been to one end from the other, and I’ve never found a place that opens up like South Side.

Biggest fear? 
Growing old, I guess, and not being able to skimboard again. I think that’s my biggest fear, to have to put my board down and say this is not for me anymore. Have to sit back and watch somebody else do what I wish I could do.

The love of your life? 
By far, my daughter Sage. Without a doubt she is the love of my life and every portion of my life.

Do you skim everyday? 
I try to. Responsibilities take a toll. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning things don’t work so well. My body has taken its toll, Jiu Jitsu has taken its toll, too, plus a few car accidents [laughs].

Is there something that all skimmers need to know to cross to the next level?  
Just like anything else and in any other sport, be determined, don’t get frustrated.  In our skim camps, I tell all the kids, whether it’s five kids that week or 35 kids that week, I tell them: “Don’t get frustrated; keep being determined. If you want to be good at something you just have to do it, over and over again.”  I’ve been skimming for 27 years. I still don’t know everything. I can take advice from somebody and I could skim more if I was really determined to get better. If there is something that’s not working for me, I’ll just do it over and over until I get it.  

Skimboard camps?   
Yeah, the skim camps have been a great thing. Around 11 years ago the camps popped up and it has definitely helped push the skimboarding envelope. We have taught over 1,200 kids how to functionally skimboard. A lot of them moved on but  a percentage of those are the new up and coming guys that are beyond up and coming. They are all killin’ it and they come out of this town, you will talk to these guys in a few minutes, can’t beat it.  I have been doing them for 11 years now, I’ve written the programs and we change things up, we take suggestions. I’ve never seen a camp like this in my entire life, sometimes it gets frustrating. The waves or the weather doesn’t go so well for it but you can’t find a camp for the price, $300 feeds your child all week long, they get to play on the beach all week long and hang out with this type of mentality, and the level of skimboarding that they get out of it. It’s amazing.

Angelica Clemmer is an international surfer, snowboarder, artist and photographer.

Long, warm days draw people to the beach every summer, and beachgoers find they have company as area waters are teeming with marine life.

Summer is the height of beach season as well as the peak reproductive season for fish and jellyfish.

Jellyfish are among a variety of sea creatures that breed in coastal waters and swim close to shore, said Todd Frichtman, captain of the Dewey Beach Patrol. He said they haven’t turned up any earlier or in greater numbers than normal.

Warm waters have been favorable to jellyfish, said Charles Epifanio, marine science professor and interim director of the University of Delaware’s School of Marine Science and Policy.

What are remedies for the sting? There are lots of remedies thought to treat jellyfish stings, but scientists consider vinegar the best option, said Charles Epifanio, marine science professor and interim director of the University of Delaware’s School of Marine Science and Policy. Vinegar is a weak acid that breaks down the protein that causes stings, he said. “Some still recommend meat tenderizer, although that’s pretty much passé with more serious sources,” he said. Epifanio said some people recommend urine, which may help stings because the ammonia in it breaks down protein, but vinegar is considered the best treatment. “If you get stung, don’t rub it. You’ll get the stinging cells to release more toxins and make the sting worse,” Epifanio said. Warm water and warm compresses should provide relief in the absence in vinegar. Dewey Beach Patrol Captain Todd Frichtman said his lifeguard staff apply Barbasol shaving cream to soothe jellyfish stings and use fine-edged plastics to scrape off stinging cells. Frichtman said while serious reactions requiring medical care happen, they are extremely rare. Most people experience mild burning and skin irritation from stings, he said. Jellyfish sting by piercing skin and injecting venom designed to paralyze prey, said Frichtman. In people, it normally generates an allergic reaction. In case of serious reactions, go straight to the hospital. Most mild stings are better in a day or so.

“Jellyfish aren’t very good swimmers, so they pretty much go where the currents take them,” said Epifanio.

Epifanio said several species of jellyfish are in area waters already. That doesn’t necessarily mean their numbers will continue to grow through the summer, he said, and it’s difficult to predict how many will be around through the rest of the season.

Delaware is at the southern range of the red lion’s mane jellyfish, which probably won’t be around much longer, said Epifanio. In more northern waters, lion’s mane jellyfish can reach diameters of six feet or more, but in this area, the largest are around eight inches across, he said.

They sting, but Epifanio said most people aren’t badly affected by them.

“Moon jellies look ferocious, but they aren’t,” said Epifanio.

The stinging cells in these large, translucent jellyfish with four white rings, don’t affect human skin, he said. Mushroom jellyfish are very common, and also relatively harmless, he said.

Chesapeake nettles, on the other hand, do sting. White with long tentacles, nettles are nasty, Epifanio said.

“There’s not much swimming in the Chesapeake Bay because of them,” he said. Generally, there are more nettles as the summer progresses, said Epifano.

Later in the season, mini ribbed jellyfish, small round ones that look like clear hockey pucks, will show up.

It's amazing to think at what just a big difference small hands can make. On Sunday evening, July 25, two Rehoboth Beach children (Nate, age 4, and Maya, 6) enthusiastically set out on a challenge and came back with some surprising results.

A little backstory: Sara Bayles was one of the finalists in Oceana's “Ocean Heroes” awards along with our local champion of marine mammals, Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation (MERR) Institute. Sara writes and documents a nightly ritual of picking up trash near her home in Santa Monica, California, on her site “The Daily Ocean.” Her results are both startling and depressing.

For 20 minutes a day, Sara combs the sand, plucking refuse from the shoreline, and documenting her findings, from the common (plastic bags) to the more obscure (a Storm Trooper, a naked woman candle, a roller skate wheel). She then takes the trash and weighs how much she has collected. Her goal is to collect it for 365 non-consecutive days. At press time, she was on Day 133, and has amassed 542.6 pounds of garbage from her spot at Lifeguard Tower 26.

So when we connected months ago after the nominees were announced, we both said how much we respected what the other was doing for the coastal community in which we lived. The resulted in a bi-coastal effort. Nothing overwhelming, nothing fancy. Just a simple stroll along the two opposite beaches at dusk, armed with trash bags and an eye for litter. Our young local trash collectors hit the beach at Stockley Street at dusk on Sunday, July 26, with verve and excitement as only young minds could. And within a 30-minute, two-block scan, they managed to collect 6.5 pounds of trash on their very own.

Their bags were filled with the usual suspects: water and soda bottles, lids, cigarette butts – but they also unearthed some surprising finds along our local coast. They included:

• a bandage
• a boxed salad
• several toy shovels (both broken and whole)
• a beach chair tote
• soda cans
• a flip flop
• a beach chair

The entire evening was an exciting, albeit none-too-glamorous, one for the children, who darted along the beach as though they were on a scavenger hunt. And even at the age of 4 and 6, they knew what did not belong on the sands.

It made me wonder at just what age do we lose that enthusiasm for helping keep our beach clean and leave our refuse behind for others to worry about. Be sure to check out more on this story, as well as more about Sara Bayles at thedailyocean.blogspot.com. For more information about MERR Institute, check out their website at merrinstitute.org.

Few things can be as refreshing as a quick dip in the pool on a hot summer day. Summer humidity can get to almost anyone, including the family pet. But while most members of the family can dive into the pool or take a cold shower to cool off, man’s best friend isn’t so lucky.

Keeping pets cool in the summer should be a priority, as Fido certainly can’t ask for the air conditioner to be turned up. Recognizing the need to cool down pets during the summertime, the American Animal Hospital Association offers the following tips to protect pooches throughout the summer months.

• Keep pets out of the car. Temperatures inside a car can quickly reach 120 F, even on relatively mild summer days. So while your pet may be a great companion when running errands in the spring, winter or fall, leave him home in the summer.

• Keep pets well groomed. Long hair should be trimmed and keep hair mats clipped to help pets survive the summer heat. However, don’t shave down pets to the skin because they may burn in the sun.

• Build a pet house. While many homeowners now invite the family pet into the house, there are still some who prefer man’s best friend live outdoors. Pet owners who keep their pets outside should build adequate shelter that helps pets survive midday heat and sun. Outdoor kennels should be well-ventilated and placed in a location that provides sufficient shade throughout the entire day, not just in the early morning or evening.

• Pay attention to your pet’s behavior. While Fido might not be able to tell you he’s hot, his behavior might be doing just that. Indicators of heat exhaustion include excessive panting, a blank or anxious expression, disobedience, rapid heartbeat, and vomiting. In addition, dry skin and high fever could be indicative of a pet that’s struggling with the heat.

Pet owners should lower the pet’s body temperature by spraying cool water on the pet or immersing the animal in cool water whenever he exhibits any of these symptoms.

• Avoid excessive exercise. Pets need exercise, but overexertion on hot days can lead to heat stress. On especially hot days, avoid excessive exercise and limit walks or time outside to early morning or evening hours.