Rachel and Gene completed a world
record 404 mile, 19 day paddle along the Texas coast to support
Surfrider Foundation's Coastal Education program, receiving a national
award!
Click here for photos and journal.
Oct.
2004
Gene competed in the International Life Saving Assoc. Ocean Lifeguard
World Championships
in Viareggio Italy
representing Texas, bringing home 4 medals 1 silver and 3 bronze!
~ DUKE'S OCEANFEST
"Team Texas" competed in this event August 2007 in Hawaii.
Family
surfari to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, check out some pictures
of surfing with the kids!
Winner
- Lifeguard division North Shore Hawaii paddleboard race from Sunset
to Waimea
South
Padre Surf Company
is a family run business operating for 11 years.
Your instructors are husband and wife team Rachel
and Gene Gore, and our children 7 year old Micah
and 5 year old Melia are awesome little surfers
who will have your kids running for the water!
Your
Surf Instructors Gene and Rachel were
married on their surfboards in 1998 in
the gentle waves of Surfside Beach, Texas.
We have 2 children, 7 year old Micah and
5 year old Melia,both kids have been surfing
regularly, well, since before they were
born, since mom surfed up to 9 months
pregnant! CLIP
1 - CLIP
2 - CLIP
3 (Kids
Surf Video Clips summer 2007)
Rachel finishing 3rd
at Hawaii Paddleboard Championships 2007
with Gene, Micah and Melia escorting her
to the finish line!
OUR GOAL
is to provide a safe, easy and fun surfing experience
for guests of all ages and abilities to South
Padre Island, while teaching respect, knowledge
and appreciation of the ocean and beach, with
zero-environmental impact.
South Padre Surf Company owner and instructor
Gene Gore, a native Texan and lifetime
dedicated surfer, ocean lifeguard and
former City and County of Honolulu Ocean
Safety Officer, has dedicated his life
to surfing and lifesaving, yet one of
his greatest thrills is still seeing
someone ride their first wave. Gene
has accumulated an extensive history
of accomplishments in his field while
pursuing his passion for surf. He worked
for the famed Hawaii Water Patrol, trained
in heavy surf rescue with jetski/rescue
sled, 3 time winner of paddleboard races
on the North Shore of Oahu and several
U.S. National Surfing Championship Paddle
races, along with the Harpoon Barry
Bay to Gulf Paddle Race, selected to
the 6 man Hawaiian World Lifeguard Team,
former Texas State longboard champion
and Allstar team member, 6 time U.S.
Lifesaving Association National Competitor
with medals in paddle racing, paddleboard
rescue, and 2 mile beach run, winner
of the Diamondhead Biathlon, Galveston
Beach
Patrol (where he met his wife and surfing
partner Rachel) Senior Lifeguard and
Marine Rescue RHI pilot and Jr. Lifeguard
Instructor, and Corpus Christi and Port
Aransas Beach Patrol Lifeguard. Gene
has hundreds of documented and off-duty
surf rescues, assisting and treating
injured beach patrons and performing
CPR in many real life incidents, as
well serving 8 Years as a Licensed Texas
Emergency Medical Technician and volunteer
ambulance/fireman, competed in over
100 surfing competitions both amateur
and professional in France, Spain, Mexico,
California, Florida, New Jersey and
Hawaii, and hand shaped nearly seven
hundred custom longboards, and competition
director and judge for the Texas Gulf
Surfing Association. Gene has taught
over 3000 private and group surfing
lessons, through Galveston College and
G.C. Kid's Camp, Moody Hospitality Institute,
San Luis Resort, Surfside Surf Camp,
South Padre Surf Co. and taught the
Compaq/H.P. Company Picnic with over
50 attending, and recently authored
the first book on surfing in Texas "Surfing
the Texas Gulf Coast". Gene competed
in the ILSA World Lifeguard Championships
in Viareggio Italy Sept 2004 with a
team of elite guards from Galveston
Beach Patrol, where he captured 4 medals
and was the top ranked American competitor!
On May 1 2004 Gene and Rachel paddled
the entire length of the Texas Gulf
Coast, 404 miles in 19 days, as a fundraiser
for Surfrider Foundation's coastal education
program.
Although
Rachel grew up in Tennessee, it was
on her annual summer vacations to visit
her grandparents in Florida that she
discovered where her heart was...with
the ocean! To become the watergirl she
always dreamed of, she moved to the
Texas Gulf Coast where she graduated
from Texas A+M Galveston with a degree
in Maritime Admininstration, surfing
the local lineups day and night, before
and after classes. Rachel has been surfing
for 14 years now, and with every session
her love for the sport and the ocean
grows,along with her stylish smooth
surfing. Although not a competitor,
Rachel is widely known as the top female
surfer in the state (she surfs better
than most of the guys too!), and could
easily be a threat for world title if
she chose to! (on her honeymoon Rachel
entered into a women's longboard pro
contest on the North Shore at Sunset
Beach, and she took second place!) She
worked as a lifeguard for the Galveston
Beach Patrol, and was chosen as a team
member for the USLA National Lifeguarding
Competition. Rachel has been teaching
surfing for nine years, teaching through
Galveston College, the Galveston College
Kids Camp, The Moody Hospitality Institute,
San
Luis Resort,
Goreboards
Surfside Surf Camps, and South Padre
Surf Co. Rachel
has won first place in numerous state
wide surfing competitions and placed
second in a pro/am competition at Sunset
Beach on the North Shore of Hawaii.
She won first place in the women's division
for the 8 mile Harpoon Barry Bay and
Gulf Paddle Challenge.
Her
favorite thing about teaching surfing
is being able to share her knowledge
of the sport with people who have the
same dreams she did, and watching their
"stoke" as they stand up and
ride their very first wave.
Get ready to be inspired, and prepared to be entertained!
During your surf lesson our children Micah and
Melia are sure to be either on the
beach or in the water with you. They enjoy meeting
and entertaining our students as much
as we do, and have often been the inspiration
behind many of our most successful lessons!
Micah Gore, 7 years old, is already
a very accomplished surfer and has surfed
around the world in places such as Hawaii,
Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France,
Mexico and all up and down the Texas
Coast. In December of 2007 he was the
youngest competitor in the Haleiwa International
Surfing Competition on the north shore
of Hawaii. He can ride just about anything
- he loves to surf on both shortboard
and longboard, boogie board, skateboard,
and his new ripstik. What really stands
out about Micah is his natural ability,
incredible wave knowledge, and beautiful
surfing style.
Melia Gore, 5 years old, is surfing
on her own and has surfed in many places
around the world including tackling
the waves of Hawaii, Australia, New
Zealand,
and
Mexico.
Melia surfed in her first surf contest
in August of 2007 on the South Shore
of Hawaii where she was by far the youngest
competitor (at only 4 years old!) Melia
recently flew to Los Angeles to do a
photo shoot as one of ROXY's teenie
wahine models. What stands out the most
about Melia is her beauty inside and
out and her ability to make everyone
she meets walk away with a smile. And
just a warning - Melia likes to sing
while she surfs!
