If you were to sit next to Matty Meyer, 22, a student at Ventura College, for a day you probably wouldn’t suspect that the Oxnard native has a keen talent for bodyboarding.

When you sit down with Meyer for more than a day however his story would start to unfold: How he has been bodyboarding for over six years, how he has traveled to Indonesia, Mexico, the Cook Islands, Costa Rica, and Hawaii in search of more critical and intense waves.

You would also find out that he just won first place in the first surfing and bodyboarding contest at fabled Pt. Mugu, a place that is home to what many call the best waves in California. Meyer’s love for bodyboarding began in 2002, when he picked up bodyboarding mainly because his friends were doing the same. Meyer says he saw a bodyboarding video that changed everything for him.

“The level that the riders were at in the video was (sick) on another level and I was hooked right away,” explains Meyer. Not only does watching bodyboarding videos get Meyer stoked on his sport but just being in the water itself helps fuel the drive that puts Meyer’s talents above most in the area. “The people, the feeling, and the drive to become better at bodyboarding is the best part about it,” he said.

Meyer’s support doesn’t end with his friends however. His mother and father Monica and Scott Meyer, and girlfriend Ashley Rudy all support Meyer’s love for being in the water. “It is what he loves to do, and I support him one-hundred percent,” said Monica sitting in the bleachers set up for a surf contest at Pt. Mugu.

The waves at Pt. Mugu are unlike many on California’s expansive coastline. Less than one mile of the Navy Missile Test Center’s beach is accessible to even those who have access to the base. That few-hundred yard stretch is home to waves that sweep in and out of the south perpendicular to the beach and peaks up and spits down the line for as far as the eye can see. In the summer months, this is Meyer’s stomping ground.

“I feel this is just the beginning,” said Meyer. “I want to excel at what I love most.” The Pt. Mugu Surf Contest was a perfect opportunity to do just that. He won the class he wanted too, as at the end of the day he was crowned body boarding champion on the day. As the evening came to a close and drifted into night, Meyer offered one last insight into why he does what he does whenever waves, good or bad, hit the coastline. “I have become addicted and I will always need the fix.”