Beach Bud
Name: Derek Cormier
Age: 26
Hometown: Melbourne Beach, FL
Major: Electrical engineering, but I might change it to mechanical or environmental. I like building things; putting things together. I’ve always been interested in inventing things. I worked construction for a while, so I like working with my hands and seeing what I built. Environmental engineering has many opportunities to work outside and geographical aspects.
If You Could Be Anywhere, Where Would You Be?: Hawaii – I always wanted to surf there. I’ve been surfing since I was ten. Oahu has the best waves, but it’s an expensive place to live.
What Do You Love Doing?: Surfing, diving, fishing, reading informational books, anything I can learn about health and nutrition. I love the discovery channel, especially the shows where they put people in the wild to fend for themselves. The leaps and bounds people have to go through are incredible, and ancient people had to do that all the time. I love sports, and I like to go to the beach with my yellow lab, Sam.
Describe Your Dream Girl: She’d have to be genuine and family-oriented; someone active who lives a healthy lifestyle; smart and responsible, but open-minded and willing to learn new things. I like someone who doesn’t obsess about her appearance, but is still attractive; a girl who is warm and caring and not too self-centered.
I’m a more stay-at-home and watch-a-movie kind of guy, or I want to spend time outside. I’m pretty simple, so I like a simple girl, and she has to like dogs.
You Have a Tattoo?: It goes up my arm. Poseidon is at the top and there’s a Chinese dragon wrapped around him. The dragon is used as a symbol of power, strength, respect, and knowledge in martial arts. With this great power you’re attaining, you need to have respect for it. Poseidon is the god of the ocean, and I love the ocean. I’ve always been interested in Greek culture. I also have another one: a shark holding a surfboard.
Your Craziest Adventure: My buddies and I surfed some hurricane swells. They were 15- to 20-foot waves and we were over a hundred yards out. A news crew took pictures of us, and we ended up in the paper. But we got stuck out there for almost eight hours. By that time, it was dark. We were smashed by waves until they dragged us in. It was straight white wash, so there wasn’t enough to ride. It’d hold you under. There were times we thought that was it, but the next day we wanted to go again.