Twenty-four years later, the ghost of Micah Peasley is still getting pitted.
As Hurricane Marie sent a powerful pulse of swell toward Southern California over Labor Day weekend, local news was on the scene reporting—and, in the process, accidentally resurrected one of surfing’s most enduring pieces of internet folklore.
In a clip circulating online—watch the link here and see it below—a local beachgoer attempts to recreate Peasley’s legendary 2002 television interview, complete with the exaggerated arm movements, wide-eyed enthusiasm and unmistakable “whoopah” sound effect used to demonstrate a surfer getting blasted by the lip.
If you’ve been anywhere near surfing’s cultural bloodstream over the past two decades, you know what comes next: “So pitted.”
Peasley’s original appearance, filmed during a major swell and broadcast by Fox 11, became one of the early viral surf videos long before “viral” was a legitimate career path.
With his stoney California drawl and Jeff Spicoli-esque enthusiasm, Peasley transformed the technical language of getting barreled into something closer to performance art.
The clip became so embedded in surf culture that “so pitted” eventually transcended the original footage. It became shorthand, slang for surfers to poke fun at themselves.
Marie, meanwhile, provided the perfect sequel. Although the hurricane stayed well offshore, its energy produced large, long-period surf along Southern California, with some south-facing beaches seeing waves around 10 feet and dangerous rip currents.
And when television cameras showed up to document the chaos, someone apparently decided there was only one appropriate way to describe it. Relive the OG below.
It’s not explained with meteorological terminology. Not with measured analysis.
But with a “whoopah.”
Peasley’s original interview has survived because it captured something surfing rarely manages to explain: the irrational, slightly unhinged joy of a really good wave.
And this guy did a pretty good job in resurrecting the timeless viral clip.
So pitted, indeed.
Related: Towering Waves Demolish Sand Berms As Hurricane Marie Annihilates Long Beach, CA (Watch)
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