Taylor Cady, 15, wasn’t alive when “Fast Times at Ridgemont High’’ was released in 1982.
To have seen him Saturday, however, standing on Naples’ public beach with his shaggy blonde hair, baggy swim trunks and surf board in hand, you would have sworn he was Jeff Spicoli, the laid-back, history-deficient surfer, immortalized in the classic movie by a baby-faced Sean Penn.
Unlike most people here who are fleeing Hurricane Wilma’s path, Cady and two friends from Broward County drove more than an hour to Naples. They parked near a cul-de-sac, grabbed their boards and hit the sand.
It was an impromptu trip, classic Spicoli style.
“My mom wakes me up and says Naples has waves,” Cady said, pointing at his friend. “So I called him.”
The high waves raked at the coast, an early indication of what Wilma might bring here by Monday morning. It’s scary to say, but by mid-Saturday, the high-water line, already near the dunes, seemed ready to splash over with enough storm surge and easily threaten the million-dollar homes that fill the city’s emptying downtown.
Such things didn’t seem to matter to Cady. He was here for one reason - tasty waves.
“It’s better than what we have now over in Fort Lauderdale,” he said, and jogged into the surf.