Not Just Your Average Joe: Best Welcomes Joe Ruscito to the Team!

~ Stacey Fonas

Posted Wednesday 17th October 2007

All of a sudden, everyone's talking about Joe Ruscito. Who is he? Where's he from? Is that him riding in the Islamorada video? Can I have his number? "Sorry," I've had to repeat again and again. "Joe is off with Gavin and Alvaro this weekend, shooting in front of the Manhattan Skyline. He is unavailable to take your calls or to go kiting with you. Please take a number and stand in line. Joe will get back to you as soon as he possibly can."

I first met Joe in the fall of 2006, and I'm probably the only person in the history of the world that didn't warm up to him immediately. For the simple reason that Joe is a sunny, positive, outwardly happy person, while I, simply, am not.

It was a "typical" day kiting at Delray Beach (messy, disorganized chop and waves) and I was in my typical Kiting in Delray Mood (pissed off, frustrated and angry). I just came in for a break, as this cheerful all- American blond kid comes walking onto the beach, smiling and happy. One of the local guys said, "Here comes Joe. He's from Connecticut (I was from Connecticut.) Do you know Joe? He's really good!"

Joe introduced himself, and I soon steered the conversation into it's typical direction: how much I hate kiting in Delray, how much the kiting SUCKS in Delray, and how I can't kite to save my life in Delray.

"What?" he said. "It's awesome! The sun is shining, we're kiting! You can kite here, it's just all in your mind ... it's all about your attitude."

The thing about Joe is this: he is truly happy about mostly everything, and he means it. The glass is never just half full: it's brimming over. And, he can kite pretty much anywhere, in any conditions, on no sleep, and he can make it look good, and then he can go all night on no sleep and then drive 3 hours home in the morning and complete 6 hours of homework in 2 hours. To put it simply, Joe is a natural.

And to put it more simply, I am not. Unfortunately, I'd been kiting in Delray for a year and half, and I knew it wasn't in my mind. I simply wasn't talented enough to rise above the conditions and have it all be "in my mind."

"OK, Pollyanna," I said facetiously, referring to the super-positive blond Disney movie character who brightened up a depressed New England town with her sunny attitude. "Whatever." It's safe to say we didn't really see eye to eye. Which is no reflection on him ... he was super-happy enough ... it was just a reflection on me.

Fast forward one year later, to last weekend, October 6th, when we were all meeting at the office at 6 AM, to take the RV down for a demo to the Keys. Brandon, as usual, invited everyone and his brother along with us, and there, back from a summer in Connecticut, to start his sophomore year at Florida Tech, was Joe. Great, I thought, more people to have to fight for a sleeping space. Good one, Brandon.

So ... hmmmm. I don't quite know what happened that day. Or when my attitude towards Joe changed. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we WEREN'T in Delray, we were in FLAT water, and I could now be happy, I don't know. All I DO know is that by the time we were packed up after our day of kiting at Anne's Beach and ready to head to the campground, I was completely 100% sold. Joe is AWESOME. Not only can he RIDE, he also knows how to ride for the camera (very important for a team rider). And his excitement for the sport and for learning new things is infectious, which makes him fun to ride with. He gets excited on the water whenever you land or try anything, and he really motivates you to push yourself, because he's out there pushing himself even harder, with his "quantity v. quality, how bad can the crash really be ... I mean, MOST of the time, you're gonna be ok, right?" way of looking at things. Plus, he's completely down-to-earth, and not stuck on himself at all. There is NO WAY you cannot like him. It's just more fun when Joe's around. To put it simply, Joe makes kiting more fun.

We had to make him part of the team.

So just who IS Joe Ruscito? After exploding onto the radar, landing himself a spot on the team and pretty much making the soon-to-be infamous NYC shoot in front of the Statue of Liberty possible, all in one week, Joe is definitely one to keep your eye on. In addition to being smart, funny, happy, down-to-earth, not conceited at all, and in general, an all-around really great guy and the kind of person any company would want representing their brand, he's also one of the hottest up-and-coming talents on the American scene today.

Joe, and Alvaro Onieva, on their recent photo shoot in New York City

Joe, pre Best, before he was banned from having his picture taken riding anything other than a Best board. Sidenote: When I showed Alvaro (the king of hamming it up for the camera) this picture, he said, "Oh! I thought that was me!"

natural

Main Entry: nat·u·ral

Pronunciation: \'na-ch?-r?l, 'nach-r?l\

Function: adjective, noun

1: implanted or being as if implanted by nature : seemingly inborn - ie, a natural talent for art

2: one who displays a seemingly inborn talent for ... something

3: Joe Ruscito.
Photo by Christopher Varjas