A Letter from Matt Warshaw, Executive Director of Encyclopedia of Surfing Surfers, surf culture aficionados, fellow travelers—the 2024 EOS fundraiser is ON and if you want to skip to the business end of this message, click here to donate. Much of 2024 was spent building EOS Archive, a companion site to EOS. Archive is less glam and less curated than EOS, but probably more important in the long r...
"Rounding Kaena Point," by John Severson, was published in the October 1983 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Driving Kaena Point in Hawaii is one of those experiences that you would not easily forget, for any number of reasons. I lost two cars there, got close to the biggest waves I’ve ever seen before or since, and filmed and lived real adventures. If a real adv...
Daniel Calohan's article on Kaena Point ran in the July 1973 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * For no-mistakes-allowed danger, the only thing I think at all possible to compare with riding 40'-plus waves at Kaena Point would be mountain climbing in the Himalayas, and possibly rock climbing the Eiger in Switzerland, or Half Dome in Yosemite. The one essential differ...
Mike Doyle's article on Kaena Point ran in the July 1963 issue of Surf Guide magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * We in California are accustomed to seeking out the largest waves we can find, but in Hawaii, it's different. The Hawaiian Islands stand in the path of nearly all the Pacific's winter swells, mostly unprotected by barrier reefs, intruding island chains, or land m...
Chris Bystrom's profile on 1965 Queensland champion Ken Adler ran in a 1996 issue of Pacific Longboarder (Vol 1, Issue 2). This version has been slightly edited. * * * When I think of the expression "speak softly but carry a big stick," Ken Adler comes to mind. Over the past 52 years, Ken has made his mark on Australian surfing as a shaper, competitor, world traveler, and big wave rider. ...
Ron Haworth's Honolulu Star-Bulletin "Surf Spray" column for July 1, 1966, featured Buzzy Trent's take on surfing Oahu's Kaena Point. * * * “Surf Kaena Point! Believe me. it’s completely unreal. The currents are unbelievably strong even on a calm day. The bloody fish are so muscle-bound from swimming against the current they curl up in the frying pan.” Buzzy Trent sat in the lingering heat o...
Timothy Hurley's article on the disappearance of big-wave surfer Alec Cooke, aka Ace Cool, ran in the October 30 edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Veteran big-wave surfer Alec “Ace Cool” Cooke is notorious for fearlessly—some would say recklessly—surfing the North Shore at night in recent years. “He’s a wild man,” said “Banzai” Betty Depol...
Mike Perry's article on Peter Drouyn's 1985-'86 visit to China ran in the June 1987 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Peter Drouyn is no rookie, he is still one of Australia’s most gifted wave riders. He surfs every day on a four-year-old board of his own design. He’s fit. His board is strange and there are people who think he could probably still be in the Top Si...
Damien Murphy's article about Peter Drouyn's upcoming visit to China was published in the October 10th issue of the Age newspaper. * * * The People’s Republic of China wants to go surfing and has imported an Australian surfer to teach its youngsters how to ride waves. Gold Coast surfer Peter Drouyn, 35, a former Australian senior and junior surfboard champion, has left to coach the finer po...
"A Boy's Paradise in the Pacific," by Alexander Hume Ford, ran in the August issue of St. Nicolas, a popular New York-based children's magazine published from 1873 to 1943. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Hawaii is the land of sports for boys and girls. Approach Honolulu by steamer, and at first sight of the breakers on the reef, the eye is arrested by little specks upon the wav...