Buzzy Kerbox, Laird Hamilton and Darrick Doerner threw their boards into Kerbox' new Zodiac inflatable in 1992 and jump-started tow surfing as we know it today. But it could have happened earlier. Way earlier.


There was no accompanying article to go with the cover art for this 1950 issue of the 

, and the motorized craft shown here did not actually exist, but the concept is clear enough. 


"Keana Point: Who Will Ride It?" by Mike Doyle, ran in the August '63 issue of 

 magazine, and here's a shortened version of the final paragraph reads: "Every year there is a rumor that someone is going out at Keana. Two years ago the rumor concerned Jim Fisher. This past year it was Buzzy Trent, but he assured me that he wouldn't attempt it. However, Buzzy did have some interesting ideas about how it might be done. The surfer might be towed into the wave by a boat much like a waterskier, and in this way he could drop to the bottom without the peak catching him. My own idea involves a helicopter with a 115-foot nylon line with a shock cord tied around the surfer's waist. By this arrangement, the surfer could be pulled into the wave just like the boat-and-waterskier idea, but if he didn't make the drop or if the wave closed out, the helicopter could shoot ahead of the break, dragging the surfer forward and up into the air." The helicopter idea is kindergarten-level crazy, but the waterskiing part makes sense. In fact, filmmaker Bud Browne put this bit in one of his early-'60s movies, and the same lightbulb must have gone off in a lot of big-wave riders' minds.


Attach the power source to the board itself? This idea has come and gone a dozen or so times, going back to the '30s, but a short item in the January 1966 issue of SURFER half-seriously imagined the gas-powered board as a big-wave machine. The version of the motorized board you see below was invented by department story heir Alfred Bloomingdale (if you've got the stomach for it, click 

 to read about this piece of work, who could out-felony Harvey Weinstein any day of the week), reportedly got 90-miles to the gallon, and jogged along at just under seven miles per hour. The 85-pound aluminum-bodied 

 hit the market in 1965. "With this board I can catch ten waves to Fred Hemmings three," Bloomingdale boasted to SURFER. "I can catch any wave I want to." The magazine editor took it from there: "If jet surfing develops, just imagine a future contest with finalists zooming into Makaha point surf like a squadron of fighter planes." Everyone laughed. Everyone except Garrett McNamara, who was still just a sperm cell in Massachusetts, but about to throttle up.


Jim "Wildman" Neece spent the much of 1974 training to riding Kaena Point. "He had the equipment," Rick Grigg wrote in the April '75 issue of SURFER. "Two super-duper 12-foot boards. And he was stoked, like Frazier before an Ali fight. Over the next few weeks, the plans were drawn. The surfer [Neece] would be towed into the wave by a speedboat. This method would eliminate the problems of catching the wave, of waiting too far out and missing the break, or being too close in and getting caught inside, which would be certain death. By 'skiing' into the wave, the surfer could be standing, holding onto the towline, and actually be able to maneuver into the best position on the face of the wave, so that when it got steep enough to ride, he would already be into it, in exactly the right spot. At this point, the surfer would drop the towline." Grigg continues: "During the next several months, the game was mostly waiting. There were opportunities to practice the water-ski takeoff. But the waves didn't come, and island fever began to show its insidious effects. By January, Neece had bailed out to California, apparently unable to cope with the pressure." There don't seem to be any pics or film of Neece towing, but if Grigg is right, Wildman was the first person to tow in big-ish waves.


Alec Cooke, better known as Ace Cool, the hype-loving quad-shot espresso of big-wave surfers, picking up where Wildman left off, also had a tow entry in his planned assault on Kaena. "We'll be practicing rope tows into waves at Sunset, Haleiwa or Waimea," he told 

 magazine in 1983. "I'm also going to have a helicopter there, and possibly a jetski along with the boat." Cooke did in fact surf Kaena, but on a smaller day, without a tow assist. [Photo: Warren Bolster]

 magazine: "If you know someone with a boat, you can always get a thrill. Go ski boarding! It feels like surfing. Freedom. Fun. Excitement. Out of control. Wild. Pleasure. Ski boarding gives you a chance to experience the same sensation as surfing. There are no crowds. You never get dropped in on. You're got your own endless wave—the wake. The maneuvers are just like surfing—and more. Off-the-wakes, cutbacks, lip slides, fin releases. Ski boarding is versatile. It can be done at 12 to 45 mph. With 6 to 100 feet of rope. Inflatable boats and jet skis can pull ski boards. So can full-blown yachts—with big wakes. The best all-around position is at 18 mph and 40 feet of rope. Here, the wake is large and the freedom is there.

Ski boarding is great in the ocean. But wave riding on a ski board is not recommended for everyone. Don't try this at home. First, you need someone crazy enough to take his boat inside the surf line. If you must, go to a point break with no one out. You need an excellent boat driver that can handle hairy situations. Once you get pulled inside the wave, just start SKARAPLING! If you lose control, just let the pull on the rope pull you back up. With the power of the boat and the force of the wave helping you, amazing maneuvers are possible.


On December 21, the day before Tom Carroll won his first Pipe Masters, Herbie Fletcher towed Martin Potter and a small handful of other pros into some Third Reef Pipe waves. Derek Hynd watched and wrote "Potter kind of prostituted himself behind a jetski, free-boarding into some ocean swells running into Pipe. Bastard! Man, it looked funner than solo Magic Mountain, and Martin's speed—once he let go of the rod—was phenomenal, as he rode the giant flattops at 30 MPH." Surfing put it this way: "In a stunt Evel Knievel would be hard-pressed to match, Martin Potter has himself towed into Second Reef Pipeline. An unfair advantage? The jury's still out, but judging from Martin's reaction at the end of the ride, he's guilty as hell."


The Perfect Storm, immortalized in book and film, hurled some big ridable waves onto every coastal state along the Atlantic Seaboard. On Halloween day, according to surf writer Amy Vansant, "it was absolutely the biggest East Coast swell anyone could remember. Ever." At a Central Florida break called RC's, Vansant continued, "the waves were so outrageous that not everybody thought it was necessary to play by the rules. After a 40-minute paddle, Scott Bouchard found an easy way to catch the monster waves. "Adam Chatteroff was towing us into the waves with his jetski. He towed us into some waves you couldn't even catch paddling."


Ignition. Buzzy Kerbox had the Zodiac; he and Laird Hamilton came up with the idea, and Darrick Doerner was brought in to make it a trio. They motored out to Phantoms, Backyards, and other North Shore outer reef breaks, and when these three heavyweights said this was it, this was the next big thing in surfing, everybody fell into line right away. Click 

 to read Bruce Jenkins' 1993 SURFER cover story, "The Next Realm?", which is flawed only by the use of that pesky question mark. Tow surfing had by that time had already closed escrow and moved into the next realm.

[Photos: Warren Bolster, Tom Dugan, Eric Aeder]

MISFIRE! WHY DIDN'T MOTORIZED BIG-WAVE SURFING HAPPEN 40 YEARS EARLIER?

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