Drew Kampion's profile on Santa Barbara's futuristic wave-ski rider Merv Larson ran in the May 1970 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * You can see for yourself when Rincon is breaking good, or Secos or Huntington when they’re on. He works out through the lineup on his butt, sitting on a foam cushion, buckled into his seat belt, working a double-ended paddle, with his f...
This article ran in the July 31, 1888, issue of the Pittsburgh Press. The unnamed woman is almost certainly a wealthy Hawaii-raised teenager named Emma Spreckels, daughter of sugar baron Claus Spreckels and great-aunt to famed 1970s surfing antihero Adolph "Bunker" Spreckels. In August, the cover drawing on the National Police Gazette—a risque and hugely popular national tabloid specializing in cr...
Phil Jarratt's profile on newly-crowned world champion Damien Hardman ran in the September 1988 issue of SURFER Magazine. * * * Never having met Damien Hardman—the man who would soon become world champion—I asked around about him. “He’s kinda like Simon Anderson in his approach to life,” said one person. “It’s that Narrabeen thing, I suppose. But I wouldn’t put Damien in Simon’s class. He hasn’t...
Devon Gordon's feature on the original female Malibu surfers ran in the August 19, 2002, issue of Newsweek. * * * There were a few guys in the water at Malibu that Vicki Flaxman just wouldn’t mess with, even if they did cut her off in the lineup or snake her on a wave. Like Buzzy Trent, who played football—he was just too big. If he wanted the next wave, well, he could have it. But Vicki was near...
Shane Beschen is the only pro surfer to score three 10s in the same heat, and he did it on three consecutive waves. A lot of WCT surfers—most, in fact—don't have three 10-point rides in their entire career. Beschen's triple-10 happened in Round Three of the 1996 Billabong Pro, the second event of the season, in good-not-great short-period surf at Kirra. Two weeks earlier, Kelly Slater had won the ...
The following is an excerpt from Sean Doherty's 2021 book, "Golden Daze: Australia Surfing, Then to Now." This version has been slightly edited * * * Col Smith had just been asked in a 1977 Tracks interview if his surfing revolved around pulling off ‘gravity-defying stunts’. Col wasn’t sure if the interviewer was taking the piss. ‘Well, let me put it this way . . . .’ After a weighty pause, Col ...
“Call Them All: Data Gathering for Surfing’s Ultimate Encyclopedia," by Nathan Myers, ran in the Fall 2003 issue of Surfer’s Journal. This version has been slightly edited. * * * YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED AN HOUR AGO “Goddamn it! I’m so sick of you people calling up all the time and asking me the same shit,” the legendary Phil Edwards is yelling at me. I should be honored, but I don’t know any bet...
Smitty: the New Col Smith, by Rory Russell, ran in the May 1978 issue of SURFER, when Smith was 21. This version has been slightly edited. * * * While traveling through Australia last year competing on the pro circuit, I had the opportunity to get acquainted with an energetic young man who is one of the best of Australia’s new, up-and-coming surfers. Competing against him in the finals of the Al...
"Pam's Making Waves in the Surf World," uncredited, ran in the March 9, 1980, Sydney Sun-Herald. This version has been slightly edited. * * * At 14, schoolgirl Pam Burridge is being hailed as the best female surfboard rider in Australia. It’s a tag that doesn't sit easily on this shy young lady. She’s modest about her abilities, but one day, the blue-eyed blonde says, she’d like to be the best f...
This chapter from "Pam Burridge," a 1992 biography by sports historian and academic Marian Stell, takes place in 1984. Although still just 18, Pam had been surfing in professional events for three years and had been touted as a future world champion since middle school. Her world title bid the previous year was abruptly halted when the last two contests were dropped from the schedule due to a lack...