The following is an excerpt from Morning Glass, Mike Doyle's 1993 autobiography. While Doyle refers to the 1965 contest as the Peruvian International—which it was—it doubled as the second World Surfing Championships. * * * In January 1965, I traveled with twelve other surfers from the Long Beach Surf Club to Lima, Peru, to compete in the Peruvian International. Our team was sponsored by Catalina...
“The Great Nose Riding Contest,” by Tom Morey, ran in the Summer 1994 issue of The Surfer’s Journal. This version has been slightly edited. * * * The Tom Morey Invitational. This is a docile little story about a small-time surfing event three decades ago in seldom visited Ventura. The waves were poor and few could even hear announcements over the cheap PA system. Yet even so, much of what surfi...
“The Adventures of a Ranch Addict,” by Ron Stoner, ran in the November 1968 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * This is a story about one of those places that always looks better on the other side of the hill. I’ve been there, and believe me, it is. After one trip and seeing those perfect waves, I was hooked. I couldn’t stay away. I only wish my trips had been as flawle...
This article by Dick LaRue ran in the July 1972 issue of SURFER. One year earlier, the first Ranch parcels were put on the market. For over a century before that, the Hollister Ranch, with its eight-plus miles of beachfront housing some of the best surf in America, had been privately held and virtually inaccessible to the public. LaRue, noted below as the "ranch manager," worked for the Mortage Gu...
This full-page ad ran in the July 1973 issue of SURFER. Hollister Ranch parcels had first come on the market two years earlier, after 14,400 acres of virtually undeveloped Hollister property came under the ownership of the Mortage Guarantee Insurance Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Similarly-worded ads, with a headline reading "Own the Great California Dream" and aimed at a non-surfing market, r...
“In the Surf,” Sarah Park, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Oct 10, 1953 It's a tossup as to whether surfers acquire un-dog-like dogs, or dogs become un-dog-like because they belong to surfers. Take Sandy, who belongs to Scooter Boy. Sandy is a surfing addict. His eyes turn glazy with happiness as he whistles through Queen's Surf on Scooter Boy’s board. When Scooter’s on the beach catching his breath, San...
“The Ranch,” by Drew Kampion, ran in the November 1968 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * A lone surfer sits in a deep blue slick, watching the sun inch down toward golden hills. A light offshore drifts over the smooth water. Outside a shadow rises in the calm and approaches silently. The wave peaks, blackens with mercuric gloss. The surfer strokes, marring the perfect...
“Mr. Clean: the Extraordinary Surfing Life of Randy Rarick,” by Bruce Jenkins, ran in the Fall 1998 issue of the Surfer's Journal. This version has been slightly edited. * * * There’s a classic beach-scene montage from Tracks, the 1970 World Surfing Championships film by Bob Evans. Michael Peterson, Terry Fitzgerald, Mike Purpus, and Keith Paull lend definition to a rebellious, wild-haired gener...
This single-paragraph editorial, by publisher Don Thomas, ran in the February 1972 issue of Surfing magazine. It was preceded, in the same column, by a short piece condemning the behavior of American surfers abroad. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Closer to home, conflicts are even worse. Every local area has a group of vigilantes whose self-determined destiny is to keep their surf ...
Mike Purpus' short satire on localism ran in the February 1972 issue of Surfing magazine. * * * It was a crystal-clear morning in late January with a ten-foot swell pumping consistently from the far north. It was closed out in front of my house, so I had to travel. But where could I go? If I went north, the Rincon Tribe would get me. If I go south, the Cliff People will get me. The two best spot...