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...
"This is the Country" ran in the November 1976 issue of SURFER. From his Honolulu studio, photographer Steve Wilkings invited Owl Chapman over watch a slideshow of images shot the previous July, at Maalaea; the SURFER article is a transcribed conversation that took place as the slides clicked past. This version has been edited and shortened. * * * CHAPMAN: Maalaea is the most intense tube ride t...
Yuri Farrant's article about "the biggest [summer swell] I had seen in four years" ran in the November 1972 issue of SURFER. After a day spent surfing and shooting maxed-out Ala Moana, Farrant, along with Reno Abellira, Jeff Hakman, and photographer Steve Wilkings, decide to catch an interisland flight the following morning to Maui, in hopes of scoring Maalaea. This article has been slightly edite...
As far as surf breaks go, the spot known as Flood Control, whose outermost takeoff spot is buried just aft of the Queen Mary's massive black Art Deco stern in the Port of Long Beach, had a very short life. Twenty-three years, start to finish, is a good guess. But it is just a guess because everything about Long Beach is a scaled-up convoluted mess, with layer upon manmade layer—oil derricks, milit...
Tim Baker's profile on Shane Herring ran in the May 2005 issue of Australia's Surfing Life magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * I first met Shane when he was a barely pubescent 15-year-old at Grajagan, Indonesia. I’d never heard of him, but marveled at this tiny kid who jumped straight off the boat and paddled determinedly into thumping eight-to-10-foot reef-bottom barrels. It ...