Joan Didion's short review of Ride the Wild Surf ran in the November 1, 1964, issue of Vogue. * * * I have recently fallen under the spell of teen surfing movies, an enthusiasm I should probably try to pass off as sociological. In fact, they amuse me. Of the current crop, I am pleased to report that Ride the Wild Surf is a first-rate surfer, with Fabian, Tab Hunter, and Jim Mitchum bobbing about...
Curry Kirkpatrick's 7,000-word feature article ran in the February 22, 1971, issue of Sports Illustrated. This version has been slightly edited. * * * From a boy I wantoned with thy breakers—they to me Were a delight; and if the freshening sea Made them a terror—'twas a pleasing fear. Lord Byron Body surfers are not all drunken, longhaired, pothead jerks. Kevin Egan Bitchinoutasightunrealrigh...
This article originally ran in the July 1964 issue of Surf Guide. This version has been slightly edited. Candy Calhoun won the 1963 West Coast Surfing Surfing Championships and placed 3rd in the 1965 World Championships. In August 1962, Calhoun and Nancy Corfman became the first two women to bodysurf the Wedge. * * * The one time that I bodysurfed the Banzai Pipeline was in January of 1963. Most...
Dale Velzy is the first surfer Bruce Brown introduces in Slippery When Wet, Brown's 1958 debut movie. Del Cannon is second. The camera loves both, but for very different reasons. Dale, with his crooked smile and Boozefighter haircut and a merchant marine tattoo on his bicep, is the lovable hustler on his way to a near-career-killing beatdown by the IRS. Cannon is handsome and innocent and reserved...
A letter from Matt Warshaw, Executive Director of Encyclopedia of Surfing. Hello surfers and all lovers of surf culture. The 2021 Encyclopedia of Surfing fundraiser is ON (December 6 - 16), and if that is enough to trigger the credit-card extension reflex, click here to donate, and here to subscribe or buy a gift sub. A quick look back at 2021. EOS growth was slow and steady. We added 300 subscr...
Matt Warshaw’s “Dressed to Chill” article ran in the August 1999 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * There isn’t much traction up there on the surf fashion catwalk. For every surfer able to prance across with dash and flair, hundreds more tumble off like they’re wearing vaseline flip-flops. Mike Doyle sure did. Just before winning the 1965 SURFER Poll, Doyle left on a p...
Drew Kampion's profile on Tom Parrish ran in the December 1976 issue of Surfing. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Picture, if you will, the annual onslaught: the world's finest surfers converging in a swift no-nonsense manner for the winter festivities on Oahu's North Shore, almost like corporate honchos on a whirlwind business tour with definite aims and limited time. With the incre...
This uncredited AP article ran in the November 22, 1971, edition of the Miami Herald. Blears was the first alternate for that year's Smirnoff Pro, in Hawaii, but didn't get a start in the event. * * * Laura Blears is 20 years old, loves to sew, putter around her garden and make things out of seashells for her home. She’s also the first woman ever to try to enter the tough male world of surfing. ...
California-born surfer Brian Tissot is a marine biologist, author and professor. This article was originally posted in 2016 on Tissot's "Dr. Abalone" website. * * * Early 1973. Awakened by stones hitting my window, I grab my clock. Wow, it's 5 AM. And a school day too! I grab my board and wetsuit, pile into the car with Jeff Chamberlain and Sam George, and we drive over to the City. There is a s...
Jim Murray's article on Margo Oberg ran in the Los Angeles Times in early November 1978 * * * In 1964, in a contest for 61 surfers 12 years old and under, Margo Godfrey of La Jolla, Calif., won easily. No big deal Except she was the only girl in it. And she was barely 11 at the time. Margo didn't win a world championship till she was a ripe old 15. She's won six since, and it might have been mo...