This article, by Robert Suhay, ran in the August 6, 1989, issue of the Asbury Park Press. This version has been slightly edited. * * * No sooner did Ron Jon’s Surf Shop open in Ship Bottom this summer than its logo of crimson bamboo lettering was seen on T-shirts up and down Long Beach Island. The 26-year-old landmark surf shop was boarded up in October when owners decided to shut down rather th...
This sidebar article by Bruce Jenkins was part of a larger feature, also by Jenkins, titled "The Show: Sunset Beach—Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid," which ran in the February 1992 issue of SURFER. Determining the best surfer at Sunset—right now, as we speak—proved to be a maddening task. Mark Foo captured the dilemma best when he said. "It’s just unfair to pick one guy. Bobby Owens is the most f...
Michael Tomson's feature-length article on Sunset Beach ran in the January 1985 issue of Surfing Magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * You see, the thing about Sunset is when you’re looking at it from the beach it often doesn’t look that gnarly. I mean, it looks big, for sure, and you know it’s got to be eight feet to even begin breaking in the bay but it doesn’t look quick like...
"Closed Out," by Sam George, ran in the June 1990 issue of Surfing Magazine. * * * Is it just me or has anyone else ever noticed that Sunset Beach is just not that good of a wave? Or that for some inexplicable reason no one is allowed (or has the nerve) to ever say anything bad about this hallowed Hawaiian reefbreak? I was in Hawaii this winter, watching hapless Triple Crown competitors paddle ...
Buzzy Trent's article on Sunset Beach ran in the November 1964 issue of Petersen's Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly edited and shortened. * * * Sunset Beach is like a fickle gal. Sweet and light one moment, wild and uncontrollable the next. She can change from a six-foot hot dogger to a rip-roaring twenty-footer in less than an hour. She can dance the youthful swing with fast-mov...
The Young Sportsman's Guide series was published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, in New York, during the early- and mid-'60s. Alphabetically, the book titles range from The Young Sportsman's Guide to Archery to The Young Sportsman's Guide to Wrestling; other featured sports include all the obvious ones—baseball, soccer, tennis, etc— but also a few obscure choices, like fly tying and pocket billiards. A...
Drew Kampion's "Project Avalance" feature ran in the November 1980 issue of Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * SYNOPSIS On January 1, 1980, a manned canoe launched into two of the largest breaking waves ever ridden. Fortunately, photographers were present to record this incredible event. More fortunately still, everyone survived. The scene of the action: a rarely-ridd...
This article ran in the September 1964 issue of Surf Guide magazine. It has been edited and shortened. To get a better look at the guide pages, below, drag each image from EOS to your desktop. * * * The Buyers’ Guide was designed as a service both to the surfboard industry and to the customer who at some time will buy its products. As for the guide itself, it is mostly self-explanatory; those fe...
This article ran in the January 2000 issue of Australia's Surfing Life magazine. * * * As a kid I remember this little shop up a side road in Newport Beach. It had the ubiquitous seagrass floor matting, which was probably something to do with hippiedom, but actually seemed to go all right with the saltwater that poured from our noses as we sat around and talked about the waves we thought we'd ri...
This article ran in the December 1989 issue of Surfing magazine. * * * I used to think that if I died and went to heaven, it would look like a surf shop. And I'm sure I wasn't alone; surf shops have been hallowed ground since 1951, when irate city fathers rooted Dale Velzy out from beneath the Manhattan Beach Pier and forced him into the semi-legitimate business of selling surfboards under a roo...