Ken Kobayashi's article ran in the December 9, 1973, edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. This version has been slightly edited. * * * A 21-year-old surfer plans to become the first person to ride the monster winter waves at Kaena Point next month, and get paid for it. Jim Neece, also known as “Wildman” in surfing circles, has signed a contract with a California film company to ride a wave ...
Malcolm Gault-Williams' feature on Gene "Tarzan" Smith ran in the Spring 2004 issue of the Surfer's Journal. This version has been slightly edited. * * * He was one of the great ocean paddlers of all time—some say the greatest. An early California surfer, he was also a lifeguard, Waikiki haole beachboy, fighter, and—later—a Honolulu cop. He’s credited with helping rediscover the North Shore o...
This article ran on the front page of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on October 17, 1940. * * * Gene Smith, husky Oahu surfboard champion, arrived at Nawiliwili bay at 9:55 last night after making the first Oahu-Kauai surfboard trip in history. His time in the water was 30 hours, during which he covered nearly 100 miles. He struck a west wind in the channel midway between Oahu and Kauai and was f...
"Tarzan at Waikiki," by Dorian Paskowitz, ran in the Summer 1993 issue of Surfer's Journal. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Since 1935, San Onofre surfing beach has been the meeting place for surfers up and down the California coast—from Tijuana Sloughs to Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz. Friday and Saturday nights were always gay ’ole times, with Hawaiian guitar, Tahitian dances and...
This unattributed article ran in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on June 8, 1944. The version below has been slightly edited. * * * On October 14, 1940, at 3:45 PM, Gene (Tarzan) Smith left the beach at Kaena Point, Oahu, territory of Hawaii, paddled thru the rough surf and pointed the nose of his surfboard toward the island of Kauai, his destination, 90 miles away. The channel is considered one...
"And it was an Overcast Day," by Fred Van Dyke, ran in the May 1976 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * January 19. Awakened into a cool 60+ degrees on the North Shore. High cirrus clouds blanketed the sky. We call them big-surf clouds. Peter Cole phoned and said that there was a huge fetch wedging toward the islands from the Alaskan Peninsula. As I left for school o...
"The Kaena Point Challenge," unattributed, ran in the August 1983 issue of Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Ace Cool says he's going to ride Kaena Point. That puts him into the company of past famous talkers like Jim "Wildman" Neece, Mickey Dora and several others, who've planned to ride it, threatened to ride it, or said they'd ridden it. One surfer drove out to...
A Letter from Matt Warshaw, Executive Director of Encyclopedia of Surfing Surfers, surf culture aficionados, fellow travelers—the 2024 EOS fundraiser is ON and if you want to skip to the business end of this message, click here to donate. Much of 2024 was spent building EOS Archive, a companion site to EOS. Archive is less glam and less curated than EOS, but probably more important in the long r...
"Rounding Kaena Point," by John Severson, was published in the October 1983 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Driving Kaena Point in Hawaii is one of those experiences that you would not easily forget, for any number of reasons. I lost two cars there, got close to the biggest waves I’ve ever seen before or since, and filmed and lived real adventures. If a real adv...
Daniel Calohan's article on Kaena Point ran in the July 1973 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * For no-mistakes-allowed danger, the only thing I think at all possible to compare with riding 40'-plus waves at Kaena Point would be mountain climbing in the Himalayas, and possibly rock climbing the Eiger in Switzerland, or Half Dome in Yosemite. The one essential differ...