"THE ROCKETMEN," BY CURT MASTALKA (1973)
"The Rocketmen," by Curt Mastalka, ran in the September 1973 issue of SURFER Magazine. The featured surfers are: Rory Russell, Jeff Hakman, Ricky Cassidy, Edward McQuilkin, and James Jones. The article is about Mastalka's new helmet-mounted 16mm movie camera, designed to capture the surfer's-eye view. The results were featured in Mastalka's film Red Hot Blue, which debuted a few weeks after "Rocketmen" was published. This version has been slightly edited.
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Curt: I'm putting together space-age materials—fiberglass, plexiglas, two-ton hardness, acetates, five-minute epoxies—and I have to keep reminding myself, for the sea, for surfing, for man's origin, back to nature, let's see, mix half and half, allow over night to cure. Do not swallow! Things crack and break and splinter. Plastics melt if drilled or cut too fast. Too much binding chemical causes hairline cracks; too little causes water leakage. Nothing fits right. Try again. To cut or not to cut. When will it be able to take movies?
Can't use the seals I ordered, they're too bulky. Design my own. No sharp edges or points allowed on the camera helmet—might injure the surfer. Is it too heavy? Will the neck muscles take the strain or sprain? This thing's got to be strong for wipeouts at spots like 10' Pipeline and 15' Sunset. My God! I wonder if it will float? Will the surfer be able to float or swim? Variables, variables. All the thoughts must come together to make the picture reality. It must function just as the surfer must function while using it. Wear a 16mm movie camera on your head in a Pipeline tube without any hangups!
Ricky: I couldn't believe it weighed as much as my surfboard.
Edward: That thing was just insane wearing it!
Jeff: When I first saw Booby wearing it, he looked like the Fly. You know, that movie, The Fly?
James: What you see is what you get!
Curt: Flies can really cling to the wall.
Rory: At first I was apprehensive of wearing it because of the weight possibly pulling my neck muscles, but the helmet fits like a motorcycle helmet, and the weight is distributed on the shoulders instead of the neck.
Ricky: I tried swimming with the helmet on at first. The thing must weigh 10 pounds, and one side is heavier, but it floated better than I did.
Rory: I felt like a spaceman, alienated from all the other surfers in the water.
Jeff: The camera was sort of unbalanced and seemed to affect my surfing a bit.
Edward: The first time I wore it was at Haleiwa, but between the people and small waves, I couldn't make things go. So we went up to Sunset, got some waves, and surprisingly enough, the helmet didn't even bother me.
Jeff: I had a hard time finding the switch to turn it off on a wipeout. It's real comfortable on wipeouts, actually, and then you just pop up to the top.
James: It looks like you have an eight-track tapedeck strapped to your head. It's weird to be conscious of all this stuff, because usually when you get into a wave, you just try to enjoy it. But it's an interesting angle to view the wave from on film.
Rory: When I wiped out, the chin strap choked me, but I was more concerned in getting a good wave that would make wearing the helmet worthwhile. Actually, the helmet gave me safety from the bottom or the board hitting my head.
Curt: Over the falls, bounce off the bottom—oh! My camera! Don't hurt yourself! Is this commercial surfing?
Jeff: But on wipeouts, it was really buoyant. You return to the surface really fast, but I only came up to about eye level. Gulp!
Rory: Balance is somewhat thrown off, but if you can possibly get down the face of an eight-foot Pipeline wave, you don't need much balance to just squat in the tube and hope you come out!
Edward: It really made me aware of what I was seeing while I was riding, especially back in the room. It made me more conscious of what I was doing and seeing. You know, it has definitely changed my perspective of everything.
Curt: Flash—our/Rory's ride on the screen. Paddle out. Check the lineup. Here comes our/Rory's wave. Paddle hard. It's a take. Going down. Trim up. We/Rory lean into it while the wall of water rushes by and over, over! Us/Rory.
Jeff: The shots are fantastic. You really get the feeling of being on the wave and having it coming over you. It's neat to see the lip coming over in front of you and then you catch up with it and come out.
