Bill Sharp, my college roommate and future XXL Big-Wave Awards point man, was a kneeboarder. Smart guy. Funny as hell. Not long after graduating, he got a job at 

 magazine, and eventually became editor, then after that he ran a surfwear company or two. But a crazy fucker! I watched him jump off bridges in the middle of the night, midwinter, fully clothed. He got a ticket once for speeding down an alley—in reverse. At the Wedge, his favorite break, on the very biggest days (and all other days, for that matter) Bill rode a hot-pink-and-black kneeboard, and absolutely charged, and did the same thing in winter at Pipeline.

I never asked, but I'm pretty sure Bill got into kneeboarding because of George Greenough, who—and I say this with great affection—was the in many respects the craziest kneeboarder of all, with his scarecrow haircut, Rain Man voice, broad-spectrum design genius, and pathological generosity. Greenough never wore shoes. He still doesn't. His feet look like road kill.

For a while there, because of Greenough, it was like you almost had to be a misfit to ride a kneeboard. Fish innovator Steve Lis was introduced to the surfing world in a magazine profile simply titled "Mysto Man." Then there was Rex Huffman, who smashed into the reefs of La Jolla with roughly the same frequency and body-crumpling results as Evel Knievel smashing into Las Vegas parking lots. And of course Peter Crawford of Australia, who pranced more than he walked, laughed at odd moments and talked in riddles, like an Alice in Wonderland refugee.

And then suddenly kneeboarders just . . . vanished. Raptured away from the rest of surfing, it seemed like. I lived in the Bay Area from 1991 to 2011, and except for a couple of heavily-bearded survivalists up in Mendocino County, rarely saw a kneeboarder.

 website, and was glad to learn that kneeboarders are very much alive and well, and apparently all gathered in Wollongong, New South Wales. Ripping the shit out of, too. Huge fin-ditch top turns, and these Superman-y things where board and rider disconnect midair, and snap back together like Legos just before landing. Really fun to watch.

It saddened me a bit to learn that they've gone all normal, though. 

 of Wollongong may turn with Dane Reynolds-like flare, but he looks and talks like Opie Taylor. Nice kid. Friendly and bright. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess he wears shoes pretty much every day.

[Chayne Simpson photo, above, by Steen Barnes]

KNEEBOARDING: A DIFFERENT VANTAGE POINT

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