The best part of my week was making this video of Paul Strauch. In the end, though, it doesn't fully do the man justice. Yes, you can see that he's a master. But nothing here quite gets you to full-strength, Grade-A Strauch. How good was he? Barry, you start.

Paul Strauch was the best surfer in the world. Nobody else was even close. It was like Star Trek. His bottom turn was just the most radical. The most radical! Paul was the first surfer to go down to the bottom and really crank a turn. He had this balsa-redwood board that he flipped around like it weighed ten pounds; he just made that thing talk, play music.


I’ll never forget the first time that I saw Paul Strauch. This was back when I was into riding small waves, and I felt I was somewhere near the top of the dung heap. One day I was out at Secos, riding along, one hand kind of in the curl, when from behind me I suddenly became aware of this presence, and this guy just comes racing out of the curl. Passes me by, just . . . whoosh! Then he cuts back and throws out a wall of water. Later, on the beach, I walk up to the guy and say, "I don’t know who you are, but I want to shake your hand."


Paul had more style than anyone and could ride anything. When the surf was big, he really stood out. Takayama, Hemmings, Hynson, Butch—they were all really great surfers. But Paul was on a different level from any of them. He was on a level with Phil Edwards. Actually, from what I saw, he was better than Phil Edwards. No question. Just the best guy everywhere he went. Left, right, big waves, small waves. All of it!


PAUL STRAUCH TRIBUTE: "HE WAS THE BEST SURFER IN THE WORLD. NOBODY ELSE WAS EVEN CLOSE. IT WAS LIKE STAR TREK"

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