EOS Features

AGATHA CHRISTIE SOLVES THE MYSTERY OF SURFING: "IT IS ONE OF THE MOST PERFECT PHYSICAL PLEASURES THAT I HAVE KNOWN"

Agatha Christie, the British-born "Queen of Crime," whose collective works have outsold everyone but Shakespeare and God's own Bible-writing ghostwriters, signed up for a 10-month worldwide Grand Tour, along with her husband Archie, in 1922, to promote the upcoming British Empire Exhbition. Christie was 31 and had published her first two mysteries, but was not yet the international crime-writing g...

JOHN WHITMORE CROSSES THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

The Oom, Miles Masterson's biography on South African surfing pioneer John Whitmore ("Oom" means either "uncle" or, as in Whitmore's case, respected elder), was published in June 2025. The excerpt below picks up the story just as Whitmore, a 27-year-old Cape Town VW salesman and surfing newcomer, married with two young daughters, began making EPS-foam surfboards out of a neighbor's garage for the ...

"GOOFYFOOTER'S PARADISE," BY JOHN WHITMORE (1965)

"Goofyfooter's Paradise," by John Whitmore, ran in the October 1965 issue of South African Surfer. This version has been slightly edited. * * * As a present-day surfer, have you ever experienced that awful hemmed-in feeling? You know—good waves, pleasant company out there with you, but no place to go ? A hundred boards baulking your right turns and a similar number on the left, leaving you i...

"VENICE GIRLS RIDE SURF-BOARDS WITH AS MUCH SKILL AS BOYS," LOS ANGELES TIMES (1911)

Laurie Johnson's feature was the top story on the Los Angeles Times sports section on June 20, 1911. "Bronk," below, means "surfboard." This version of the article has been slightly edited. * * * The Venice girls are taking to surf-board riding. Heretofore only the summer boys have attempted to quell these Neptunian "bronks," but now the dauntless young suffragettes of Kinneytown seem boun...

"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 "Rocke...

"SURF FILM HAS UPS AND DOWNS," REVIEW FOR CURT MASTALKA'S "HAWAII'S OWN" (1967)

Phil Mayer's review of Hawaii's Own, Curt Mastalka's debut surf movie, ran in the August 17 edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. * * * The surf was up—and on time—last night at the Waikiki Shell. The evening before, the premiere of a new surfing film, “Hawaii’s Own," shot in Hawaii by Californian Curt Mastalka, was delayed until 10 p.m. by trouble with the motion picture projector. Tue...

"CAUGHT UP IN SURF MADNESS," STAR-BULLETIN FEATURE ON FILMMAKER CURT MASTALKA (1983)

Greg Ambrose' feature on surf filmmaker Curt Mastalka ran in the November 8, 1983, edition of the Honolulu Star- Bulletin. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Keep your eyes on the telephone poles at the North Shore. They'll reveal whether Island filmmaker Curt Mastalka has been practicing his craft. Every three years or so Mastalka asks himself whether he’s ready to submit himself ...

"'NUMBER ONE HARDCORE' GOES FOR THE RECORD," DALE WEBSTER ARTICLE IN THE PRESS-DEMOCRAT (1978)

Martha Lynn's feature on Dale Webster, "'Number One Hardcore' Goes for the Record," ran in the June 20, 1978, edition of the Press, published in Santa Rosa, California. This version has been slighted edited. * * * Small craft warning, high waves, high winds, smooth water, low winds. Dale Webster of Valley Ford has ignored the weather as each of the past 1,016 mornings he has paddled his surf...

"THE SURFER SYNDROME: IT'S USUALLY A CASE OF ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT," FRED VAN DYKE (1968)

Fred Van Dyke's article ran in the April 1, 1968, issue of LIFE Australia magazine. The magazine cover featured an action photo taken at Waimea Bay, with the tagline reading, "The Peril of Surf—A Veteran Surfer Asks: Are Surfers Really Sick?" The version below has been slightly edited. * * * Surfing is what's happening. There's nothing else for me. On a red-hot glassy day of surf I don't ca...

PHIL JARRATT, LIVE FROM THE 1977 STUBBIES CLASSIC

Phil Jarratt's coverage of the 1977 Stubbies Classic originally ran in The Wave Game: An Inside Look at Professional Surfing, published in 1977. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Early in 1976, Edward Fletcher & Co. Pty Ltd, a Brisbane-based clothing company, threw a party at a Gold Coast hotel and announced plans for the sponsorship of a professional surfing contest the following...