Jim Murray’s article on Margo Oberg ran in the Los Angeles Times in early November 1978 *  *  * In 1964, in a contest for 61 surfers 12 years old and under, Margo Godfrey of La Jolla, Calif., won easily. No big deal Except she was the only girl in it. And she was barely...

This article ran in the November 26 issue of the Honolulu Advertiser, two days after the 1974 Smirnoff Pro prelims were held. The Smirnoff that year, for the first time, had included female pros along with the male pros; each of the prelim heats had a woman surfer, and the one with the highest point...

“The Endless Summer Turns Golden, by Richard Johnston, ran in the Dec 6, 1976, issue of Sports Illustrated  *  *  *  In the Hawaiian language, the word hui (pronounced “hooey”) means a club, a company, a society, a corporation, a partnership, or even—to stretch it a little—a conspiracy. Last week, Hawaii’s surfers were leaning toward...

Tom Morey wrote his burials wishes in 2016. Moon and Sol, mentioned below, are Morey’s sons. *  *  * I wish to be buried in strict accordance with Baha’i Teachings. Most certainly NOT CREMATED, a shock to the soul. Specifically, not my soul, regarded as though it were an appendage (like say a gizzard). Rather...

“Jazz Man: Tom Morey: the Man Who Gave Waves to the World,” by Steve Barilotti, ran in the April 1996 issue of SURFER Magazine. This version has been slightly shortened and edited.  *  *  *  OCTOBER 1993 So we’re huddled under this overpass out in the middle of the Godforsaken desert west of Yuma somewhere,...

Dru Harrison’s “SURFER Tips” article on speed surfing ran in the May 1969 issue of SURFER Magazine. “Speed surfing” was invented by Joey Cabell a year or so earlier, the result of Cabell trying to bring his downhill skiing experience to bear on his wave-riding. The concept was squishy at best, and never caught on,...

Reno Abellira’s article about his 1974 Smirnoff Pro win originally ran in the March 1975 issue of Surfer. This version has been slightly edited.  *  *  * The kona weather finally broke. A gnarly northeast swell was coming in with an exaggerated push to it. Totally flushing through the outside peaks at Sunset, the waves...

Excerpted from “Boy You Gotta Carry That Weight,” by Drew Kampion, which ran in the March 1970 issue of SURFER. Kampion’s article reported on the 1969 Smirnoff Pro-Am and the 1969 Santa Cruz Big-Wave Contest; Johnny Fain, one of the older competitors, did not place in the former and was 4th in the latter.  * ...

“A Gomes Family Saga,” by Bob Cooper, ran in the August 2012 issue of Surfer’s Journal. This version has been shortened and slightly edited.  *  *  *  Once again, I direct our focus to the Velzy and Jacobs shop on the border of Venice and Playa del Rey, where the usual suspects from South Bay...

“Why Gays Don’t Surf . . . Or Do They?” ran in the Fall 1979 issue of H20, a Los Angeles based surf-art-culture magazine. Writer RC Pennie was a UCLA grad student in Sociology. The version below has been slightly edited. *  *  * Clustered together like chickens in a barnyard coop, the half-naked, sun-bronzed...

“Why Blacks Don’t Surf” ran in the Summer 1979 issue of L0s Angeles-based H20 magazine. Writer Earl Ofari, 24, was then the Public Affairs Director for radio station KPFK, and has since written more than a dozen books on race, culture, and politics. This text below has been slightly edited.   *  *  *  “I was...

This excerpt from “The Brothers,” by Kimo Hollinger, ran in the Winter 2004 issue of Surfer’s Journal. Photo of Gebauer (left) and Hollinger at Laniakea, in 1960, taken by John Severson.  *  *  *  Paul Gebauer knew how to surf Sunset. He had Pat Curren build him a semi-gun board that worked perfectly. It was...

“What Does the Contest Prove?” ran in the December 28, 1964, issue of the Honolulu Advertiser, during the same week at the annual Makaha International Surfing Championships. Roger Pepper, columnist for the Advertiser, wrote a short intro noting that “there are some who feel that it is bad to exploit surfing in the form of...

This year marks the first time in the pro surfing era where the men’s and women’s world titles will be determined not by a surfer’s aggregate point total over an entire season, as has been the case since 1976. Instead, the top five men and top five women surfers, as ranked over the course of...

Nancy Franklin’s review for John From Cincinnati ran in the June 18, 2007, issue of the New Yorker.   *  *  *  You know how when you use a big bill to buy a train ticket or stamps from a vending machine and unexpectedly get a handful of Susan B. Anthony dollars as change you think,...

A lot of surfers in the 1950s and ’60s—American surfers in particular—were infatuated with bullfighting. Bud Hendrick, an Orange County surfer who and woodworker who did production shaping for Hobie Surfboards, was the only one who actually became a matador. This article is a shortened version of  “Bud Hendrick’s Open Doors,” which ran in the...

This article ran in the August 1983 issue SURFER. It has been slightly edited and shortened.  *  *  *  In the late spring of 1951, one of the strongest south swells in memory struck the chiseled hub of California coastline known as Malibu. From point to pier the waves rattled in, cresting at a solid...

Surfing’s post-World War II infatuation with bullfighting lasted for 20 or 25 years, give or take. It’s hard to say exactly how deep it ran, or if the whole thing was half-serious half-ironic (although I think it leaned serious), or if bullfighting was just the lowest-hanging fruit when somebody needed to compare the sport to another...

Derek Rielly’s interview with Fred Hemmings ran in the February-March 2017 issue of the Surfer’s Journal. This version has been slightly edited. *  *  *  The taxi van pulls into the semicircle driveway of the Outrigger Canoe Club at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki. As befits an icon of Hawaiian surfing (established 1908) and...

Don Machado spoke to Fred Hemmings on October 5, 1985, for the Outrigger Canoe Club’s oral history series. The transcript below has been shortened and edited; a full version can be read here.  *  *  * I was born on January 9, 1945, here in Honolulu at Kapiolani Maternity Hospital. It is my good fortune...

This short take on soon-to-be IPS founder Fred Hemmings was embedded in a longer article titled “Summer in the Islands,” which ran in the July 1975 issue of Tracks. This version has been slightly edited.  *  *  *  Fred Hemmings was the world champion back in 1968. He still surfs occasionally and runs the Smirnoff...

“Surf Champ Ignored Handicaps,” by Bill Cook, ran in the February 2, 1964, edition of the Honolulu Advertiser, not long after Fred Hemmings’ win in the Juniors division of the ’63 Makaha International. The text below has been slightly edited.  *  *  * Polio, pneumonia, a severe knee injury—none of these things prevented teenager Frederick...

This article ran in the October 2008 issue of the Surfer’s Journal. It has been slightly edited. *  *  * The first time I encountered Fernando Aguerre he was dressed like some sort of crazy genie, and he was running around granting everyone wishes. It was at the Waterman’s Ball, the surf industry’s annual environmental...

This editorial ran in the September 1992 issue of Surfing. It has been slightly edited and shortened. *  *  * Remember when three-time world champion Tommy Curren captured the gold medal for the United States at the Olympic Games in 1984? Of course you don’t remember that, because it didn’t happen. Surfing, as you probably...

Fernando Aguerre, chairman of the International Surfing Association (ISA), wrote this defense of surfing and the Olympics for the Spring 1996 issue of the Surfer’s Journal. It was a rebuttal to Steve Pezman’s editorial from the previous issue. Aguerre’s article, below, has been shortened and slightly edited.  *  *  * In the last issue of...