"Impressions: the Malibu 4A Invitational," Dru Harrison, 1969 Surfing Magazine Annual

Malibu. 7:00 A.M. Look at all the cars. Gotta park down by the bridge and walk back. Dig the hippie with the long hair. Clear down his back. Must be from the canyon. There’s Bigler’s truck. Parked right by the ramp. Must’ve slept here last night. Out-of-sight waves! Malibu’s coming back. That winter storm really tore it up. Gotta wade through a lagoon to get to the point. There’s a guy carrying his chick across. A regular ferryboat. Hmmm. “Hi there, babe. Can I ferry you across? Oops! Sorry.”

This is it. What everyone’s been waiting for. The first WSA contest at Malibu. Righteous waves for righteous surfers.

 Glassy, hollow, four to six foot plus. Perfection!

 There they are. Lined up down the beach. All facing the sea. Reverent. Eyes gazing at Mecca. A lineup digging a lineup.

 The chroniclers of surfing. All eager for “The Shot.” There’s Granny, his camera, his little green cap, and ten stitches in his head. Thirty-five years of surfing and he gets skegged by his own board. Never would’ve happened with a redwood.

 There’s Hoppy Swarts. A lot of Name surfers on this beach wouldn’t be Names without contests. And how many contests would there be without Hoppy? It's simple. Hoppy + Contests = Name Surfers. Except you'll never hear it from us, Hoppy. Oh, we’ll bitch about the system, the judging, the surf, everything from weather to sandfleas. But we’ll keep coming back, and we’ll take your trophies, and steal some glory and slip away. Gratitude? Forget it. We aren’t sharing our success with anybody. We got egos.

There goes the horn. First heat! Heavy scene. Time speeds up. Diggin’ it. Heat 10 coming up; that's mine. Gotta get to the ready area. Put on the jersey. White. My lucky color. Instructions. Best four out of six waves. One man on a wave at a time. Two men on a wave means interference, and the deepest guy gets an extra ride. The other guy gets four points off his total score. Gotta be careful. It's time. Come on surfboard. Gotta do it.

Hit the water. Jellyfish! Ouch! Glad I brought my wetsuit. Well, here goes everything. What a wave! Do it! Paddle back out. Another wave. All mine. Don’t think. Let it happen. Waves. So much juice! More waves. Best contest ever. Over? The heat's over? Relativity!

First place. That puts me in the semis. Heats. More heats. The women’s semis. Men’s coming up. Back to the ready area. White jersey again. Stoked! More instructions. Right. Same as before. Right. Gotta be careful.

Jeff and Rolf join Sutherland in the finals. Jock’s seeded. The Hawaiian contingent. No WSA. points. Just a friendly gesture. Hands across the sea. I dig it. The rest go to the semi-main. Nuuhiwa and McCaul make it in the second semi. Purpus, Critchlow and Tucker get to join us bad guys.

And here we go again. Orange jersey for me this time. Why not? Instructions. Right. Gotta be careful. Ouch again! Dropping in. Really in it. Gotta make it. Purpus! He kicks out. Thanks, Mike. Got it made now. There’s Jamie Budge on the loudspeaker. “Interference on Green.” Sorry, Mike. That’s a bummer.

Another ride. Slight wind-chop now, but waves really holding up. Stroking for another. Righteous wave! Got it. Now go! “You surfers at First Point, clear out. We’ve got a contestant coming your way!” Too much! An all-time Malibu wave and Jamie is clear on the loudspeaker clearing the way for me! Eat your heart out Mickey.

Run up the beach. Faster. Only one guy from the semi-main goes to finals. Back in water. Look at that wave! Wong’s got it. So deep. Made it! Unbelievable! Waves. Gotta get ’em. More waves. That one helped.

“Here are the results of the men’s semi-main.” Made it! Jamie Budge. Great Announcer.

Finals coming up. Red jersey. Instructions. Right. Forty-five minutes. Unlimited rides. Gotta be careful. One last time. Ouch! Waves are less consistent. A few sections. Still righteous. First ride. Feel that juice. Punch that bottom turn. Climb. Sharp turn back. Jeff's back there! Gotta pull out.

“Interference on Red.” Right. Gotta be careful. What a lousy color. Rolf’s up. Another wave. Brad’s up. Two radical goofyfooters. Ripping backside.

“Interference on Black.” More. Jock drops in backside. Big grin. He’s diggin’ it. Hey Jock, why don’t you lay off for a year and let the rest of the world catch up? More waves. “Interference on Orange.” Join the group, David. One more and we’ve got them outnumbered.

Jock again. Now riding regularfoot. Completely covered in that section. Made it! Still grinning. Hey Jock, make that two years.

Rolf again. Exploding off the lip. Waves. Righteous waves. Malibu waves. Is this a dream? No man, it’s real. Forty-five minutes of paradise. The horn. Already? Relativity!!

The results are in. But first, a special award. “To LeRoy Grannis, for his contribution to the sport of surfing.” Big cheer from the crowd.

Women's results: Jeri Poppler in fifth. Linda Benson fourth. Nancy Emerson third. Joyce second. Margo first. More cheers.

Here we go. David in sixth. Jeff fifth. Me fourth. Brad third. Jock second. Rolf first. Loud cheering. The crowd disperses. It’s over.

Let’s see. Three heats at 17 minutes each. That’s 51 minutes. Plus 45 for the final. That’s 96 altogether. Fourth place? Who cares. For an hour and 36 minutes, I owned a share in paradise.

[Note: a second 1969 Malibu AAAA, won by Mike Purpus and Margo Godfrey, was held in September.]

1969 Malibu AAAA (1)

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