"Jocko Makes it One Straight!" SURFER Magazine, September 1970

Well, sports fans, as we’ve said all along, it looked like Jock Sutherland’s year and, with the results of the Seventh Annual SURFER Poll just in over the ticker, we’re not backing off on that prediction one iota.

Jock Sutherland, winning two out of three of this year’s polls, edged out defending Poll Winner, Robert “Nat” Young of Australia. Jocko took the victory on the strength of a long-standing reputation for aquatic excellence, a very good summer in the California competition scene, and an extraordinary winter in the heavies of Hawaii’s North Shore and Maui’s more savage surf areas. Nat Young lost ground this year with his trip to Europe combined with a tour of the U. S. East Coast. The time involved in these trips cut out valuable in-the-water appearances and vote-getting time. Third-place finisher Rolf Aurness, a fiery surfer and a fast-rising star and current World Champion, made his first appearance on the Poll in the number three slot. And this won’t be the last you hear of him, either!

Joey Cabell, fourth place on the Poll, and Midget Farrelly, who finished ninth, are the sole surviving placers from the First SURFER Poll of the Best Male Surfers of the Year 1963.

Australia’s rising radical star Wayne Lynch propelled himself into fifth place with a co-starring appearance in Paul Witzig’s sensational film 

. David Nuuhiwa, who will be starring in the MacGillivray-Freeman upcoming film 

Seventh place on the current Poll is Hawaiian Barry Kanaiaupuni. Barry is a Mormon, but like another famous Mormon (Bob Cooper) loves to surf. Gerry Lopez made it to eighth place with startlingly daring performances at the spine-tingling Banzai Pipeline, and Corky Carroll, winner of the Poll in ’67 and runner-up last year, turned in a tenth-place finish.

In the Women’s event, Margo Godfrey won a unanimous victory, though World Champ Sharon Weber was close by. Hawaii’s Martha Sunn was third and Californians Joyce Hoffman and Linda Benson were fourth and fifth, respectively. Other girls in the running were Joey Hamasaki, Jericho Poplar, Barbara Belyea, Laura Blears, Barby Benson, Phyllis O’Donnell and Nancy Emerson.

"Reading Between the Lines," SURFER Magazine, September 1970

The SURFER Poll of the Best Surfers of 1969 offers us the unusual and rare opportunity of evaluating and comparing the opinions of three separate and complementing opinion polls.


A specially-selected group of qualified individuals in the field of performance surfing, as published in the January 1970 issue. [NOTE: the list consisted of 143 well-known surfers, male and female, from around the world.]

1. Nat Young
2. Jock Sutherlandd
3. Joey Cabell
4. Rolf Aurness
5. Wayne Lynch
6. Barry Kanaiaupuni
7. Gerry Lopez
8. Midget Farrelly
9. David Nuuhiwa
10. Jeff Hakman
11. Reno Abellira
12. Billy Hamilton
13. Mike Purpus
14. Dru Harrison
15. George Greenough
16. Mike Doyle
17. Corky Carroll
18. Jimmy Blears
19. [no result listed]
20. Ben Aipa


Experts in the field: judges, surfboard manufacturers, and the SURFER Magazine staff.

1. Jock Sutherland
2. Nat Young
3. Rolf Aurness
4. Joey Cabell
5. Gerry Lopez
6. David Nuuhiwa
7. Barry Kanaiaupuni
8. Midget Farrelly
9. Reno Abellira
10. Jeff Hakman
11. Corky Carroll
12. Wayne Lynch
13. Dru Harrison
14. Ben Aipa
15. Mike Doyle
16. [no result listed]
17. [no result listed]
18. Jimmy Blears
19. Mike Purpus
20. Mike Tabeling

1. Jock Sutherland
2. Nat Young
3. Wayne Lynch
4. Corky Carroll
5. Rolf Aurness
6. Mike Doyle
7. David Nuuhiwa
8. Joey Cabell
9. George Greenough
10. Barry Kanaiaupuni
11. Midget Farrelly
12. Gerry Lopez
13. Dru Harrison
14. Reno Abellira
15. Billy Hamilton
16. Mike Purpus
17. [no result listed]
18. Mike Tabeling
19. [no result listed]
20. [no result listed]

Now, from these three polls, it is possible to interpret many interesting things. Look, for instance, at the placings of George Greenough, a kneeboard rider from Santa Barbara, who makes movies. George placed 15th in the eyes of surfers, who might resent his intrusion into their domain. He placed not at all on the experts poll, who, no doubt, are a bit stuffy about what they call "surfing" and what they call something else, and a kneerider is a kneerider, and a surfer is a surfer, and a kneerider never stands up, so how can he get any points on a wave? The readers, however, placed Greenough 9th. This because the opinions of the readers have been shaped by the sensational publicity on Greenough in recent months and, therefore, their ability to make a valid judgment must be questioned.

Then there is Jeff Hakman, who placed 10th on both the surfers’ and the experts’ polls, but failed to place on the reader poll, most likely due to the fact that he has been relatively little-publicized recently. Yet his ability remains unquestioned by those close to the sport.

It is also noteworthy that SURFER readers tend to be more nostalgic than surfers and experts. Thus, past winners such as Corky Carroll and Mike Doyle placed higher among the readers than among the other two polls.

We may conclude from this that the Poll is becoming increasingly international, as are our times, and that California is losing its grip as the stronghold of surfing, as there is only one new Californian on the top ten this year: Rolf Aurness, current World Champion, whereas there are two new Hawaiians: Lopez and Kanaiaupuni. It is also interesting to note that there are only two surfers on the 1969 Poll that were on the 1963 Poll: Joey Cabell and Midget Farrelly.

1969 SURFER Poll Awards

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