"And it was an Overcast Day," by Fred Van Dyke, ran in the May 1976 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * January 19 awakened into a cool 60+ degrees on the North Shore. High cirrus clouds blanketed the sky. We call them big-surf clouds. Peter Cole phoned and said that there was a huge fetch wedging toward the islands from the Alaskan Peninsula. As I left for school on...
"The Kaena Point Challenge," unattributed, ran in the August 1983 issue of Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Ace Cool says he's going to ride Kaena Point. That puts him into the company of past famous talkers like Jim "Wildman" Neece, Mickey Dora and several others, who've planned to ride it, threatened to ride it, or said they'd ridden it. One surfer drove out to...
A Letter from Matt Warshaw, Executive Director of Encyclopedia of Surfing Surfers, surf culture aficionados, fellow travelers—the 2024 EOS fundraiser is ON and if you want to skip to the business end of this message, click here to donate. Much of 2024 was spent building EOS Archive, a companion site to EOS. Archive is less glam and less curated than EOS, but probably more important in the long r...
"Rounding Kaena Point," by John Severson, was published in the October 1983 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Driving Kaena Point in Hawaii is one of those experiences that you would not easily forget, for any number of reasons. I lost two cars there, got close to the biggest waves I’ve ever seen before or since, and filmed and lived real adventures. If a real adv...
Daniel Calohan's article on Kaena Point ran in the July 1973 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * For no-mistakes-allowed danger, the only thing I think at all possible to compare with riding 40'-plus waves at Kaena Point would be mountain climbing in the Himalayas, and possibly rock climbing the Eiger in Switzerland, or Half Dome in Yosemite. The one essential differ...
Mike Doyle's article on Kaena Point ran in the July 1963 issue of Surf Guide magazine. This version has been slightly edited. * * * We in California are accustomed to seeking out the largest waves we can find, but in Hawaii, it's different. The Hawaiian Islands stand in the path of nearly all the Pacific's winter swells, mostly unprotected by barrier reefs, intruding island chains, or land m...
Chris Bystrom's profile on 1965 Queensland champion Ken Adler ran in a 1996 issue of Pacific Longboarder (Vol 1, Issue 2). This version has been slightly edited. * * * When I think of the expression "speak softly but carry a big stick," Ken Adler comes to mind. Over the past 52 years, Ken has made his mark on Australian surfing as a shaper, competitor, world traveler, and big wave rider. ...
Ron Haworth's Honolulu Star-Bulletin "Surf Spray" column for July 1, 1966, featured Buzzy Trent's take on surfing Oahu's Kaena Point. * * * “Surf Kaena Point! Believe me. it’s completely unreal. The currents are unbelievably strong even on a calm day. The bloody fish are so muscle-bound from swimming against the current they curl up in the frying pan.” Buzzy Trent sat in the lingering heat o...
Timothy Hurley's article on the disappearance of big-wave surfer Alec Cooke, aka Ace Cool, ran in the October 30 edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Veteran big-wave surfer Alec “Ace Cool” Cooke is notorious for fearlessly—some would say recklessly—surfing the North Shore at night in recent years. “He’s a wild man,” said “Banzai” Betty Depol...
Mike Perry's article on Peter Drouyn's 1985-'86 visit to China ran in the June 1987 issue of SURFER. This version has been slightly edited. * * * Peter Drouyn is no rookie, he is still one of Australia’s most gifted wave riders. He surfs every day on a four-year-old board of his own design. He’s fit. His board is strange and there are people who think he could probably still be in the Top Si...