NEW ZEALAND '59: THE ACCIDENTAL SHORTBOARD

Mike Cooney, one of the original wave-riders from Northland, New Zealand, got in touch with me a few years back and over the course of a few emails, photos included, explained how surfing came to his area in the late 1950s. What Mike described was in most ways the standard gung-ho teenage DIY surfing-origin story—except for the boards. Through some combination of luck and intuition, Mike and his f...