Country Soul

Australia suffered from none of the angst and stagnation that marked the California surf scene during the first half of the 1970s. Just the opposite, in fact. Aussie surfers had already left the rest of the world behind in the small- and medium-sized waves that were the focus of the shortboard revolution. Now the nation was looking to put an even broader imprimatur on the sport. “Soul surfing” was the sport’s hip new wave-riding ideal, and for awhile the Australians—some of them, anyway—out-s...